Three steps or two? I hear that question at almost every lesson I teach. Kickers treat step count like a magic number, as if the fourth step secretly unlocks 50 yards. It doesn’t. Your step count is a runway choice, and you pick it the same way you’d pick a club in golf: by the shot in front of you.
So let’s settle it. Here’s what each approach is actually for, how to find the one your body likes, and the one rule that matters more than the number itself.
What each approach is actually for
| Approach | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| 1-step | Emergency kicks, extra points in awful conditions, rebuilding form after an injury | Almost no momentum. Everything depends on timing and contact |
| 2-step | The workhorse. Most high school field goal distances, the kicks you’ll actually attempt in games | Less momentum for long tries, but far fewer things that can go wrong |
| 3-step | Longer field goals, and kickers with good rhythm who want a little more speed into the ball | More distance to cover means more room for error. The approach has to be perfect |
Notice what’s missing from that table: a rule that says “3-step for over 40 yards.” There isn’t one. Plenty of kickers hit 50-yarders off two steps because their contact is cleaner and their timing is tighter. Consistency beats range every time, and I mean that literally — a reliable 42 beats a coin-flip 47. I make that case in full in my post on consistency for field goals.
The last step matters more than the first
Here’s what actually separates kickers with different step counts: nothing, if the final step is right. Whether you arrive off two steps or three, that last stride needs to be your longest, and it needs to arrive slightly open so your hips can rotate through the ball.
Keep the approach low, too. High-knee skipping into a kick looks great on a highlight reel and quietly wrecks your timing, because your plant keeps arriving at a different height and speed. A low, gliding approach is the one that repeats.
How to find your natural step count
Don’t pick a number because a YouTube kicker uses it. Run the walk-back drill and let your body vote.
- Start with a 2-step approach from 15 yards. Hit five kicks. If four of five feel clean, your base is set.
- Move back five yards. Same approach, same effort. If contact stays clean, keep walking back.
- The moment kicks get sloppy — wobble, weak flight, falling sideways — that’s your ceiling with that approach.
- Only then consider adding a step. Add it in the offseason, never mid-season on a whim.
That’s the process for field goals, and it’s nearly identical to the process I teach for kickoffs in how to find your kickoff steps. Build the runway that matches your body today, not the one you hope to need in two years.
When to add a step (and when not to)
Add a step when three things are true at once. Your current approach is automatic. Your contact is clean at your current range. And you have a full offseason to groove the new timing. If any of those is missing, keep what you have and get better at it.
Don’t add a step mid-season because you got benched for range, either. That’s the classic panic move: the new approach shows up in week 6, your timing goes sideways, and now you’re missing the 38s you used to make. If a distance problem is urgent, that’s a conversation for a coach, not a solo experiment during the week.
Conditions matter too. Into a stiff headwind, some kickers want the extra step for momentum — but only if it’s already grooved. If it isn’t, keep your normal approach, keep the ball flight lower, and trust contact. Wind punishes novelty.
Charting your steps like a pro
For one week, film your approach from behind on every kick and answer three questions after each session:
- Did my plant land in the same spot relative to the ball, every kick?
- Was my last step the longest, every kick?
- Did my speed into the ball stay the same from short kicks to long ones?
Three yes answers means your approach is a tool you can trust. Any no, and you’ve found your next practice focus — long before it shows up as a miss on Friday night.
One more wrinkle worth understanding: step count interacts with your operation time. A longer runway takes longer to execute, which means your snapper and holder have to absorb a little more rush pressure on every kick. At the high school level that cost is usually worth it for the momentum — but it’s a real cost, and it’s another reason the decision belongs in the offseason with your whole unit present, not alone on a Tuesday.
The step count question, answered
Your step count is whatever number lets you hit the same plant spot at the same speed without thinking. For most kickers that’s two steps for most kicks, with a third step earned over time. Start there, run the walk-back drill, and let the misses — not your ego — decide when to stretch the runway.
If you want the full kick built from the ground up, start with my complete field goal guide and come back to steps once the rest is stable. And if you keep guessing instead of charting, that’s the real problem — that’s exactly the kind of thing we fix in one-on-one kicking coaching.
