Do you really need one? Probably not. But it’s your board, you can do whatever you like.
Your back foot will move. And once you start going more vertical it might move fully back on pivot style turns. Will a tail pad help you then? Maybe, but consider Mason Ho does all his surfing without one. And he’s basically nuts, and so is his surfing.
Commented on Hey everyone! Working on my frontside...
17 May 01:23
Some good input by Graham. I would also suggest to have a look at your right shoulder. If you want to create a tighter arc you will also need to pull that back (twist) a lot more so you are not blocking the rotation. At the moment a lot of your turn happens when you're already back on flat ground.
Try to incrementally take a straighter line into the wall and try to get the full twist at the top of the arc.
Don't expect to het there straight away. Trust (and try to enjoy :-) ) the process.