Kicking while swimming question

Hey BT'ers,

The last few times I have been in the pool, I have noticed that when I kick I usually splash water quite a bit. I looked at some video of good swimmers and watched some of the swimmers at the pool and noticed that almost none of them splash when they kick...

I tried lowering my leg position in the water a little today, trying to keep them just under the water. I noticed a pretty significant change in swim speed. My average is usually a lightning fast 2.7min/100m. Today, it was much closer to low 2s.

The thing is, it didn't feel natural. I really had to concentrate on doing this. Honestly, it felt like my lower body was bent way down...It probably wasn't bent down all that much, but it felt like it was...Anyways, Is this the "right way"? Do I need to keep my feet lower in the water to prevent "kicking air"? Or do you guys think that the increase in speed could have just been from being more focused? I know it was a shorter distance, but still...that much of a difference?

Thanks for helping this swim n00b...