Hi, I’m in the process of working with a pro on trying to fix my swing (was quite OTT with the bad miss being a slice). We’ve been working a lot on getting into a better lag position in the down swing with the right elbow in. In my latest lesson with him he asked for me to space my feet a little further apart at address as I was a bit narrow. Since then I’ve noticed when I view a video of my swing that I’m lifting me left heel off the ground in the back swing. I’m in my 30’s but have quite bad flexibility (this is something I’m working on with a dedicated 30min at least each day stretching).

Is lifting the left heel a bad swing fault to have and should I be actively trying to keep it down during the swing? I read somewhere on here about thinking of the inside arches of your feet as suction cups to the ground, this makes a lot of sense to me but is it good advice?

Would you throw a ball with your left heel on the ground?
Keeping the left foot down ruins balances properties and the torso tilts instead of turns- half way to already being over the top right there as you have nowhere to implant your lower half too and nowhere for your upper half to turn through
If you load into your right heel and inside of right foot on the backswing like you are supposed to then your left heel should raise for balance. Trying to keep it down ruins your balance and you are going to be an upper body mongrel to try move the club.
Keep the heel down is gibberish. It does what it has to do to keep balance so you can keep the body in motion against the moving mass of the club

Blender,
The reason we anchor our feet to the ground is to use the ground to generate good lower body mechanics and lower body acceleration. It is also a plat form to give us more stability to swing the club better around the axis of our spine.

Some people do lift their left foot this is ok to do if you aren’t swaying off the ball too much.
The downside to lifting your left foot is this can lead to timing issues in your swing pattern. If you don’t time when to tramp your foot first, you can create an OTT move or an arm first swing, cast etc.
However if you are aware of this you can over come these issues and prevent them happening as long as you tramp your left foot before your arms complete your back swing. This can be hard to time as I said. If you do it late you do run the risk of an arm first pattern.
When your playing if you start not hitting the ball so well , it would be because your timing is out when tramping your left foot before you complete your back swing.

I would go back to see your coach and discuss your concerns with him as well. This move could be temporarily whilst you are making other changes, he may not want you to lift your foot and this maybe the next area he may want to focus on. Best to have a chat to him about it.

Doesn’t Ernie Els lift his left heel on his backswing?? If it works for him….

Bobby Jones did, Sam Snead did, Ben Hogan rolled it a little. Jack Nicklaus did. Tiger doesn’t. It all depends on your flexibility and rhythm. No rule here.

Doesn’t Ernie Els lift his left heel on his backswing?? If it works for him….

Krish,
Sure he did although take a very close look Ernie tramps hit foot before he completes his back swing with his arms and upper body, it’s not an easy move to time and execute either.

When Ernie was with Leadbetter, my boss did a bunch of testing on Ernie in the early to mid 90’s. On his good days when he tramped his foot before he completed his arms and upper body completed the back swing his striped the ball and his kinetic link was good. Although when he miss timed when he tramped his foot, by tramping his foot late. His ball striking was off the boil and his swing pattern changed on him. Hense teeth stuff.

Leadbetter and my boss focused on training Ernie to improve his timing and coordination to tramp his foot every time before his upper body and arms completed his back swing. It wasn’t an easy task to accomplish. Sound easy although very hard to learn the coordination to do it.

Some of the best in the word make this move seems so easy to do although it’s one of the hardest and complex moves to accomplish.

Would you throw a ball with your left heel on the ground?
Keeping the left foot down ruins balances properties and the torso tilts instead of turns- half way to already being over the top right there as you have nowhere to implant your lower half too and nowhere for your upper half to turn through
If you load into your right heel and inside of right foot on the backswing like you are supposed to then your left heel should raise for balance. Trying to keep it down ruins your balance and you are going to be an upper body mongrel to try move the club.
Keep the heel down is gibberish. It does what it has to do to keep balance so you can keep the body in motion against the moving mass of the club

Good to see you back here, Brad. Are we going to hear more from you on a regular basis?

Thanks for the info. I’m not a large guy by can hit the ball OK, 7i about 155m which I’m guessing is helped by the slight lifting of my left heel. I’ll try to get a front on video tonight and make sure that I’m not swaying as a result of lifting it.

I do know that my left heel starts its way down just before I reach the top of my back swing and is grounded just after or possibly the same time the down swing starts.

I’ll talk further with my pro and get his thoughts in relation to my swing.

Thanks for the info. I’m not a large guy by can hit the ball OK, 7i about 155m which I’m guessing is helped by the slight lifting of my left heel. I’ll try to get a front on video tonight and make sure that I’m not swaying as a result of lifting it.

I do know that my left heel starts its way down just before I reach the top of my back swing and is grounded just after or possibly the same time the down swing starts.

I’ll talk further with my pro and get his thoughts in relation to my swing.

Aim is HC of 15, started 01/01/2013 at 21.

You never stop learning.

Blender,
Focus on ensuring that left foot in planted flat on the ground before you complete the golf swing. If you plant your foot when you start the downswing it’s to late. The upper body and arms start the down swing first. It’s hen’s teeth stuff. If the foot isn’t planted in time you can’t start the downswing with your lower body.
When you do plant it before you complete the back swing, this allows the lower body to accelerate first and begin the downswing.

It was really interesting when we researched how important it was when you planted your foot at the right time and the changes in peoples swing patterns in comparison to planting their foot at the right time and not planting their foot at the right time. It meant a good day out on the course or a really bad day on the course. Just by one little move not time properly. Pretty amazing. We are only talking about 1/60 th of a second here or 1/1000th of a second really hens teeth stuff.

Hope this helps you.

Its simply not a swing fault to allow your front heal off the ground, too many great players do it. Therefore, its is a preference. For those that have limited flexibility in the thoracic spine, it can produce much more distance.

Sean Foley in socks