Keeping weight on your heels?

[peskypole46]

Just today I heard that you should keep your weight on your heels when swinging. Before today I had always tried to keep on the balls of my feet and swing. I tried keeping my weight on my heels and found that I hit the ball a lot straighter but lost maybe 20 yards. Is keeping your weight on your heels the correct way to swing? If so I will certainly start doing that.

[THR3E]

Balls of your feet, no question.

[CuppedTin]

Just today I heard that you should keep your weight on your heels when swinging. Before today I had always tried to keep on the balls of my feet and swing. I tried keeping my weight on my heels and found that I hit the ball a lot straighter but lost maybe 20 yards. Is keeping your weight on your heels the correct way to swing? If so I will certainly start doing that.

Absolutely not, I always start every swing with the majority of my weight on the inside of my lead leg...

[Zeph]

No, I don't think you should do that. Weight at the middle of your feet or the balls, in that vicinity. The golf swing is an athletic move, and like many other sports, you want the agility of your feet helping you. In weight lifting, the weight should be on your heels, but not in golf. Why you hit it straighter and why it went shorter I can't tell, there are so many things that can affect your swing. I suggest you use a mirror and see how your posture looks, or even take a picture or video and post it here. Compare it to the posture of pros and you'll see soon enough that most of them got a pretty similar posture. You can get too far forward also, which can also cause problems. You should be in an athletic, yet stable position.

[GaijinGolfer]

Whoever told you to keep your weight on your heels gave you some bad advice.  Having your weight on the balls of your feet (on the balls of your feet, NOT your toes) keeps you in an athletic postion, which makes it much easier to keep your balance and make a good turn.

[peskypole46]

Thanks for clarifying this. Weight on heels seemed opposite of how it should be, but a lot of things seem opposite in golf.

[N255]

I always thought it was the balls of the feet? But what do I know :)

[KARR2001]

What you are looking for is a 50/50 weight distribution in your feet to give yourself good balance and a stable lower body. I was taught to find this position by taking your stance and rocking your feet forward and backward to find a spot that was comfortable. Doing this also gives you a feeling for where too far forward and too far back in your stance is. All your weight in your heels is definitely wrong. I learned the balance for my feet from an LPGA member/LPGA Teaching Professional.

[Ken Brasington]

Weight on the heels will produce a straighter shot and less power, this should only be used to cure a case of the "S" word. This will work for a round or two but all you are really doing is putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. There is a lot more wrong in your swing and the thought of this is taking your mind off the real cause, it wont work for long. most likely your problem is leaning into the ball on your downswing..., the weigh on the heels is preventing this.

[Tomputt]

i was always had a "weight on the balls on the feet" golf swing.  Started reading more about weight on the heels (Adam Scott swears by this).  Also, I started some fresh swing lessons with a local pro.  He is a proponent on weight on the heels.  I tried it and could not believe the difference!! When I had weight towards the front, there were times when I would get jammed up...especially during the down swing.  Standing upright and a lttle further away with my butt out and weight on the heels creates a counter balance for the club head.  Just think of a baseball player up at bat ready to swing.  Imagine if he was trying to swing with weight on balls of feet or near toes?  He would get totally jammed up.  Now imagine weight towards the heels with that full arm extension striking the ball creating that beautiful counter balalce with his body.  Pure power!  Not saying it works with everyone but I have tried it twice on the golf course and it has dramatically made a difference in my game.

[saevel25]

I would say the weight is distributed between the balls of the feet and the heel. I would say majority of the weight gets to the heel of the front foot at finish.

I wouldn't worry about this in the swing. If you have a steady head, and a good turn. How the body moves will dictate how the weight shifts on the bottom of the feat.

[SavvySwede]

I used to have to much weight on the heels at setup, but my weight would naturally drift toward the balls of my feet during the backswing because it was the only way to retain my balance. A lot of compensations on the downswing ensued.

[joekelly]

"with my butt out" !!  There is good advice Tomputt.  I agree that this and the weight slightly towards the heels will keep the body from drifting towards ball on downswing. I have found that if body/weight/balance moves towards ball, big trouble arises.

Of course, my dreadful OTT swing encourages my shoulders and weight moving outwards, towards ball, so it's a special focus of mine to remain in balance.

[tat1685]

Hogan was very much a weight-on-the-heels player. Not a bad model.

[vangator]

Ian Woosnam had a nice 1/2 hour show on driving. He would have the weight on his right heel and the ball of his right foot with a slightly closed stance. The effect is a pre shift of your weight. At any rate, do not swing from your heels (unless it works :-))

[iacas]

Hogan was very much a weight-on-the-heels player. Not a bad model.

Really? I don't think so.

Do you have a pressure map/trace of his swing? They look relatively centered to me.