Heel... up or down?

[bwdial]

I've been working on my weight transfer (and I've got plenty of it to transfer) to make crisper contact and I've started lifting my left heel slightly at the top of my backswing. When I put my heel down, it acts as a trigger. My hips start the swing and planting my left heel gets my weight forward and through the ball. I took this to the range today and I hit pretty much every single six iron really crisp. I had exactly one that I caught a little heavy and it still went about 140 yards or so.

Do any of the rest of y'all lift your left heel (or right if you're a lefty) on the backswing?

[delav]

I try and keep mine planted, however you'll see that there really isn't a hard and fast rule here.

[TN94z]

If it helps you make good consistent contact, then go for it. I wouldn't get too crazy with it. If I were to lift my left heel, I think it would kill my coil. I think you would get more coil by keeping it planted.

[bwdial]

If it helps you make good consistent contact, then go for it. I wouldn't get too crazy with it. If I were to lift my left heel, I think it would kill my coil. I think you would get more coil by keeping it planted.

Yeah, it's not one of those up-on-the-toe-spikes-facing-the-target lifts... just a half an inch or so. I'll keep practicing with it and see if it leads to better contact over an extended period.

[saevel25]

Its up to you, i would say your in the minority with this one, but if it works for you go with it.

[bwdial]

Something else that I've noticed is that it keeps me from swaying over onto my right side. That's always been a real problem with my swing, but I guess the feeling of the left heel lifting forces me to keep my weight inside my right leg to keep from falling over.

Thanks for letting me talk myself through this. ;)

[MikeLowry5]

The idea or sensation you are feeling is as your front heel starts down, the rear heel starts to come off of the ground actuating the hips to start moving through the swing.

This is something that I have worked with baseball hitters to show them how the lower half properly works in the swing. Additionally, I use it when making practice swings in my golf swing.

Bubba Watson, Tom Watson, Payne Stewart and Nicklaus are all examples of players whose front heel came off the ground at the top of the backswing.

[MikeLowry5]

The consequence to this in golf is it will encourage you to lift your head which would make it tougher to make consistent contact (or so I assume). If you look into the "modern" golf swing it would be my guess as to why people like Leadbetter started teaching players to avoid raising the front heel.