Chamblee: "Lift the Left Heel"

[BallStriker]

Brandell is telling all of us to lift the left heel on the backswing -- love to hear thoughts -- please discuss.

[Patch]

That's one of those personal qwerks. Some do, some don't.

Thinking about it, I can't tell you if I do, or don't. If I do it's very little I would think. I know I do tend to spin my left foot during my follow through 

I have heard it's a good thing to lift the left heel on the back swing, that replanting it is good way to start the down swing, and a forward weight shift. 

I have also heard that keeping the foot planted, with the golfer's weight forward on it a good thing that relates to a forward weight shift at impact. 

For me, honestly, foot wise, all I have really thought about during my golf swing is riding up on my right toe at the right time, and that little spin on my left footon the follow through. I do this, not for my golf swing, but for back saving health reasons. Between the two, I don't put alot extra twisting pressure, that my back/spine can't handle. I have swung a club hundreds of thousands of times over the years with no back issues. 

[saevel25]

1 hour ago, BallStriker said:

Brandell is telling all of us to lift the left heel on the backswing -- love to hear thoughts -- please discuss.

Depends on the golfer. It's more of an old-school move. It if doesn't cause issues then it is fine. 

[boogielicious]

16 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Depends on the golfer. It's more of an old-school move. It if doesn't cause issues then it is fine. 

This is the key. I tried it a long time ago in practice, but for me it made my hips move back. So it stopped doing it.

[MarvChamp]

i try not to think about it at all; if I do, it becomes a distraction. If the heel lifts, it lifts. Now, as a Senior whose hip/shoulder turn is limited, I know the turn is better if my heel lifts; and I know I hit the ball further. But I think I get pretty much the same effect with a practice swing where I concentrate on bringing the clubhead around my right shoulder on the proper plane. That is my key instead of heel lift. Thanks for the topic, -Marv

[Vinsk]

22 minutes ago, MarvChamp said:

i try not to think about it at all; if I do, it becomes a distraction. If the heel lifts, it lifts. Now, as a Senior whose hip/shoulder turn is limited, I know the turn is better if my heel lifts; and I know I hit the ball further. But I think I get pretty much the same effect with a practice swing where I concentrate on bringing the clubhead around my right shoulder on the proper plane. That is my key instead of heel lift. Thanks for the topic, -Marv

I agree. I don’t think telling someone to lift their heel is a good idea. But I do think it may help to advise a player to not focus on keeping it down. I see a difference here.

[billchao]

It's not a magic move. It doesn't guarantee more turn going back and the replant isn't guaranteed to get your weight forward going down. There's a way to do it wrong and it will end up not doing anything for your swing, possibly even adding one more variable to compensate for. 

You'll get more from flaring your feet than just lifting your front heel.

 

[easyjay39402]

I’ve always believed that keeping the left foot done was an essential part of the average golfer’s swing. Now that I am well into my 70s, if I don’t allow it to lift, I end up with a RSA.

[Jack Watson]

My take as a person who was instructed in an old fashioned way for a time is that BC is outside looking in and reverse engineering something he doesn’t understand.

I think taking that advice is a bad idea.  It may or may not happen in a good swing but it isn’t a cause or a good thing to focus on because it is not a fundamental.