[JPsuff]

.

I think that lifting one's left heel on the backswing can become more of a problem with a flat swing than with a more upright swing.

I was a Jack "groupie" when I was growing up and I tried to copy everything he did and one of those things was lifting my left heel. I'm about the same height, weight and build as Jack, so I didn't think there'd be a problem, but what I didn't realize was that my natural swing plane was much flatter than Jack's and that did cause a problem.

Jack had a very upright swing and he "reached for the sky" on his backswing and as a result, his heel came up. When he dropped it back down (which was basically what started his downswing), it pulled the rest of his body right into the slot and everything worked fine.
But for someone with a flatter swing, such as myself, lifting my heel wasn't the problem, but dropping it down tended to cause me to "spin" to my left and the resulting "cast" created a whole mess of problems.

A guy I played with from time to time named named "Jerry" (Who was in his late sixties but who was a former scratch player and a great "observer") stopped me from doing this one day when, after watching me spin out on almost every shot, he asked me if there was any particular reason why I was lifting my left heel on my backswing.
After I told him about copying Jack he pointed out that Jack's swing was relatively unique and very upright and that mine was much flatter. He then suggested that I try swinging like "John" instead of "Jack" and from that point on, my heel has stayed on the ground where - for me - it belongs.


-JP