Fix your Heel Contact with your Stance

Fix your Heel Contact with your Stance

A simple lead-foot adjustment that creates space when your hip and shoulder are restricted

A lot of golfers are told to “just swing more left,” “stop coming over the top,” or “get the club more inside.” Those tips sound simple, but they often ignore the real problem. Many golfers are not fighting a swing flaw. They are fighting their body’s available range of motion.

If you have internal rotation restriction in your lead hip and external rotation restriction in your lead shoulder, a perfectly square stance can quietly set you up to miss the ball in a very predictable way. You can feel like you are trying to swing normally, yet the club keeps getting pushed out to the right, your hands feel “stuck,” and the heel of the club starts finding the ball more than the center.

The good news is that you do not have to rebuild your whole swing to make progress. One of the cleanest, fastest setup solutions is also one of the most overlooked. Let's fix your heel contact with your stance.

Open your stance by stepping your lead foot directly back.

That single move can create the space your body cannot access on its own, giving your hands a clear lane to swing up and in instead of out and away.

Why restrictions change your swing path

Your golf swing is a movement pattern. But it is also a space problem.

When your body has the room to rotate and organize, the club can travel on a natural path without you forcing it. When your body does not have the room, the club has to find space somewhere else.

Two restrictions matter a lot here:

1) Lead hip internal rotation restriction

Your lead hip needs internal rotation to accept your pressure and allow your pelvis to keep moving and turning through impact. If that internal rotation is limited, you tend to run out of “turning room” earlier than you should. When the hip cannot internally rotate well, your system often protects itself by avoiding that position.

The result is not always pain. Often it is compensation.

Instead of your body creating space by rotating and clearing, it creates space by moving the hands and club away from you.

2) Lead shoulder external rotation restriction

Your lead shoulder needs enough external rotation to support the arm and club moving in front of you without feeling blocked. If external rotation is restricted, your arm path can feel trapped, especially in transition and early downswing.

When that shoulder cannot rotate and organize comfortably, your brain will choose the path that feels safer and easier, even if it is not ideal for contact.

And the “easy” path is usually out to the right.

What happens when you set up square with these restrictions

When you set up square to the ball with your feet and you have restrictions in the lead hip and lead shoulder, you are basically asking your body to rotate into ranges it cannot access well.

Most golfers do not feel this as a medical issue. They feel it as a swing issue.

Here is what typically shows up:

The downswing starts and your hands feel like they have no room to drop or work “up and in.”

Your body senses that turning is limited, so it sends the arms outward to create space.

The club approaches from a path that is too far to the right, too early.

Your contact drifts toward the heel.

Sometimes the heel strike comes with a weak fade, a wipe, or a glancing strike.

Other times it comes with a “blocked” feel, where you sense you cannot release through.

This is important: you can be trying to swing correctly and still be forced into an out-to-the-right hand path because your body is solving a space problem the only way it can.

If your hands get driven out, the heel becomes the first part of the club to arrive at the ball. Even if your timing is good, the geometry is not.

You can chase this with swing thoughts forever. You can think about keeping your hands in. You can think about shallowing. You can think about “staying down.” But if the body cannot rotate into the needed positions, those thoughts usually do not stick.

The setup fix: step your lead foot directly back

Now let’s get practical.

When I say “open your stance,” I am not talking about flaring the toes a little. I am talking about taking your lead foot and stepping it directly back away from the target line, so the line across your toes points left of the target.

This creates an open stance.

But more importantly, it changes the space available for your body and your hands.

What this does immediately

When your stance is open:

Your pelvis starts in a slightly more rotated position.

You reduce how much lead hip internal rotation you need to “clear.”

Your torso can keep moving without hitting the same restriction wall.

Your lead shoulder is not forced to externally rotate as aggressively to create room.

Your hands get a clearer lane to swing up and in rather than out and right.

In simple terms, you are not asking your restricted joints to do the impossible. You are moving the starting line so your swing can flow within what your body can actually do.

 Stepping the lead foot directly back is different.

It keeps your distance to the ball more stable while still opening the stance. You are creating rotational space without forcing yourself closer to the ball.

This matters if heel strikes are already part of your pattern. Crowding yourself tends to make heel strikes worse. Creating room tends to make them better.

How this helps your hands swing up and in

If you have been stuck in the pattern of driving your hands out to the right, you likely need a new default.

The open stance created by stepping the lead foot back supports a different hand path.

Instead of the hands feeling like they must move away from you to avoid getting trapped, the hands can travel on a more neutral-to-leftward arc. The club can work in front of you rather than getting shoved outward early.

This is not about “manipulating” your hands. It is about giving your hands permission to move in a better lane.

When the space is there, your body stops panicking. When your body stops panicking, your hands stop searching for emergency exits.

That is when center contact starts to show up again.

How to try it in five minutes

Use this quick process on the range.

Step 1: Start normal

Hit three shots with your normal square stance. Pay attention to one thing only: where did you contact the face, heel or center?

Step 2: Step the lead foot directly back

Now set up again, but move the lead foot directly back so your stance line is clearly open. Do not change anything else on purpose.

Hit three shots.

Step 3: Watch what changes

Most golfers notice at least one of these immediately:

Contact moves closer to the center.

The swing feels less “stuck.”

The club feels like it exits more left without effort.

The ball starts more online, with a cleaner strike.

If you still hit heel shots, do not panic. Often you need a slightly bigger step back than you think, especially if the restrictions are significant. The goal is not to look textbook. The goal is to create functional space.

Common mistakes to avoid

Do not over-aim left with your clubface

An open stance does not mean you aim the clubface left. Keep the clubface aimed where you want the ball to start. Let your body line be open, but keep the face honest.

Do not try to “force” a swing left

If you open the stance and then try to aggressively yank the club left, you will defeat the purpose. The stance is the solution. Let the swing respond.

Do not treat this as a forever fix if you have pain

This is a performance solution for restrictions and tendencies. If you have pain in your hip or shoulder, you should address that with a qualified professional. Pain is different than limited range.

The bigger point: match the setup to your body

Golf instruction often pretends everyone has the same mobility. They do not.

Your stance is not just a preference. It is a strategy. A square stance can be great for a golfer with the hip and shoulder capacity to rotate freely. But if your lead hip internal rotation and lead shoulder external rotation are limited, square can create a traffic jam.

And traffic jams always create detours.

In your case, that detour is often the hands driving out to the right, which makes heel contact far too easy.

Opening your stance by stepping the lead foot directly back is a clean way to build a better route.

You are not fixing your swing by thinking harder. You are fixing your swing by giving it room.

Conclusion:

If you have been fighting heel strikes, a hand path that gets pushed out to the right, or a swing that feels blocked, do not assume you are broken. Do not assume you need ten swing thoughts. Consider the possibility that your body is simply working around restrictions in your lead hip and lead shoulder.

By stepping your lead foot directly back and opening your stance, you can reduce the rotational demands on those restricted joints and immediately create space for your hands to swing up and in. That change often cleans up contact fast because it addresses the real issue: space.

If you want a simple, external-focus way to diagnose your tendencies and build a repeatable setup that matches your body, visit www.externalfocusgolf.com

. You will find training built to simplify ball flight, improve contact, and help you play with fewer swing thoughts and more trust.

Talk Soon,

Robbie Potesta

www.externalfocusgolf.com