Seeing your left foot spin, lift, or completely roll over during your golf downswing is a common and deeply frustrating issue. It feels unstable, looks uncontrolled, and worse, it’s a major source of lost power and erratic shots like pushes and slices. This article will show you exactly why that lead foot flies up, and more importantly, give you a clear, step-by-step guide with practical drills to keep it firmly planted, allowing you to build a more powerful and consistent golf swing.
Before we can fix the problem, we have to understand the cause. A flying left foot isn't a random tic, it's a symptom of a larger issue in your downswing sequence. In nearly every case, it boils down to the body trying to create space because it’s doing things in the wrong order. Here are the most common culprits.
The number one reason for a spinning left foot is an aggressive downswing that starts with the upper body. It's that all-too-common feeling of "gotta hit it hard," which makes you throw your shoulders and arms at the ball from the top. When your upper body leads the charge, your lower body has no time to prepare. Your left hip, responding to the premature rotation of your torso, has to spin open violently and early to get out of the way. This pull-and-spin action yanks your lead foot right off the ground. The foot isn't lifting itself, it’s being pulled up by a flawed sequence.
Sometimes, the body a has a genuine physical limitation. The golf swing, specifically the rotation through impact, requires a good amount of internal hip rotation. If you have tight hips (a very common issue for people who sit at desks), your lead hip may not have the range of motion to rotate fully while your foot remains flat on the ground. When it reaches its limit, the body finds a workaround. By lifting the heel and spinning the foot, it effectively "cheats" to create the necessary rotation. This isn't a swing fault in the traditional sense, but a physical one. We will provide a simple fix for this later on.
Power in golf comes from the ground up. It starts with your feet interacting with the ground, is amplified by the turn of your hips and torso, and is finally transferred through to the arms and the club. A lot of golfers, however, use an "all-arms" swing. They neglect the role of the lower body, swinging the club like they're chopping wood. When your legs and hips are just passive bystanders, they aren't engaged and aren't stable. An unstable base will easily get pulled around during the violent motion of the downswing, leading that left foot to lift and wander.
You may see players like Justin Thomas or Lexi Thompson with significant left foot movement through impact and think, "That must be where the power comes from!" On a surface level, you're not wrong, but you are missing the context. These elite athletes have incredibly precise and refined swing sequences. Their left foot lifts *in response to* a massive, perfectly timed transfer of vertical force from the ground. They are pushing so hard off the ground with their lead leg that it comes up a little. Amateur golfers who see this and try to *consciously* lift their foot are doing it backwards. They’re lifting the foot without the powerful ground forces, which kills stability and leads to disastrous results.
Keeping your left foot connected to the ground isn’t about just trying to force it to stay down. It’s about creating a downswing sequence that gives it no reason to lift in the first place. It all revolves around this core principle: you must shift before you rotate.
Think of it like throwing a baseball. You don't just stand flat-footed and spin your shoulders. You make your backswing, then you take a step toward the target (shifting your weight), plant your lead foot, and *then* you rotate your hips and throw. The golf swing follows the same sequence, just without taking a literal step (usually). Here’s how to apply it.
Understanding the theory is great, but ingraining the feeling is what counts. Here are three effective drills that will train your body to follow the correct sequence and keep that left foot grounded.
This is arguably the best drill for fixing an out-of-sequence swing and forcing the body to shift weight correctly. It makes the proper "shift then turn" motion feel completely natural.
This drill gives you unmistakable feedback the moment your weight shifts incorrectly or your heel starts to lift.
This is a fantastic drill, or even a permanent setup adjustment, for those who struggle with hip mobility. It’s a simple way to give your body the extra room for rotation it needs.
As you work on these drills, here are a few mental cues that can help duringyour practice:
Fixing a lifting lead foot is about getting back to the fundamentals of a good golf swing. The problem isn’t the foot itself, but an underlying fault in sequence and balance. By focusing on shifting a bit of weight to your lead side before you begin to rotate, you give your body the stable foundation it needs to turn powerfully and consistently, keeping that left foot firmly on the ground.
We know that perfecting a feel-based move on your own can be a challenge, sometimes you just need a second opinion. This is why we created Caddie AI. It acts as your on-demand golf coach, ready to help when you are at the range or even on the course. If you’re struggling with this move, you can ask for a specific drill tailored to you, or even get analysis on a swing video to see if there are other contributing factors. The goal is simple: to give every golfer access to expert guidance right when they need it most, so you can stop guessing and start playing better golf.
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