I hate to say this, but I have never been one to avoid facts or to hide my head in the sand, and this is it – Ben Hogan clearly, most definitely heel-lifted (that can’t be argued against with a straight face), but he muddled the issue with his book and some people’s poor reading comprehension.

WAX Nation citizen AK sent me excerpts from Hogan’s book (which I have in my library, but which I haven’t read in decades other than to look for online quotes), and we found therein a likely cause of the “Hogan said not to lift the heel” legend.

Now, nowhere in that book does he actually say that, but if one struggles with reading comprehension, I can see where the mistake could be made.

Semantics aside (you’ll see what I mean), there is no arguing this picture:

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That is a clear heel-lift on the back pivot, and it’s a picture taken directly from his book, so only a fool would argue the point.

Again, go ahead and argue:

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Hogan had heel-lift in his back pivot.

The end.

Here’s the problem:

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If you can’t read the boxed text, here it is, without the annoying all-caps and with the relevant part bolded:

Let me caution you against lifting the left heel too high off the ground on the backswing. If the heel stays on the ground – fine.  If it comes up an inch off the ground – fine.  No higher than that, though – it will only lead to faulty balance and other undesirable complications.

This is a catastrophic mis-statement prone to misunderstanding by the less literate, because Hogan obviously meant that there are times when one pivots and the heel will remain more or less flat to the ground.

Even with my MCS full hip turn pivot, if swinging with a wedge or short iron, there can be an instance where the stance is narrow enough that the hips can turn as much as they need to without much or any heel lift:

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Notice as well the phrasing – “If the heel stays on the ground…” which is different from saying “If one keeps the heel on the ground…”

In the above gif., my heel was indeed staying on the ground, but I was making no effort whatsoever to keep it on the ground – I just didn’t require a hip turn full enough to lift the heel when making a wedge or certain iron swings.

If you watch my wedge swing viewed diagonally, you see that I’m still getting a full hip turn with this pivot:

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… and if you watch my hips, they turn until I get to the top and begin back down – at no point did my lack of heel lift restrict the hip turn, I just know how Hogan pivoted and took the same action because it’s unbeatable.

You never want to try to do anything at all with the feet – the stance width and the degree of hip rotation on the back pivot will dictate, depending upon the manner of pivot (like Hogan’s “Perfect Pivot”), how much if at all the leading heel rises.

If it does, fine – if it doesn’t and one isn’t trying to keep it down, also fine.

But one doesn’t lock the hips in place and try to achieve a shoulder turn by freezing the feet on the ground and twisting the lower back like a wet tea towel.

Hogan never did that, and he would never have instructed that.

He was also misleading on the high heel lift – the greatest major winner of all time had a significant heel lift:

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… and the only issue with that type of pivoting action is that it’s a young man’s pivot action and requires strength and agility.

Nicklaus had no balance issues swinging this way, but I just happen to view Hogan’s pivot action as superior.