Have you gone to a P.G.A. teaching pro for an evaluation? Hitting the heel could be a sign of a swing fault or improper lie angle.

Handicap going up isn't a bad thing, enter tournaments once you get everything figured out and win a few bucks or some pro shop credit!

Keep at it and it'll come back. Don't be your worst enemy and overthink it!
To borrow a quote you may have heard before: "Just grip it and rip it"!

Have fun.

If I start getting out of wack I hit the range and try everything I can think off. I will try different ball placements and I’ll see if I’m crowding the ball.

Adding to Bill L's reply, it sounds like the lie angle on your irons may need to be tweaked.If the heel is making contact with the ground first, chances are the club is too upright.
You may want to take them to a reputable tech and have the lie angle changed.

Speedy, go see your pro. When I start doing that my pro gets me to slow down my swing and to move closer to the ball. Has helped me. He tells me my swing gets flat, fast and I stand to far away from the ball. If that makes sense. They call those the "Chucks" where I play. Am told there are two things you do not do at our course. Pull on Superman's cap and stand to the right of Chuck when he has an iron in his hand. Since I have been taking lesson's, I showed them.......=) Good luck, pal.....

Hey Speedy, just read your post. Nothing you can't handle. Stay positive. I'm sure it's just a couple swings away!
Play Well
Steve S.

The best suggestion I could make is, read everything above all over again. Then go see your pro.

Speedy, I get the same advice that Chuck gave. Slow down, sometimes way down, and go a little more upright. I will get the occasional "Chuck" too by getting too flat, and way to fast. Slow down and let the club do the work. You'll get it back.

Played with pro yesterday and probably had one of my worst rounds in many moons. The planets were just not in alignment. You know Jupiter and Mars were at it again. Came into number 16, perfect drive, best all day, lined up a wedge to the green, felt like I had the perfect alignment, Speedy, a little far from the ball, took the club back low real fast and Chucked it right and into the lake. Looked at my pro and laughed, what else could I say or do. I knew exactly what I did wrong. When we got to the next hole which was a short par four, took out my five iron moved up and hit a bomb down the fairway, pulled out a nine iron and hit it ten feet from the put under the hole, false front dead at the flag. Funny world. Laugh it off and move on. "Chuckers" come and go, but my pro says, Chuck you know what you did wrong, now move on to the next shot. Yeah, I made a bogey. Oh, by the way I am 72 and play the senior tees. First one those things I had made in a while........should not have read this article.....

Speedy, short game is totally key. As far as the other aspects, it has happened to me also. When this happens, I start thinking way to much about what I am doing, totally over thinking the swing. All those good swings are in there, we just have to find them. Sometimes it is best to just step up to that ball, no swing thoughts, and hit it!

By the way, how is your new club working out for you this year? A while back you had mentioned something about trying to set up a Team Titleist event there? LOL!!!

New club is fantastic and I do hope to hold something this fall. They've made a few changes to our tee time system for the better. Believe it or not they were still using the old tee sheet and writing them down. Now everything is online and actually checking to see if I can get 4 to 5 tee times in advance. I'm hoping it will work out and would love to host an outing.