Head dipping

[woody69]

I finally got around to having a mate film my swing and one thing I noticed was the downward movement of my head towards the ground by quite a way, as I started the downswing and impacted the ball. I can't imagine this is a particularly favourable action and ideally my head should stay up shouldn't it?

Any tips / drills for keeping my spine straight and not bobbing the old noggin?

Can anyone explain what this action is likely to do to my strike? I assume it may go a way to explaining why I hit my fat/thins?

 

[JustOne]

The head goes down a bit in a lot of good swings... just depends by how much and what you're doing with the rest of the swing.

 

[woody69]

Managed to get it off my phone and on to You Tube. I was able to slow down using the you tube editor.

[video]https://youtu.be/WoYvQivXcnQ[/video]

 

[la_lucha]

Have you watched Rory's head during a swing?

 

[woody69]

Have you watched Rory's head during a swing?

No, but I can. Perhaps the head dipping is irrelevant and I'm chasing a red herring.

 

[One Planer]

Have you watched Rory's head during a swing?

Maybe not so much a good example now but Tiger's head dropped quite a bit from memory.

 

[la_lucha]

Maybe not so much a good example now but Tiger's head dropped quite a bit from memory.

I seem to remember Crossfield doing a feature on Rorys head dip a few weeks ago.

 

[CheltenhamHacker]

I bet my head dips way more than yours! Just wish I had the time to fix it. (it's ridiculously excessive!)

 

[garyinderry]

Seems like a bit of a restricted back swing and follow through. let it flow.

 

[woody69]

Seems like a bit of a restricted back swing and follow through. let it flow.

My back swing has always been quite short. I think that is down to a lack of hip turn.

 

[Dan2501]

Looks to me like your problem is more swaying away from the ball too much on your backswing rather than a head-dipping problem. Rick Shiels has done some good videos about keeping centred, and you want to feel like your sternum stays above the ball. If you watch yours, you sway so far away from the ball, that you have to make a massive movement with your body towards the ball to have a chance at hitting the ball before the floor, and it's that movement that makes it look like you're dipping your head.

 

[woody69]

Looks to me like your problem is more swaying away from the ball too much on your backswing rather than a head-dipping problem. Rick Shiels has done some good videos about keeping centred, and you want to feel like your sternum stays above the ball. If you watch yours, you sway so far away from the ball, that you have to make a massive movement with your body towards the ball to have a chance at hitting the ball before the floor, and it's that movement that makes it look like you're dipping your head.

View attachment 14823

That makes a lot of sense as I tend to be quite inconsistent with my irons on some days hitting fats and thins, where I guess the low point of my swing has moved too far back behind the ball caused due to swaying too far over to the right.

 

[Dan2501]

[video=youtube;GpwXifyLCSU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpwXifyLCSU[/video]

Give this a watch!

 

[Foxholer]

I'd certainly worry less about the head dipping (it's not so much your head as your upper body btw) as the way you are 'pushing' with the right arm. That bent right elbow indicates significant loss/absence of torque and zip by the uncocking wrists through the hitting zone. Great lag up to that point though! It wouldn't surprise me if straightening that right arm better also reduced the dip somewhat - purely because the bent arm is 'shorter'!

 

[woody69]

Give this a watch!

Thanks, helpful.

 

[woody69]

I'd certainly worry less about the head dipping (it's not so much your head as your upper body btw) as the way you are 'pushing' with the right arm. That bent right elbow indicates significant loss/absence of torque and zip by the uncocking wrists through the hitting zone. Great lag up to that point though! It wouldn't surprise me if straightening that right arm better also reduced the dip somewhat - purely because the bent arm is 'shorter'!

Sorry Foxholer, not sure I completely follow. How can I keep the right arm straighter? Do you mean on the downswing it needs to be made straighter quicker?

 

[Foxholer]

Sorry Foxholer, not sure I completely follow. How can I keep the right arm straighter? Do you mean on the downswing it needs to be made straighter quicker?

Yes. Apologies on not mentioning that. At/near impact the arms should be in that 'Y' position (or slightly ahead of the ball, with a very slight amount of lag still left as you maximise clubhead speed/release while hitting marginally down on the ball - with nothing contrived). You appear to have your left arm pretty straight, but your right arm bowed at the elbow - looking like you are pushing with your right arm - an inefficient way to get clubhead speed, rather than 'releasing' the club, with some wrist torque. More apologies for making it sound so 'mechanical'! If you 'stop' the vid at 19 secs and use the cursor to step through the downswing, I think you will see what I mean. Compare that with Neil Tappin's flowing release (at a rainy Beau desert?) that follows yours. Or at least did once when I browsed it - it's here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7Ru_6bEvNQ

 

[Foxholer]

Edit/disclaimer to above post....Check my comment in Post 6 of Marty420's swing thread here http://forums.golf-monthly.co.uk/sh...ng-anybody-got-any-tips&p=1272858#post1272858 Slow-mo might be fooling me - and/or I may be spouting rubbish!

 

[the_coach]

good ways to go would be to try to feel the swing is more centered, so body so head doesn't move away from target, 'feel' there's rotation around a center both going back then you keep your head & center as you rotate your arms & club go past your chin through the ball. what your feeling that's an issue is the lateral move away then more pronounced upper body (so head has to go with it) move laterally towards target.

do some drills with say a 7i with your feet real close together making a turn back to left arm horizontal shaft at 90º so 'L' shape & a turn to 7 through impact ( more centered rotation) feeling your arms go past your center to a reverse 'L' right arm horizontal shaft at 90º, just swing at 50%.
make any lateral move away from the ball or back to ball & through impact & you'll know as you'll easy lose balance.

it's not really 'head dipping' that's an issue.

 

[woody69]

good ways to go would be to try to feel the swing is more centered, so body so head doesn't move away from target, 'feel' there's rotation around a center both going back then you keep your head & center as you rotate your arms & club go past your chin through the ball. what your feeling that's an issue is the lateral move away then more pronounced upper body (so head has to go with it) move laterally towards target.

do some drills with say a 7i with your feet real close together making a turn back to left arm horizontal shaft at 90º so 'L' shape & a turn to 7 through impact ( more centered rotation) feeling your arms go past your center to a reverse 'L' right arm horizontal shaft at 90º, just swing at 50%.
make any lateral move away from the ball or back to ball & through impact & you'll know as you'll easy lose balance.

it's not really 'head dipping' that's an issue.

Thanks coach. Yes, now it has been pointed out to me, lateral movement in my swing probably goes a long way to explain a number of problems I have particularly around the fat's and thins as I get the timing wrong and the bottom of my swing lands before the ball and potentially the issue I have with a low ball flight caused by perhaps getting too far ahead of the ball as I try to pull it back, delofting the club.

Thanks for the drill, I'll give it a whirl.