Keep your head down - Myth?

[r0wly86]

This often comes up as an old golfing tip that is junk and just a myth. People point to Annika Sorenstam and David Duvall and show that their heads are well up yet both of them were very successful golfers as proof that it is a myth.Yet.... my wife has taken up golf recently and her bad shot is a top, and every time she tops it, her head moves up more than when she hits it well. This doesn't tally with Duvall and Sorenstam and the accepted wisdom that the keep you head down mantra is a load of bull.Then it dawned on me.When my wife tops the ball, yes her head is up. But I think more pertinent to the topping is that her whole upper body lifts with the head. When you watch Sorenstam yes her head is looking up, but her shoulders are on the same plane as they turn through the ball, which to my eyes is the difference.You can have your head up and keep your upper body still and hit the ball well. You can have your head up and lift your upper body too and possibly top the ball. But it is very difficult to lift your upper body while you head is down.So is the idea of keeping your head down, wrong; a myth; or a misunderstood piece of advice, both when giving and receiving?Now I've written it, I'm sure Bob will come along and tear it to shreds.

 

[Orikoru]

I think telling a beginner to keep their head still is just a shortcut, in a way. It's never perfectly still anyway, but as you say, in trying to keep the head still it just means they're not rising up out of the swing too early.

I went through a phase of thinning wedges and getting awful toe strikes on them, and I fixed that by focussing on keeping my head still. With wedges though it was more that I subconsciously came up early to look at the green and see where the ball was going, so I just needed to stop doing that and finish the swing before I look up.

 

[Jamesbrown]

When you “keep your head down” or at least focus on it, you limit the amount you will move.
Focus maintaining spine angle and the hips pushed back as you rotate them.

The head has to rise through extension, and weight transfer.

Keeping your head down is very vague and if I was to follow that tip, it would just limit my swing and make me want to hit the balls with my arms.

Ain’t a coach mind.

 

[Grant85]

I think taking too much notice of former world number 1 golfers is a bit fruitless.

Keep your head down is something a lot of fellow players might say, and while it may be something a coach looks at, it is probably not going to form a big part of a lesson in getting someone to hit the ball well.

 

[Kellfire]

It's more of a feeling than an actual instruction. You will feel more stable but then on seeing your swing, you'll see it still moves loads.

 

[r0wly86]

When you “keep your head down” or at least focus on it, you limit the amount you will move.
Focus maintaining spine angle and the hips pushed back as you rotate them.

The head has to rise through extension, and weight transfer.

Keeping your head down is very vague and if I was to follow that tip, it would just limit my swing and make me want to hit the balls with my arms.

Ain’t a coach mind.

Which I guess is my point. The idea of keeping your head down is to stop the whole body from lifting, in itself a correct idea.

But when it is not explained properly you get people just saying it without understanding it and people as you say physically trying to keep their head down which limits their swing.

I can understand the concept because generally where your head goes your body follows because it is a very heavy part of your body. So a pro saying keep your head down should stop the body from rising. But it should be taught and explained why, i.e. to stop your upper body from rising.

 

[duncan mackie]

Some miscomprehension here i feel.

Keep you head down is, at best, shorthand for not bringing your head up to look for the ball, or target, before you have hit the ball! It is definitely not about compressing the head down the spine!

You need to have your chin clear of you shoulders (arguably both of them) so head down is also inconsistent with that.

Head still isn't bad, if it's in the right place to start with! But over focusing on it is rarely constructive. Even with putting you would want more than just the head still (but it's a starting point).

 

[Coffey]

I think telling a beginner to keep their head still is just a shortcut, in a way. It's never perfectly still anyway, but as you say, in trying to keep the head still it just means they're not rising up out of the swing too early.

I went through a phase of thinning wedges and getting awful toe strikes on them, and I fixed that by focussing on keeping my head still. With wedges though it was more that I subconsciously came up early to look at the green and see where the ball was going, so I just needed to stop doing that and finish the swing before I look up.

Complete opposite has worked for me.

I was a serial thinner of chips and I thought the source was that I wasn't keeping my head down and was rising out of the shot.

When I went for a lesson and got to the bottom of the issue, was that keeping down and therefore square to the ball was resulting in me not rotating the body and I was using too much arms. Allowing myself to rotate my body and feel like I am coming through the ball is working so much better. I felt the 'keeping the head down' very restricting so it is not a feeling or swing thought I actually implement in any of my game.

 

[Orikoru]

Complete opposite has worked for me.

I was a serial thinner of chips and I thought the source was that I wasn't keeping my head down and was rising out of the shot.

When I went for a lesson and got to the bottom of the issue, was that keeping down and therefore square to the ball was resulting in me not rotating the body and I was using too much arms. Allowing myself to rotate my body and feel like I am coming through the ball is working so much better. I felt the 'keeping the head down' very restricting so it is not a feeling or swing thought I actually implement in any of my game.

Horses for courses I guess! I am self-diagnosed since I don't have lessons, but my swing is quite compact I guess, I tend to swing within myself and probably don't get a lot of turn anyway. So rising out of the swing just meant bringing the shoulders and arms up and losing out on the good contact. As I said though, in essence it was just something to make myself finish the swing before trying to look where it was going. It wasn't about the actual head itself, per se.

P.S. I wasn't meaning chips as such either, I was more on about pitches, so 60-100 yards maybe.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

An awful lot of your body weight is in your head and that is at the top of a 5'-6' body pillar.

Head still for 'balance'...…..which is a word seldom used by coaches but vital to playing well.

I used to display to beginners that 'head down' was just nonsense by hitting perfect shots whilst looking directly at them.

 

[User 105]

As has been said more of a feel thing than anything else. Works for me when my strike gets a bit inconsistent as i know I have a tendency to come up out of it on the downswing.

And using a couple of pro's as examples who do it to disprove a myth doesn't really work. There are a lot of pro's that can play at a high level with swing faults that a teaching pro would definitely stop you doing.

Jordan's chicken wing, DJ's bowed wrist, Furyk's massive re-route on the way down, Bubba's dancing feet (or pretty much everything else bubba does come to think about it ) etc

 

[jim8flog]

When I miss putts to right more often than not it is because of looking at the hole too soon.
My sort of shanks with a wedge I also often put down to the same sort of thing.

My tops with full shots come more from swaying which results in the club bottoming out to far beyond where the ball is.

 

[adasko]

this video explain it well why golfers should listen other golfers with a pinch of salt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noU5_4L6H3o

 

[chrisd]

I had a lesson last year with Benn Barham, who's the subject of a spread in this month's GM, and he actually wanted me to look up through impact as there were many benefits to NOT staying still looking at the ball.

 

[Capella]

Golfers don't miss the shot because they lift their head. They "lift their head" because they feel that they are hitting the ground too early. It is a reflex to prevent pain and injury and has nothing to do with "looking up too early" or such nonsense. Focussing on the ball and on the srike location can sometimes help with that (which is why the "wrong" advice of keeping your head down actually helps for some people). For others, concentrating on maintaining spine angle or on shifting the weight to the lead foot does the trick.

 

[bobmac]

this video explain it well why golfers should listen other golfers with a pinch of salt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noU5_4L6H3o

About 4:50 the guy says your head can move a bit on the way back.
I don't agree with that as in my opinion it encourages a sway.
I prefer to say keep the head still till impact or a little after depending on the golfer

 

[Foxholer]

An awful lot of your body weight is in your head and that is at the top of a 5'-6' body pillar.

Head still for 'balance'...…..which is a word seldom used by coaches but vital to playing well.

I used to display to beginners that 'head down' was just nonsense by hitting perfect shots whilst looking directly at them.

This!!

Stable or under control is much better imo!

Here's a couple of Luke Donald's swing - one often touted as one worth emulating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVW8DBHWXv8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08rpqW2Z9Vw

Does he keep his head still? No! But is it 'under control'. I certainly believe so!

Here's an article, by someone who knows a bit about Golf, who ain't a fan of keeping the head still either! https://www.golfdigest.com/story/tom-watson-why-keeping-your-head-still-will-hurt-your-game

Oh and I've seen a 'hater' of that expression challenge folk to actually try to swing while keeping their heads locked still. The results were pathetic, as they found it impossible to actually make a swing anywhere near approaching 'decent'!

And here's Bob's (excellent) Headcover drill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsrovFJ3o9I Check the angle of the hat peak!

Stable! Not 'Still'!

Sorenstam, Duval et al were/are Professionals and can dedicate huge amounts of time to fine-tuning their swing, so may not be great models for swings.

Remember that the unconscious mind has 2 overriding priorities during a golf swing - as in many other activities!
1. Don't fall over! aka balance!
2. Avoiding hurting yourself!

Both of these happen instinctively and both are likely to involve lifting/straightening of the torso with subsequent elevation of the head! Or maybe simply lifting the head. so 'beginners' have to learn (or actually teach their subconscious) that swinging a golf club is not going to do either of the above!

And 1 further consideration....While you may observe the 'lifting of the head', it's quite possible/likely that that was a reaction to an earlier dropping of it (perhaps via the torso) often earlier in the downswing!

 

[jusme]

I think its solid advice and keeps a more stable swing. When my swing goes of trying to keep my head still (avoids swaying) brings back expected striking again. That being said what works for one is potential disaster for another

 

[patricks148]

Some miscomprehension here i feel.

Keep you head down is, at best, shorthand for not bringing your head up to look for the ball, or target, before you have hit the ball! It is definitely not about compressing the head down the spine!

You need to have your chin clear of you shoulders (arguably both of them) so head down is also inconsistent with that.

Head still isn't bad, if it's in the right place to start with! But over focusing on it is rarely constructive. Even with putting you would want more than just the head still (but it's a starting point).

this

 

[garyinderry]

I only ever hit shanks on the course if i am not looking at the ball at the moment of truth.