Why You Need This: Today, you'll discover "How To Keep Your Head Down In The Golf Swing"

And I'm sure at some point in your golfing life you've been told to "keep your head down"...

...but what exactly does that mean? And when does it matter most in your swing?

In today's lesson...

I'll answer these questions, plus explain how your lead shoulder could be causing some (or all) of your head movement.

Now you'll know exactly why you've been told to keep your head down.

 

 

 

 

Golf Pros Featured:

Instructors Featured: Clay Ballard    

Video Duration: 5:50

Video Transcription:

Now, if you've ever played a single round of golf, I guarantee you somebody has told you to keep your head down, keep your head still, and you're lifting up if you hit a bad shot. Then you also hear golf instructors talk about how you don't have to keep your head down. You'll see players like David Deval, who actually, when they come to contact, turn their head toward the target a little bit.

So if you had to keep your head down, he wouldn't be very good. And he played some fantastic golf. Well, I'm actually here to tell you that keeping your head down is real and it can help you with your hand eye coordination, and then we're gonna get to why maybe turning your head up may be good or bad for you, depending on your situation.

First, let's get to when it matters to keep your head down. I'm a big believer and I see most all great players when they set up to the golf ball and they start their backswing. Their head does not move very much. I see a lot of players that struggle with contact that will do this. They'll turn their shoulders to level, and what happens is my left shoulder starts to push across my chin, it gets in the way of my chin, and all of a sudden my head starts to really slide off the golf ball where I might see players that kinda lean back this way, and all of a sudden the head is going this way.

What I want you to do, Because I want you to set up with your head a little bit behind the golf ball, and then from there, I want you to feel like your shoulders turned down to allow your head to be pretty stable. I don't want a lot of head movement in the back swing. Or it's, it's kinda like somebody's moving that golf ball around on you and you lose track of where it's at.

You're not gonna hit it as consistently. So put a club across your shoulders. I want my left shoulder to turn down and I want my butt into the club if I have it across my shoulders to be pointing behind the golf ball and down toward the golf ball. If I do this at all and it's level, now all of a sudden, this left shoulder's completely in my way.

And what's gonna end up happening if you do that, is you're not gonna make much of a shoulder turn and you're not gonna have very much power. If I wanna get a lot of power, I gotta get that left shoulder to turn down. That way it goes under my chin. I can get this big shoulder turn like the pros, and it's not in the way.

It's not moving my head. Same thing with the right shoulder, it has to go up to allow me to really load up and get that big turn without my shoulders moving my head outta the way. That's a big key for consistency. Again, the more your head moves around in the back swing, the more that ball looks like to your eyes or what's called proprioception, that it's moving around.

It's gonna be tougher to hit a moving ball than is a still ball. Also, in the first half of the downswing, what I want you to do is, as you've made this good turn, your head should be behind the golf ball at this point. And from there, as you shift your weight to the left, I don't wanna slide way in front of it again, my head is moving way up here.

There's no good players that get their head way in front of the golf ball and can play very well because from there I'm either gonna have to flip or I'm gonna chop chop straight down on the golf ball. I have to keep my head behind the golf ball so that I can get my body in a position to where I can release in front and hit that ball down the fairway.

So again, that first move down after I've made this good stable position in the backswing, it's okay if my head stays a little bit behind the golf ball, maybe even drops slightly to the right. It's not gonna be moving a ton, but it's okay if it stays a little behind the golf balls that's happening to get my body lined up to where I can really hit that ball forward.

You can see it's so easy to hit the golf ball. I can't stop from hitting it. I'm hitting it even when I'm not trying to. But here. In all seriousness, as long as I stay behind that golf ball, my head doesn't move in front. I'm gonna be pretty daggone. Good. Now, here's the caveat. Once I get to about here, the swing is so fast.

From here to here, it doesn't matter what your eyes see. A lot of times players will never even see the golf ball as they make contact. For me, it's kinda like it almost just goes underwater. It's a blur. I'm just visualizing where the golf ball's gonna go. And you may see a guy like David Deval. Once he gets to here, his head starts to turn up.

That's completely fine. Once you've made your back swing, once you've started your downswing, If that head hasn't moved all over the place, it hasn't gotten in front of the golf ball, it doesn't really matter what happens after that, you're gonna be able to hit it pretty daggone. Good. So let's go ahead and try this out.

Little tilt behind. I'm gonna get my shoulders tilted. Big turn. And I'm gonna keep my head still the first half of the downswing. Let's give that a whirl.

All right, hit that one really good. Right down the middle of the fairway. Really solid and. There's something to this, which is more than the head. Well, the head is attached to the top of my spine, and it's really what my spine angle is doing. That's gonna determine how consistent I can do with my head. I want you to get your spine tilted slightly away, and then I want everything to rotate around your spine as you're making your golf swing.

That's gonna allow you to be really, really consistent. If I can get my spine angle right, The head motion is gonna fall in line. Everything else is gonna fall in line. So what I want you to do to get this right, it's actually what I call the stable fluid spine in the tops speed golf system. If you're a member of the Tops speed golf website, all you need to do, go ahead and click on the instruction tab.

Click on the top speed golf system and then the stable fluid spine. And from there, as you work through level one, it's gonna become automatic. You're gonna get set up in a way that's gonna promote more of a draw. It's gonna promote you getting in the slot as you start the downswing, it's gonna promote more lag, it's gonna promote a more stable head.

All this stuff that we wanna have happen in the golf swing. Starts with that spine angle, and that's why I call it the number one fundamental. So head on over to the stable fluid spine section. Start from level one video one, and I guarantee you golf is gonna get a whole lot more simple. Let's go ahead and start it.

I'll see it in the stable fluid spine.