Golf Tips from the pros

What? Don't Keep My Head Down?

Tom Wischmeyer
Director of Instruction,
The Golf University,
San Diego, California, USA
1994 San Diego PGA Teacher of the year.

At the Golf University we spend a lot of time eliminating the most common myths in golf. At the top of the list is keep your head down. I know this is probably the first thing you were told to focus on when you started to play golf. The problem is that it is a killer to your swing motion. A golfer who exaggerates keeping their head down, or still, often suffers from a reverse weight shift and an over use of their arms.

A better thought process would be to keep you head level. We must allow some side to side motion of our head or we can never transfer our weight. Videos of the world's best golfers clearly show that they move their heads to the right from 1-5 inches in order to accommodate the backswing weight shift. It is also clear that they finish well left of their starting position as they complete their follow through.

Remember, your head is connected to your spine. If you are going to rotate your shoulders successfully, your upper spine and therefore your head must move with it. Any extreme effort to inhibit head movement will restrict your turn and therefore your weight transfer.

A good golf swing depends on free flowing motion. So, go with the flow, let your head move a little and you will be surprised how it frees up your swing.