Importance of head down at impact

[F1Aussie]

Hi all, just recently I have been hitting the long clubs inconsistently with big differences between shortest and longest hits, spraying left and right and height. 

 

It has been very frustrating but I think I may have worked it out. Bi think it is related to me starting to lift my head early through the impact zone to track the ball flight rather than keeping head down. I have looked at some videos of pros and they seem to keep their head focussed on the spot where the ball was well into their follow through. 

What is everyone's thoughts about this? 

[otto6457]

Several pro's are looking towards the target before they hit the ball.  David Duval and Anika Sorenstam are probably the most visible of the pro's that are not looking at the ball at impact.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T26k-RTPKuA

 

Being "ball bound" and keeping you head down too long is probably a bigger problem for most people. 

 

If focusing on the spot where the ball was was at impact helps you hit the ball better, then keep doing it.  Everyone is different and what works for you is more important than what most pro's do. 

[MPStrat]

When you say “head down” it sounds like you’re talking more about what you’re doing with your eyes. The topic of what the eyes should do in the golf swing is very interesting and at this point much of it is debatable. IMO the eye line is significant. 

 

[Wooley12]

PGA Tour pros are not like normal mortals. They could drive blindfolded. Daddy told me to imagine there is a dime under the ball and you want to see it when the ball is gone. I try to do that on every shot including putts. 

[metaldog]

Not really head down,  but for the first time in years I suddenly developed a early extension issue, and the feel of my forehead staying glued to an imaginary wall in front of me at least until impact prevents me standing up early with my body and head going up and away from ball

[KD1]

My coach wanted me to *turn* my head with the swing through impact. Fixating on the ball, head still through and after impact, restricted my shoulder rotation and follow through and was causing too fast rate of closure on the club face. Turns out it was also causing neck strain issues.

 

To be clear he said let the head turn with the shoulders, but didn't say anything about lifting.

Edited April 30, 2023 by KD1

[Scottbox]

No one has ever had swing problems from "lifting their head". And as others have posted, it's often beneficial (as well as healthy) to let your head turn as early as impact. If you video yourself, you'll likely see that your body is raising up, not your head... and that if you didn't raise up, you probably couldn't even hit the ball. You're making a compensatory move by necessity, due to other root causes. Given the .8-2.5 seconds it takes to hit a golf ball, that compensation isn't always going to be timed right.

Edited April 30, 2023 by Scottbox

[iacas]

7 hours ago, KD1 said:

My coach wanted me to *turn* my head with the swing through impact. Fixating on the ball, head still through and after impact, restricted my shoulder rotation and follow through and was causing too fast rate of closure on the club face. Turns out it was also causing neck strain issues.

 

To be clear he said let the head turn with the shoulders, but didn't say anything about lifting.

 

This… yes. I've almost never had someone (I want to say never, but maybe there's some lesson I forgot about) had anyone "keep their head down" more. I've probably told 50 people or more that they can and should let their heads rotate through much earlier than they do it.

 

"What are you looking for? The ball's long gone!"

[SNIPERBBB]

If you try to keep your head down  you're basically making yourself stuck as you won't have any room to swing. You'll either hit 2ft behind the ball or massively be OTT. 

[RoyalTroon]

 

 

[Zitlow]

The right shoulder rotates into the chin bringing the head up. If your downswing sequence is correct it happens automatically. 

 

[RoyalTroon]

16 minutes ago, Zitlow said:

If your downswing sequence is correct it happens automatically. 

 

Yes, and which is something many do not, and will not, experience because they interfere too much on the downswing with what was built by them during the back swing.  

[Valtiel]

19 hours ago, Wooley12 said:

PGA Tour pros are not like normal mortals. They could drive blindfolded...

[F1Aussie]

On 4/30/2023 at 11:17 AM, otto6457 said:

Several pro's are looking towards the target before they hit the ball.  David Duval and Anika Sorenstam are probably the most visible of the pro's that are not looking at the ball at impact.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T26k-RTPKuA

 

Being "ball bound" and keeping you head down too long is probably a bigger problem for most people. 

 

If focusing on the spot where the ball was was at impact helps you hit the ball better, then keep doing it.  Everyone is different and what works for you is more important than what most pro's do. 

Yeah I did read that about them, I guess we are l different. I found my ball striking to be very crisp with my irons when I did this but found it very difficult to do with the big stick. 

[F1Aussie]

On 4/30/2023 at 12:02 PM, MPStrat said:

When you say “head down” it sounds like you’re talking more about what you’re doing with your eyes. The topic of what the eyes should do in the golf swing is very interesting and at this point much of it is debatable. IMO the eye line is significant. 

 

Interesting, can you elaborate? 

[F1Aussie]

23 hours ago, SNIPERBBB said:

If you try to keep your head down  you're basically making yourself stuck as you won't have any room to swing. You'll either hit 2ft behind the ball or massively be OTT. 

I found that with my irons the other day I hit them more consistently by making my head and eyes look at where the ball was for longer prior to the follow through  naturally allowing the head to rotate.

 

Couldnt do it with the driver as well though. I have only taken golf up again in the last two and a half months after not playing for around 10 years, I am naturally a pretty good ballstriker but have started getting some gremlins creep in that has been affecting my quality of strikes, distance and straightness of my drives. I can swing between striking like a low handicapper to striking like a 25 handicapper, from 315 yard drives to topped drives. 

 

I have recently taken some footage of my hitting to see if I can see what may be going on. I now have a suspicion that I am swaying off the ball in the back swing and that could be why I am hitting it all over the clubface and hitting occasional topped and fat shots with the long clubs. 

 

I think I may have a fix for it but won't know for sure until I hit the range again next weekend. 

[dblinden]

As is typical in all things golf, the issues are more complex than initially apparent. The head can move rotationally, laterally, vertically, etc. It can move with the torso or somewhat independent of it. If you bend or straighten your legs, what happens to head position? The eyes can move with the head or independent of head movement. Still photographs don't reveal movement patterns prior, during or just past impact. As we've learned, "Keep your head down" doesn't really convey much meaningful guidance. 

[Jeselnik]

I need a steady head, evidently less important to others.  If my head moves I hit like a girl instead of a wrecking ball. 
 

 

 

[skraly]

If by lifting you mean extending the neck and raising the chin, then yes, that is detrimental.  But you don’t want bury your chin to your chest either.  But if you mean lifting the head by allowing it to swivel in the direction of the target without extending the neck than no, that is not detrimental to the swing.  See Anika Sorenstam and David Duval.

[KD1]

Tiger's head in frame three is what I'm talking about. His head is turning with his shoulders. I had to be told to allow that to happen.

 

The other two examples don't show much past impact so don't really show the full picture.

[Zitlow]

 

 

[KMeloney]

People love to rip on the idea of "keep your head down." I can't help but think that what people are actually disputing is a matter of semantics, and that the concept -- even if the head, itself, shouldn't be the focus -- is legit.

 

For starters, the OP says that he LIFTS his head to track the ball flight, yet people are saying that it's ok to turn your head. Turning your head can be done on the same level, while lifting your head is just that -- it's raising your head, whether you've turned it at the same time or not. I'm assuming in this thread that the OP is actually lifting his head as he describes. And I'm under the impression that lifting your head at/near impact is completely unhelpful.

 

Now, if you want to argue that you can keep your head level while otherwise coming out of your posture, and so keeping your head level shouldn't be the focus, then I get that. And maybe the OP is early-extending, standing up, etc., and his head raising up is simply the result of it being attached to his body (which is actually doing the straightening/pulling away from the ball). The OP could just be describing the sensation he's most aware of, and describes his pulling up as not keeping his head down. That's a matter of semantics to me.

 

Aren't we ultimately talking about "staying in your posture" (and maybe even pressing into the ground, getting closer to the ball), and that doing the opposite of that is bad?

 

 

 

[naval2006]

On 5/1/2023 at 10:21 PM, Jeselnik said:

I need a steady head, evidently less important to others.  If my head moves I hit like a girl instead of a wrecking ball. 
 

 

 

These images keep you back on track on off days. Try it out. It works miracles. The famous frozen dead still head. 

[MonteScheinblum]

Keeping your head down like most cliches that continue to purvey, are nothing more than bandaids that provide a temporary respite.

 

Its like giving someone morpheme for a broken leg and doing nothing about the leg.

 

Three things on this subject.  On a pitch, the head is supposed come up.  On a full swing, forcing the head down is masking the root cause about why the head was coming up in the first place.  In math, a negative times a negative equals a positive.  In golf it creates the “I found it” epiphany that so many golfers have on the range and are shocked when “I’ve lost my swing”

 

Third…..The tour players can do things us mere mortals can mantra is obtuse thinking. 
 

When they were learning do you think they tried and continue to try some super human technique not available to hacks?…….or, when they were hacks too, did they figure out through trail and error what the easiest most efficient way was?  Remember, they honed their swings when they were weak chested toothpicks.  
 

See the tour average for AoA being down 1 to level.  They didn’t think, “I have enough speed, I don’t need to be more efficient.”……or did they just stumble on that because it’s the best combo between distance and face/path/sweetspot/target control?

 

Soapbox broken

Edited May 3, 2023 by MonteScheinblum

[SNIPERBBB]

5 hours ago, KMeloney said:

People love to rip on the idea of "keep your head down." I can't help but think that what people are actually disputing is a matter of semantics, and that the concept -- even if the head, itself, shouldn't be the focus -- is legit.

 

For starters, the OP says that he LIFTS his head to track the ball flight, yet people are saying that it's ok to turn your head. Turning your head can be done on the same level, while lifting your head is just that -- it's raising your head, whether you've turned it at the same time or not. I'm assuming in this thread that the OP is actually lifting his head as he describes. And I'm under the impression that lifting your head at/near impact is completely unhelpful.

 

Now, if you want to argue that you can keep your head level while otherwise coming out of your posture, and so keeping your head level shouldn't be the focus, then I get that. And maybe the OP is early-extending, standing up, etc., and his head raising up is simply the result of it being attached to his body (which is actually doing the straightening/pulling away from the ball). The OP could just be describing the sensation he's most aware of, and describes his pulling up as not keeping his head down. That's a matter of semantics to me.

 

Aren't we ultimately talking about "staying in your posture" (and maybe even pressing into the ground, getting closer to the ball), and that doing the opposite of that is bad?

 

 

 

Trying to do it in isolation is what the problem of the mantra of "keep your head down" is.  So like all result chasing, people try to force the issue which causes hilarity to ensure. 

[Jeselnik]

If i couldn’t keep my head steady I wouldn’t play golf.  If you cant keep your head steady you probably have excess tension or inflammation.  A good swing REQUIRES spine mobility. Mobility first, then learn to swing, 1000 times easier and higher potential. Bonus, the rest of us dont have to watch or listen to you suffer.

 

edit:  the OP is probably hyper-mobile or he couldn’t keep his head down too long.  Not sure if its a problem if he has the mobility, probably not necessary.

 

JNIK

Edited May 4, 2023 by Jeselnik
Op

[F1Aussie]

After reviewing some videos I took I don't think the head is a problem after all. Got a bit more tinkering to do on the range this weekend. Will see how it goes

[jholz]

I'd say this is an issue of nomenclature. We could use a lot of different terminology to describe what we are talking about here.

 

Phrases like:

 

"Keeping your head down"

 

"Keeping your head still"

 

"Keeping your head position static in relation to the ball"

 

All of these terms insinuate different things. The third statement is the one that I think most accurately describes what one needs to do in the golf swing.

 

But, then again, I'm an idiot.