Golf Myths – Myth #2 Keep your Head Down as Long as Possible

Lets take a look at another myth.  To keep your head down is probably the oldest and most repeated golf tip in the history of the game.

The intend of the tip is to make you keep your spineangle through the shot and thus make better contact with the ball.

The truth is that almost nobody lifts their head before they hit the ball. The problem isn’t that the player is looking after the ball too soon.

Usually the golfer is just swinging too steep which makes him to stand up (with his upper body) in the down swing because he’s instinctively feeling that he would hit the ground too early otherwise.

So looking at the ball for the whole shot won’t solve any swing problems and generate only unnecessary tension in the neck and shoulders. [clearboth]

Keep your Head Behind the Ball

When you take a look at the swings of a couple of professional players than you see that the head stays still or swivels slightly until impact and moves with the follow through up into the finish.

Some pros swivel their head through the shot more then others.

Take a look at the swings of Jack Nicklaus or Annika Sorenstam for example it seems that they aren’t even looking at the ball during impact.

Anyway, you will find no good golfer who stares at the ball after impact. A better thought than staring at the ball and keeping your head down is trying to keep your head behind the ball.

This will promote a swing around a fixed axis. The natural instinct is to dip your head through impact to help lift the ball.

This up and down movement causes inconsistent contact with the ball. Your goal should be to rotate back and through on a fixed axis.

If you do this it almost doesn’t matter if you are looking at the ball or not.