Head Move (Or Not)-“So I Married A Teaching Professional” (Archive deux)

Posted on by jasonsutton

Something that I have been thinking a lot about lately as I have been giving hundreds of lessons is lOW POINT, HEAD MOVEMENT AND BODY PIVOT. As not to make this a full on debate amongst coaches (although that would be ok), I want to give the students a few ideas about how to improve the consistency of your contact. When we talk about the low point in the golf swing, we are referring to the bottom of the swing circle, just before it starts to elevate up and to the left. This point is typically even with your lead shoulder. This is why when you see a good player take a divot, it is usually 2 to 4 inches long on the target side of the golf
ball. If you are hitting the ball fat or thin, then your low point is not
as it should be so we have to look at a few areas that might give us
some insight into why this is happening. I am going to attempt to convey this in an understandable way for as I have alot of thoughts on this matter. Understanding is the easy part for most, it is application and what to apply that golfers struggle with. So question becomes: Should the head move in the golf swing? If so how much? How does the body pivot affect this idea? and Does head size make a difference? That was a joke.

HEAD MOVEMENT

                                                                                                                                                                           Early in my teaching career, I must have picked up a Jimmy Ballard book and read it (the 7 common denominators) because I allowed my students to shift there weight behind the ball, then turn, shift back to center and swing. As I have seen this method work for many players over the years. Rocco Mediate, Hal Sutton etc. It seems to require a lot of timing. So in the last 10 years, I have allowed no more than 1 half a head to the right as my guideline. To clarify what we mean by head movement: typically most teaching pros will draw a box or a circle around the head when looking at video. Any side to side or up and down motion will be easy to see when this is done. As I have been studying the teaching methods such and “stack and tilt” and “The Golfing Machine”, they like to see the head stay centered. The golfing machine calls it “the tripod”. I always struggled with this idea because I thought it changed the spine angle too much in a reversing manner to achieve an on plane downswing or to create power. After studying massive amounts of video on players that adhere to these methods I found that it these things were achievable. As long as lower center (naval area) is slightly ahead of upper center (sternum) you can find achieveable plane.  You just have to have the right components in place. In order to keep your head completely still or might I describe as “steady”, you must keep your shoulders rotating on top of your hips and a bit steeper than normal. The right hip absolutely cannot slide to the right at all or you will get a reverse spine angle. I more lateral move off of the ball might have a flatter shoulder plane.  So which is the right way? I think it depends on the students characteristics and athletic ability.

                                                                                                                                                                                                       I asked my friend and top 100 teacher, Chuck Evans about head movement and he said,”it must stay still, period. I then asked if it does move, does that change low point and the answer is absolutely. If you head is too far behind the ball, then your left wrist becomes low point. What percentage of golfers, your students, you, yeah you……….have a bowed left wrist at impact? Not as many as we want to admit, right. It can be more on top of the ball and still work.  So this makes the head steady idea make sense to me and has helped my students improve their contact even if impact isn’t perfect. When I move a player into a steeper shoulder plane with a steady head, the first reaction is it feels like a reverse pivot. When I show them on video that they still have a neutral or slightly tilted spine away from the target, they understand. The player with too much head movement to the right will feel this way because it is a big change. When they hit that first shot more solid, they buy into it pretty quick. I will hook up some video examples of my students to help make sense of all this.

MATCHING COMPONENTS

I have always been fond of a lower, flatter arm plane but have some students with high hands if they show the ability to successfully drop the club on plane. When you work with a more neutral pivot, to avoid getting too steep on the downswing, your arm plane should be a little flatter. If you tend to move off of the ball and tilt your spine more away from the target on the downswing, you can use a higher hand position. It is all about your ability to consistently find the plane line and low point that is important.

STEADY BUT NEVER IN FRONT

I think we would all agree that we don’t like to see the head forward of its original position at impact. This typically causes a loss of lag or club head throwaway. Another reason a steady head might be easier. If you shift too far off the ball, you must shift forward to recenter and could slide too far in front.

So in conclusion. Everyone wants more distance. If you load up on your backside and coil, you might give yourself a chance to hit it farther but you might sacrifice a consistent low point and your contact will suffer. I have found that for most players, SOLID CONTACT IS WAY MORE IMPORTANT. I have a saying,”Speed without contact is useless”. Think about it. So if you are struggling with solid contact, try a more neutral, head centered pivot and I think you will find that ever illusive LOW POINT and might even take make a target side divot. I will do a video on this in the near future that will help explain better. I hope this made sense.

P.S. remember these swing ideas are examples of A way to swing a golf club not THE WAY….Good teachers have a few tools, great teachers have MANY.

See you on the lesson tee,

Jason

10 thoughts on “Head Move (Or Not)-“So I Married A Teaching Professional” (Archive deux)”

  1. Does head size make a difference? That’s hillarious.

    I agree. I would say the head should stay as centered and as still as possible given the students abilities/flexibility, I have followed this guideline for the last 18 years. This gives the golfer 1 axis to simply turn around. Every golfer should know that the center point of the golf swing is not the belt buckle area but rather the sternum and this is what we must focus our rotation around. Ideally the head should only begin to move slightly post impact, ie. full extension position as the clubs energy and momentum allow the body to be pulled up and around to the finish.

    If the head moves, it changes the low point but more because our head controls our body which would move our center (sternum) or chest away from where it began either N, S, (up or down) E or W. (laterally) neither of which are any good. If a golfer loses this center it’s very difficult for them to find it again and this often results in a variety of shots. Any motion up/down/right/left will require a forced compensation in the hopes of re-aquiring the center during a 1.5 second motion, if you’re hand/eye co-ordination is impeccable you will be a decent player, but if not look at making some very necessary changes especially if your a mid to high handicapper with solid contact issues.

    Good article Jason…

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  2. Jason,
    I don’t mind a swivel of the head and especially post impact as I don’t want the eyes to stay down too long because it kills the athleticism of the finish (see Charles Warren). I am talking mostly about the backswing movement. How about the title? for all the Mike Meyers fans. Great comments Jason.
    Jason

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    1. Oh, yeah, for certain not in the backswing, although recently Mr. Ballard predicated on 12 nights to start with a 6 inch movement backwards which I believe to be highly inconsistent for the majority in my opinion, but I also believe there isn’t one way for everyone, that’s my open mind. I agree that if the eyes or head stay down too long it can lead to getting stuck which causes a whole bunch of scenarios. The title rocks, you’re almost Canadian with that title. lol.

      Jason

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  3. Another good article. After reading the article I can see and do understand why you think the head should remain more steady. You must be able to rotate the hips and shoulders in a proper position if this is going to be your focus. if there is a player that has a poor or weak ability to rotate their hips then the head remaining steady will enhance this physical error and in my opinion cause more error. When you look at some of the video with Aaron Baddeley you will see that the hips have a level pivot. This allows the head to remain steady and for him to get back to the ball without moving the sternum and creating a consistent low point.

    If the hips have a weakness or cannot move independent of the shoulders you create error. If the left hip is weak and falls lower in the backswing or the hips and shoulders turn together in the downswing the low point is still very inconsistent.

    Great article and plenty of opportunity for debate. I do agree that the best teachers are the ones who can take the pieces of the puzzle given them by the students and fit them together to form a complete game.

    I look forward to your next article.

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  4. Jay,
    A neutral pivot definitely requires a certain level of flexibility and mobility. I have some students that have limited hip mobility and poor thoracic spine flexibility that can’t stay bent over (in flexion) enough to keep there head steady. As a result they move laterally and get taller in the backswing. This is also a teachable moment and an opportunity to get them into some corrective excursuses to improve these weak links. Great comments. It means a lot to hear from someone of your experience. I will post some video of some changes that I have made with students in the near future.
    Jason

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  5. Jason,

    This for sure can cause some serious debate in the golfing community. For me, head movement doesn’t really matter. I can see both sides of the discussion. Low point control vs additional speed (assuming players that can perform both actions well). I tend to have more students with a steady head than those that move and I’m not really sure why. It’s not usually something I bring up unless it is real noticeable or going target wise. I certainly think that a ‘steeper’ shoulder turn helps the head stay more stable than a ‘flatter’ shoulder but they can both work.

    Another Great Article and certainly a good discussion over a nice meal and a bottle of wine. =)

    JG

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  6. Wonderful blog! I definitely love how it’s easy on my eyes and also the data are well written. I am wondering how I might be notified whenever a new post has been made. I have subscribed to your rss feed which need to do the trick! Have a nice day!

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