The old saying goes, “keep your eye on the ball.” In some cases, golfers might take this literally when they’re about to take a swing.
But this might be difficult to do, even for pro golfers. You might be one of them wondering, “How do I keep my head still with my golf swing?”
Don’t worry; in this article, there are tips and tricks that you can practice to improve your game.
What does it mean to keep your head still?
When pro golfers talk about keeping your head still in your golf swing, they mean something close to keeping their eye on the ball. This means that they need to allow their head and neck to rotate their heads to watch the ball.
Should you keep your head still when you swing?
There is some debate about how still your head should be when taking a swing. Some experts say that limiting your head’s movement is essential, but it doesn’t have to be entirely still.
Golfers should avoid moving their heads up and down or side to side too much. But you need to rotate your head during the swing, specifically during the strike.
American golfer Tom Watson wrote in Golf Digest argued that keeping “your head still will hurt your game.” Watson claimed that the “old rule” of keeping your eye on the ball has been “misinterpreted over the years to mean you should keep your head down and dead still when you swing.”
He added that whether or not you keep your head still is a golfer’s “personal preference.” Watson further argued that slightly moving your head up and down and some rotation is fine and that it might even help with the rotation on your backswing.
Tricks to keep your head still
Golfers can use a few tricks of the trade to keep their heads still during their golf swing. These simple tricks will help golfers, just like you, improve your swing with practice.
Keep your chin up
When you’re checking your head movement, the first thing you’re going to want to look at is your chin position. Golfers will often dip their heads down or move their heads side-to-side to check their chin position.
If you’re pointing your chin down too much, it will make your left shoulder push sideways instead of moving beneath your chin.
To fix this, you should try using different positions when you’re next hitting practice at the driving range. As the old saying goes, “practice makes perfect.”
Have a sturdy stance
After checking your chin and head position, you’ll want to check your chance, specifically your lower body. If your lower body isn’t firm enough, it can lead to problems with your backswing.
To ensure that you have a firm stance, you’ll want to start at the knees. You’ll want to make sure that your knees are bent and shoulder-length apart.
Another thing you’ll want to check is that your knees have enough room to turn with the backswing.
The next thing to check will be if you have a wide enough stance. A stance that’s too narrow will make it tricky to move your body around. With a narrow stance, you’ll want to sway or slide your body.
Focus on your takeaway
Another reason why some golfers might have problems with their heads moving in the golf swing be from problems with their takeaway technique.
Some golfers might move their club too far inside with the backswing. This can lead to your being down and towards the right. Golfers will need to have an even outside takeaway technique to fix this.
You’ll want to practice your takeaway technique specifically. You should focus on what happens from your address to your club parallel with the ground.
An excellent technique to follow would be to raise your backswing and then take a moment to check your hand positions. Then adjust your hands to make sure they’re in the correct place.
Concentrate the ball’s dimple
Focusing on a specific dimple on the golf ball might sound like an unusual trick, but it has its advantages.
Keeping this focus will help keep your head still. It will also make it easier to keep your posture.
All you need to do is find one dimple to focus on and not think about anything else.
Legendary golfer Ben Hogan’s golf tee trick
Ben Hogan was an American golfer from 1930 to 1971 and is considered one of the greatest golfers in the game’s history. He was also a smoker who, back in 1956, held a cigarette in his lips while hitting the ball.
While today, smoking isn’t a healthy habit. Hogan’s cigarette showed where he was looking when taking a swing. When he was looking down, the cigarette pointed straight at the ball. Then, the cigarette pointed over his left shoulder at the top of the backswing.
Nowadays, Hogan’s simple trick can be done by a golfer holding a golf tee in their lips. When the golfer addresses with a golf tee held in their lips, the tee will point to their ball. Then the golfer’s goal is to keep the tee at the ball during the backswing, downswing, and throughout the impact.
The golfer will need to be aware of the golf tee points before and during their swing. It’ll surprise you how much your head moves without you realising it. Your golf tee, like Shakira’s hips, won’t lie.
In some cases, you’ll find that your tee might be veering away from the ball during the backswing. In other cases, you might jerk your head a bit during the downswing. All you’ll need to do is adjust the position of your head until the tee is pointing at the ball.
Using Ben Hogan’s trick will give you the benefit of showing you your head position before you hit the ball. You’ll also learn what it’s like to keep your head still or how often you move your head with your golf swing.
