Many amateur golfers believe that they should keep their head down during their golf swing or that their head should remain still.

However, this is completely untrue. If you have a lesson from a PGA Golf Professional you would never hear them telling you to keep your head down as it restricts your movement, especially through impact and results in a loss of club head speed, and therefore distance on your golf shots and it can produce shots that fly left of the target as well.

During your backswing, you want to maintain a static head position, with very little movement left, right, up or down. However, on your downswing we see more consistent players allowing their head to drop slightly as they squat their legs into the downswing. This squatting action compresses a golfer downwards so it is now crucial to allow this compressed power to explode up through the impact for you to be able to release your full power into the golf ball. This would need you to allow your head to rise as you connect with the ball and move into the follow through, and by doing this you will allow yourself to deliver your full power and speed into the golf ball. Keeping your head down will restrict and stifle the power you have stored up and prevent you from swinging with your full potential.

Keeping your head down on your follow through also restricts your body’s ability to rotate correctly through impact. As you are striking the golf ball, your lower body should be rotating to the left of the target (for a right handed golfer), creating the room for your arms and club to swing into, followed by your chest and right side adding power and speed to your movement. If your head stays in a static position and does not rotate to the left so that your eyes follow the ball as it is hit, your upper body cannot fully uncoil at maximum speed and again you will restrict your follow through movement, reducing the speed and power that the club head connects with the ball though impact.

Allow your head to rise and rotate so that your eyes follow the ball on your follow through. In allowing this to happen, you will deliver maximum power from your body movement and will produce maximum club head speed which results in longer golf shots.