Pete Styles – PGA Teaching Pro

So we’ve understood this concept that the head shouldn’t stay perfectly rigid during the swing, but at the same time we don’t really want the head to be wandering off looking around too much and looking up before we hit the ball, because that is a classic reason for some bad contacts. So we’ve got to find a nice balance there. And I think the main key for golfers is to keep their eyes nice and focused and level and focused on the golf ball. So there’s a couple of main issues that I think are going to help a golfer when they’re achieving this.

And the first thing with that shall be to pick a spot on the golf ball. So when you ask a golfer, you know – what are you looking at? Well, I’m looking at the ball. But where exactly are you looking on that golf ball. And for a lot of golfers, they’re not looking at the same place all of the time, or they’re not looking at the same place shot to shot, or even during the shot, they’re actually looking at different bits, maybe a blade of grass on the floor gets their attention, maybe an insect will pass them, they start looking at that. And clearly when you’re looking at something, your body will react to that. So we’ve got to stay quite focused.

So we’re going to pick a spot on the golf ball, be it a letter or a marking that you put on the ball. And make sure you look at that throughout the whole swing. So in the setup position, we’re looking at the same spot, during the backswing the same spot, all the way through to contact, we’re looking at the same spot. That doesn’t mean the head has to stay perfectly rigid, it just means the eyes are focused on the same thing.

Now the important aspect to this is during the takeaway. It’s quite important that we don’t get sort of concerned with what the golf club is doing and our eyes wander off. So we see a lot of golfers that sets up the ball really nicely focused on the right spot on the ball, and then this happens during the backswing. And possibly you’re so conscious of what the club is doing and in practice drills, you’ve been lifting it up and checking the position and looking where it goes and maybe looking in a mirror to see how it’s going.

But actually when it comes to hitting a golf ball, your eyes are still following the club away from the ball, which can cause excessive head movement and excessive bodyweight sway. So it’s important that we still focus on the golf ball at the start of the swing. Now the club comes out to that eye line, we can probably keep an eye on the golf ball a little bit more easily, we’re not going to be so distracted by this.

And the third point is, as the club comes down to the ball, we make contact with the ball, trust yourself. Trust yourself that you are going to make good contact with that ball. And regardless of whether you look up to see how it’s gone, or whether you stay down and make good contact, you’re going to hit the ball up into the air, towards the target or the fairway. So we see a lot of golfers as they come down towards the golf ball, down into this position, the chest starts to rise up and they get into their follow through position a little bit too early, they’re a little bit too eager to see where the golf ball is going. And the arms often pull in with that as well, which could create top shots as they’re coming through the ball.

So the focal point here is that we stay down through impact, we make good contact, and then when the right shoulder hits the chin, that’s when the head’s going to be allowed to come up. So the ball will probably be 20-30 yards away before the golf actually looks up to see where the ball has gone. So we don’t want to be looking up too early, but at the same time we don’t want to keep the head fixed down completely because we restrict the follow through too much. So if the right shoulder comes through and collects the chin, that’s when the golfer is going to allow their head to look up. And if you watch most of the good players on the TV most of the top players in slow motion, you’ll see that happen, you’ll see the right shoulder collect the chin and then the head comes up to a follow through. So that’s a good way that you can monitor what your head is doing in the swing, not too many movements, but also not keeping your head perfectly still.