You won’t be surprised to learn that there are plenty of physical mistakes which are possible during the golf swing. Of course, for the purposes of this article, we are going to be talking about physical mistakes which will impact your ability to keep your head in the right position. However, not all of these mistakes are the result of simply moving your head. In fact, most of them have to do with making a mistake in a separate part of your body which will wind up influencing your head position. As you practice, do your best to avoid the following list of costly mistakes.
Dropping your right shoulder in the downswing. This is an extremely common mistake in the amateur game. As the club starts down, you might feel tempted to drop your right shoulder in an effort to help the ball get up in the air. While this may feel right in the moment, it is certainly a mistake. The ball doesn’t need any help getting up in the air, as the loft of the club is going to take care of that task. All you need to do is swing down into the ball and let the club do the right. When your right shoulder drops, your head is going to go with it, and you will suddenly be out of position. To correct this error, simply think about keeping your right shoulder high on the way down into the ball. This should keep your head in place, and your swing will be on track for a clean strike.
Sliding to the left with your lower body. In a proper golf swing, the lower body is going to rotate aggressively toward the target during the downswing. Unfortunately, that is not what happens for many players. Instead, they allow the lower body to slide to the left, which has a damaging effect on balance. As the lower body slides left, the upper body must hang back to the right in order to balance things out. That means your head is going to move right as well, and you’ll probably hit the ball fat when all is said and done. The fix here is obvious – train your lower body to do a better job of rotating toward the target. A lateral slide is going to do you no good whatsoever in the downswing, so that move needs to go. Start your downswing by turning your left hip open to the target and keep rotating all the way through to a balanced finish. You will be amazed at how much easier it is to keep your head stable when your lower body rotates as it should.
Dropping your head at the start of the downswing. Not only is this a mistake which is seen from time to time in the amateur game, it is also a problem for many professionals as well. When the downswing begins, you might feel like you will be able to build more speed if you push yourself down toward the ground momentarily. Most players who make this move then counteract it by pushing up away from the ground when the club approaches the ball. This up-and-down action during the downswing doesn’t do you any good, and it complicates the swinging action significantly. When your downswing begins, do your best to ‘maintain your level’ while you rotate down the target and bring the club down to the ball. If you can take the up-and-down action out of your swing, everything will feel much easier and your timing should improve as well.
As you work on your game, keep in mind that you are trying to keep things as simple as possible while you are swinging the club. The only moving parts you want to have in your swing are those which are actually needed to propel the club into the ball effectively. If you are making a move which does not serve that purpose, you should attempt to take that motion out of the swing. Constantly working toward simplicity will take you a long way in this game.
