You're Correct!

One of the biggest misconceptions about the golf swing is being told to keep your head down. What other amateur golfers mean to say when they actually say “keep your head down”, is that you are hitting the top of the golf ball and you need to swing the club head lower and get it down to the ground, or that you are not keeping your posture and spine angle when you swing.

If you took a lesson with a qualified PGA Professional, you would never hear them tell you to “keep your head down”. You do not intentionally swing and lift your head up, your head rising up is a product of you losing your posture if it does rise.

To make a great connection between the club head and the golf ball, the club head needs to be set next the golf ball with your left arm extended and free to move around your body. This is why you create the posture that you do, or you set the angle in your spine that you do. Creating a tilt forward in your spine allows your arms to hang freely under your shoulders. If you then hold the golf club with this spine angle and position yourself the distance away that allows the club head to be set next to the golf ball, then to achieve a solid strike you simply need to rotate around your spine angle with your left arm extended on both your back swing and your down swing.

Without an alteration in your spine angle or the length of your left arm, you will deliver the club head back to the golf ball to achieve a solid strike. If, however, you allow your spine angle to rise and your head to lift on either your back swing or your down swing, then effectively you will also lift the club head up and you will either strike the top of the golf ball or have an air shot. On your back swing and down swing, your head wants to remain as static as possible.

However, on your follow through you need to allow your head to rotate to follow the golf ball and then lift so that you can achieve a full follow through position. To hit the golf ball and achieve maximum shot distance, the golf club needs to be travelling at maximum speed through impact. It needs to swing freely into your follow through and be able to swing around you without restriction. If you keep your head down on your follow through and do not allow your head to rotate to follow the movement of the ball, then your head will restrict your follow through movement and as a consequence, the club will slow down too quickly and it will not be swinging at full speed through the golf ball.

If you keep your head down on your follow through, then you will restrict your follow through movement as your body needs to fully rotate towards the target and allow your arms to extend and swing around you. If your head stays down on your follow through, you will not be able to move correctly and your shot distance will be reduced.

angle as well. If this happens and your spine becomes more vertical, then the club head will also be lifted up away from the ground and the club head will strike the upper part of the golf ball, producing a topped golf shot.

Lifting your head as you swing back away from the golf ball will not mean that you do not have to lift your head and rotate it on your follow through. Lifting your head too early in your golf swing means that you will raise your posture and as a consequence of this you will increase the distance between the golf ball and your shoulders and the club head will strike the upper part of the ball or swing over it completely.