Let Your Head Move on the Backswing - Golf Tip (Video) - by Pete Styles
Let Your Head Move on the Backswing - Golf Tip (Video) - by Pete Styles

There’s one often heard piece of advice on the driving range that kind of makes me cringe a little bit and it’s when someone – maybe not a qualified coach or definitely not a qualified coach but not often a good player – he’s trying to help out another player on the driving range. You often hear them say, “You’ve got to keep your head down. You’ve got to keep your head still.” And I kind of think, “No you don’t. You really shouldn’t.” That’s pretty bad advice and it can ruin a lot of people’s natural movements – natural flowing movements and actually encourage them to hit more bad shots than good shots. When you’re in a good set up position your head will be still at the start position like every other part of your body but then in the back swing to try and turn and move everything that we need to turn and move in the back swing to then try and keep your head completely still is very difficult to do and will probably ruin any natural movements that you have in your swing.

So your head should not necessarily go up and down massively but it should be allowed to move slightly to the right and then slightly back to the left again. So from a good address position if I’m going to turn and get my body weight loaded into my right side as I should I have to let my head come with me. It’s going to move across a couple of inches this way. Then it will move quite dynamically back towards the golf ball turning through the ball to a finish and lifting up right to the end. So I am suggesting you should be moving your head a small degree in the back swing. Now it doesn’t come up and down that much and I definitely do keep my eye looking at the golf ball the whole time. I really wouldn’t want to watch my club or turn my head in the back swing. Not looking at the ball could be quite awkward as well. So I’m going to keep my head looking at the golf ball, keep my eyes focused on there, let my head move back, let my head move forward and through to a nice big finish position. So let’s go ahead and ignore the advice that says, “You must keep your head still. You must keep your head down.” Let your head have a natural little bit of movement to the right and left for better golf shots. 2014-01-20

There’s one often heard piece of advice on the driving range that kind of makes me cringe a little bit and it’s when someone – maybe not a qualified coach or definitely not a qualified coach but not often a good player – he’s trying to help out another player on the driving range. You often hear them say, “You’ve got to keep your head down. You’ve got to keep your head still.” And I kind of think, “No you don’t. You really shouldn’t.” That’s pretty bad advice and it can ruin a lot of people’s natural movements – natural flowing movements and actually encourage them to hit more bad shots than good shots. When you’re in a good set up position your head will be still at the start position like every other part of your body but then in the back swing to try and turn and move everything that we need to turn and move in the back swing to then try and keep your head completely still is very difficult to do and will probably ruin any natural movements that you have in your swing.

So your head should not necessarily go up and down massively but it should be allowed to move slightly to the right and then slightly back to the left again. So from a good address position if I’m going to turn and get my body weight loaded into my right side as I should I have to let my head come with me. It’s going to move across a couple of inches this way. Then it will move quite dynamically back towards the golf ball turning through the ball to a finish and lifting up right to the end. So I am suggesting you should be moving your head a small degree in the back swing. Now it doesn’t come up and down that much and I definitely do keep my eye looking at the golf ball the whole time. I really wouldn’t want to watch my club or turn my head in the back swing. Not looking at the ball could be quite awkward as well. So I’m going to keep my head looking at the golf ball, keep my eyes focused on there, let my head move back, let my head move forward and through to a nice big finish position. So let’s go ahead and ignore the advice that says, “You must keep your head still. You must keep your head down.” Let your head have a natural little bit of movement to the right and left for better golf shots.