“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” “Don’t count your chickens before their hatched.” Recognize any of these overused and clichéd phrases in everyday life? While some of these statements may have substantive validity, some of golf’s most overused and clichéd pieces of advice are to “Keep your head down,” “Keep your eye on the ball,” or worse yet, “Keep your head still!” As an instructor, I’ve heard these countless times by golfers on driving ranges or in recreational rounds to their fellow companions. This unsolicited piece of advice is typically the cure-all to resolve topping the ball, whiffing, or missing shots to the left or right. More often than not, I encounter many of my students consciously thinking about keeping their head down or holding their head stationary through the course of their golf swing. Ultimately, this type of conscious thought will restrict a player from successfully repeating the motion of their golf swing.

The foundation of any golf swing is to allow the body to freely rotate to the right in the backswing and back though to the left in the finish of the swing. This motion is evenly blended between both the upper and lower body to facilitate taking the club properly into position throughout the swing. Imagine the following scenario: If you sat in a chair with your feet planted firmly on the ground and were asked to make a backswing, you likely couldn’t do it very well. The reason for this is the restriction that is created by restraining the lower body. A person sitting in a chair certainly could not hit a golf ball as far as someone standing with the freedom to move his or her upper and lower body.

Similarly, this concept can be equally applied when a golfer isolates the motion of their head, or intentionally tries to hold their head down. Any effort to consciously contract, flex, or restrict the body from freely moving will negate any effort to correctly swing the golf club. The base of our head is attached to our spine, and holding your head still will prevent the torso of a golfer from freely rotating. Players that hold their head still will induce more of a sliding motion with the lower body, and experience an exaggerated tilt of the shoulders to the top of their swing. Consequently, the golfer’s body and club are out of position to begin moving back to the ball.

A golfer’s head will freely move both to the left and to the right through the golf swing. What will remain constant, however, is the player looking at the golf ball. Our eyes can move without restriction throughout their eye sockets, as evidenced when a doctor places their finger in front of our nose and asks us to follow the motion of their hand. We will experience the same, albeit subconscious, movement of the eyes when swinging a golf club. Allowing the head to freely move about in our swing will enable us to swing the club without restriction in the swing.

Try this experiment to validate the importance of allowing the head to move in through the swing. Place three golf balls in a row spaced about 24 inches apart along a wall. Assume your normal address position to the middle golf ball. While looking at the forward ball and your head placed against the wall, attempt a backswing. You will instantly find how difficult such a command is. Secondly, return back to the middle golf ball with the head firmly placed against the wall and again, attempt to swing the club to the top. This should still feel very difficult to make a swing. Now, look at the rear ball and once again, take the club to the top of the backswing. Undoubtedly, you experienced free motion of the body, as you were able to get the club into position. We just opened up a “whole new can of worms”

Furthermore, the head will also move with the motion of the body in the forward swing. At the completion of your swing, your eyes should be following the flight of the golf ball down the fairway, rather than staying fixated on the golf ball that was struck. This enables the player to properly rotate through the golf ball into a balanced finish.

So the next time someone tells you to “keep your head down,” you can explain to them that thought is now “water under the bridge.” After all, who says, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?”

Bryan Nicholson is the Head Teaching Professional at The McCord Golf Academy at Orange Lake. To contact Bryan or for more information on lessons or clinics at The McCord Golf Academy, please call 407.905.1338, or you may reach Bryan via e-mail at bnicholson@orangelake.com.