Help with keeping the head still

[wypee]

Hi,

I am new to golf and still getting my swing worked on. I can't hit long (eg. no more than 120yds with a 7-iron) and someone who looked at my swing told me that I use mostly hands and wrist and not much shoulder rotation. The problem is that when I try to do that, I top the ball a lot and my consistency is gone. I looked at my swing video and it appeared that my head lifts a few inches as the left shoulder passes under the chin and I guess that explains the tops.

Any tips on not lifting the head and still achieving good shoulder rotation?

thanks,
~Yogi

[TeachingPro]

Re: Help with keeping the head still

I don't think you need to focus on keeping your head still ... if your head lifts you are changing your spine angle and that's causing the problems. Look at the video and you'll see it isn't justthe head that lifts, your whole torso lifts.

Setup to the golf ball, with what ever club, and set your spine angle. Now that spine angle you have needs to be maintained through out the swing, until after impact.

Practice it my setting up with your buttocks against a wall or bench. Now swing back and through and make sure your buttocks, as they roll back and thru, should stay in contact with the wall.

This should sort your problem out.

[pnearn]

Re: Help with keeping the head still

Listen to what the guy said about hands amd arms. He's right. Try making a level turn of your shoulders keeping your left arm glued to your chest and nice and straight. Do this while keeping your spine angle and relaxed hands/wrists

Hit some half and 3/4 swings like this until you start to hit the ball real solid. If youre not always check your setup (distance from ball, ball position, alignment etc) and takeaway then go back and try again. Remember a half swing is really just the end of the takeaway

It sounds obvious but you see so many guys at the the range with huge overly long, tense, armsy swings and the ball is going all over the place but never far and long. If these guys learnt to hit half swings first not only could they play the game (and play it well ) theyd have ingrained the business end of the swing and always have something to fall back on. Golf is a game you
have to learn how to play. You just cant try x and y and z and hope it works

My pro always has me hit 10 half swings before we start a lesson as he says that nearly all faults can be traced to setup and takeway. If you cant hit these half swings right then something fundamental is wrong