The Head Turner

A very long time ago I used to go and have lessons of a golf coach called Mal Tongue. He was and still is a great golf coach. He used to coach Michael Campbell (2005 US Open winner), in fact he was the guy that totally revamped Michael's golf swing for him so he was able to start to compete at the highest level. He was knowledgeable, intelligent and a hard task master, which is what most people need.

The reason I mention him is because what he taught us in the years way back and beyond was to rotate our head towards the target before impact. He said it helped to turn through the shot better and I totally agree with him. Coincidentally I am not the only one who agrees with him. That golf coaching legend Jim McLean agrees with him as well and Mr McLean is talking about that very thing in the January 2008 edition of golf digest. He says in the golf digest that, "Most tour pros rotate their heads toward the target before impact, yet the single swing thought for most amateurs is to keep their head down".

This is controversial, but you will find that some great ball strikers that rotate their head towards the target. Players such as Jim Furyk , Annika Sorenstam, Joe Durrant, Hal Sutton, Robert Allenby and Carl Petterson to name a few.

Keeping your head down too long can contribute to a bad back, poor weight transfer and lack of body turn through to the target. All of those are bad for your golf, but if you want to listen to your playing partners who keep telling you that you are lifting your head, well that is up to you as it is your golf game after all. But one thing I can tell you is that you will inhibit your progress by trying to keep your head down too long.

Golf Biodynamics inc performed research on 75 tour pros and 150 amateurs. The tour tour pros rotated their head towards the target an average of 19.4 degrees and the amateurs rotated their head towards the target an average of 4.4 degrees. (page 73 January 2008 Golf Digest).

If you want to be like the best you must do what the best do.

Click here to visit the page where you will see Jim McLean talking about the head swivel and also giving you a drill to work on it.

Cheers
Maurice