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Let your head follow your body for a better release

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Trying to keep your head down during your downswing or follow through is a key mistake made by golfers of all skill levels. Why is letting your head go with your body so important? To start, your body will simply follow your head, and having the trail side of your the body rotate through the shot is a key component to keeping the club face square to the body; a major move for consistent, straight shots.

A demonstration of how your body follows your head is to imagine someone asking you a question or yell your name behind you. What happens? Your motor skills take effect and you turn and look. Movement occurs when electrical signals are sent by neurons from the brain and spinal cord throughout the body and then into our muscles. If we slowed down and examined the sequence of how your body moved on film, your head would begin the movement, and then your chest and body would follow.

Henrik Stenson

stenson 2

stenson

Anika Sorenstam

Annika

You will see some tour players actually start moving their heads before impact, such as a Henrik Stenson or Anika Sorenstam, two of my favorite downswing moves. Some players’ heads will directly follow their body post impact position. This is a common trait among some of the best ball strikers in the world.

The relationship between the club face and body after impact (where the club face is still square to the body) is a sign that the shaft and body have rotated in the proper sequence and there were no sequence moves or hand timing required to square the club face.

Why does head movement matter if it’s after impact? That’s a common question I hear when I’m working to get someone’s head to release or let go with their body. My answer: When our head doesn’t have the freedom to rotate with the body through the shot, in most cases, our body will stall at impact and the hands will take over.

large-incorrect-1 large-incorrect-2

Think of what happens when a car is going 60 mph, and then the driver slams on the breaks. As the car stops, everything in the car is flying forward. In the golf swing, the car would act as your body, and the objects in the car as your hands. As a result, you will see swings that have a lot of hand action at impact. In some cases, players will flip at the ball, which is a breaking of the wrists. Even the common chicken wing can be seen.

Fix: Look over Left Shoulder Drill

Head_follow_body

A great drill to get your trail side moving around and through the shot is to feel as if you are looking over your left shoulder at impact (if you’re left-handed, look over your right shoulder). You can rehearse this at setup or as you take a practice swing, coming down into an impact position. Practice looking early, just before impact, to make sure your right side rotates around your left, which will put you into a nice tall finish.

Drill: Nose follows the shaft

drill-nose-shaft

Another great practice drill is to hit soft shots with a mid iron, with the feeling of your nose following the shaft through impact. Take a mid iron and swing at 50 percent, focusing on your nose following the shaft around post impact. Make sure your head works around and toward the target, the same way the shaft moves. The head should not move under, where your right eye would fall below your left. This would cause your upper half to fall back and your right shoulder to dip.

Kelvin is a Class A PGA golf professional in San Francisco, California. He teaches and has taught at some of the top golf clubs in the Bay Area, including the Olympic Club and Sonoma Golf Club. He is TPI certified, and a certified Callaway and Titleist club fitter. Kelvin has sought advice and learned under several of the top instructors in the game, including Alex Murray and Scott Hamilton. To schedule a lesson, please call 818.359.0352 Online lessons also available at www.kelleygolf.com

21 Comments

21 Comments

  1. dctheobald

    Apr 1, 2020 at 12:35 am

    I buy this. People that disagree with this theory are either super flexible (lucky you) or confuse head rotation/swivel with a body slide getting the head in front of ball before impact. You can certainly and freely hit the ball without staring it down squarely at impact.

  2. James T

    May 19, 2018 at 8:23 pm

    And a World #1 used to do it when he was on tour. David Duval.

  3. Mike

    Sep 6, 2016 at 3:48 pm

    http://www.benhogangolf.com/mas_assets/theme/ben_hogan/images/content/Downswing.jpg

    See link above. Ben Hogan is well past striking the ball and his head did not ” follow the shot”.
    I rank him as the best shot maker ever.

  4. Taylor59

    Sep 3, 2016 at 10:56 am

    Hogan, Nicklaus and Woods all kept their head down…. if you wana blow smoke bud, go have dart.

    • Kelvin Kelley

      Sep 3, 2016 at 1:21 pm

      Plenty of other great players kept their head down as well. More then one way to swing a club. I just recommend/teach the most efficient way to swing and easiest on your body. However I have plenty of video of hogans head following his body, depends on era as well, bud.

  5. Mike Davis

    Sep 2, 2016 at 11:04 pm

    I enjoyed the article. I will try using this in a drill format while attempting to help train the hips to clear first. Thanks, Kelvin.

  6. Dave R

    Aug 30, 2016 at 11:54 am

    Great post

  7. Steve S

    Aug 29, 2016 at 5:01 pm

    To me this all depends on your flexibility. Langer is old like me and his head turns a little. So does mine. But I start with it cocked to the right with my left eye on the ball. On my “good” shots I “see” impact as my head rotates up to the left. On bad shots I come over the top and my head is up before impact. It’s all about timing and staying loose and relaxed. Swing “freely, fluidly and fast” as Ron Sisson says…

  8. Bob Jones

    Aug 29, 2016 at 1:54 pm

    See: Patrick Reed.

  9. Joe Brennan

    Aug 29, 2016 at 1:51 pm

    Another helpful tip.. Thank you, I worked on this earlier today and WOW did it help… Please keep them coming…

  10. Tutone T

    Aug 29, 2016 at 12:00 pm

    Not buying this either. My left shoulder goes with the head throwing off the impact.
    Staying quiet and letting the arms go past my head before looking up, way better results.

  11. george

    Aug 29, 2016 at 5:21 am

    i ment trevino not trevon

  12. george

    Aug 29, 2016 at 5:21 am

    Just about every good player kept their head down. Quick google picture search nicklaus impact or trevon impact.
    So you got two examples, Stenson and Sorenstam? I’ve got ten proving it otherwise.

  13. vince guest

    Aug 29, 2016 at 4:31 am

    A golf coach called Ron del Barrio uses head movement like this as a fundamental to his teaching. One example on the Seniors tour would be Bernhard Langer who lets his head rotate to the right in the backswing and back to the target in the through swing.

  14. Sometimes a Smizzle

    Aug 28, 2016 at 11:18 am

    Sadlowski and Rory will disagree with you. Head goes backwards just before impact.

  15. Brian K

    Aug 28, 2016 at 9:29 am

    I completely disagree with this article. Henrik or Anica, They are top professional golfer who have skills striking the ball correctly whether their head down or not. But for the amateur? If you teach head moving together, they will move head well before striking the ball, just making poor shot. I have seen and taught hundreds of student and having way better results with head down.
    When majority of pro golfer head down, is it right using the word “incorrect”?

    • jacob

      Aug 29, 2016 at 4:00 pm

      Great article….those who don’t get it don’t fully understand the golf swing

      • Kelvin Kelley

        Sep 3, 2016 at 1:09 pm

        Jacob, glad you enjoyed the article

  16. cgasucks

    Aug 27, 2016 at 9:04 pm

    DJ does it too (but it seems only when he’s on the driving range).

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Instruction

The Wedge Guy: Beating the yips into submission

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There may be no more painful affliction in golf than the “yips” – those uncontrollable and maddening little nervous twitches that prevent you from making a decent stroke on short putts. If you’ve never had them, consider yourself very fortunate (or possibly just very young). But I can assure you that when your most treacherous and feared golf shot is not the 195 yard approach over water with a quartering headwind…not the extra tight fairway with water left and sand right…not the soft bunker shot to a downhill pin with water on the other side…No, when your most feared shot is the remaining 2- 4-foot putt after hitting a great approach, recovery or lag putt, it makes the game almost painful.

And I’ve been fighting the yips (again) for a while now. It’s a recurring nightmare that has haunted me most of my adult life. I even had the yips when I was in my 20s, but I’ve beat them into submission off and on most of my adult life. But just recently, that nasty virus came to life once again. My lag putting has been very good, but when I get over one of those “you should make this” length putts, the entire nervous system seems to go haywire. I make great practice strokes, and then the most pitiful short-stroke or jab at the ball you can imagine. Sheesh.

But I’m a traditionalist, and do not look toward the long putter, belly putter, cross-hand, claw or other variation as the solution. My approach is to beat those damn yips into submission some other way. Here’s what I’m doing that is working pretty well, and I offer it to all of you who might have a similar affliction on the greens.

When you are over a short putt, forget the practice strokes…you want your natural eye-hand coordination to be unhindered by mechanics. Address your putt and take a good look at the hole, and back to the putter to ensure good alignment. Lighten your right hand grip on the putter and make sure that only the fingertips are in contact with the grip, to prevent you from getting to tight.

Then, take a long, long look at the hole to fill your entire mind and senses with the target. When you bring your head/eyes back to the ball, try to make a smooth, immediate move right into your backstroke — not even a second pause — and then let your hands and putter track right back together right back to where you were looking — the HOLE! Seeing the putter make contact with the ball, preferably even the forward edge of the ball – the side near the hole.

For me, this is working, but I am asking all of you to chime in with your own “home remedies” for the most aggravating and senseless of all golf maladies. It never hurts to have more to fall back on!

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Instruction

Looking for a good golf instructor? Use this checklist

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Over the last couple of decades, golf has become much more science-based. We measure swing speed, smash factor, angle of attack, strokes gained, and many other metrics that can really help golfers improve. But I often wonder if the advancement of golf’s “hard” sciences comes at the expense of the “soft” sciences.

Take, for example, golf instruction. Good golf instruction requires understanding swing mechanics and ball flight. But let’s take that as a given for PGA instructors. The other factors that make an instructor effective can be evaluated by social science, rather than launch monitors.

If you are a recreational golfer looking for a golf instructor, here are my top three points to consider.

1. Cultural mindset

What is “cultural mindset? To social scientists, it means whether a culture of genius or a culture of learning exists. In a golf instruction context, that may mean whether the teacher communicates a message that golf ability is something innate (you either have it or you don’t), or whether golf ability is something that can be learned. You want the latter!

It may sound obvious to suggest that you find a golf instructor who thinks you can improve, but my research suggests that it isn’t a given. In a large sample study of golf instructors, I found that when it came to recreational golfers, there was a wide range of belief systems. Some instructors strongly believed recreational golfers could improve through lessons. while others strongly believed they could not. And those beliefs manifested in the instructor’s feedback given to a student and the culture created for players.

2. Coping and self-modeling can beat role-modeling

Swing analysis technology is often preloaded with swings of PGA and LPGA Tour players. The swings of elite players are intended to be used for comparative purposes with golfers taking lessons. What social science tells us is that for novice and non-expert golfers, comparing swings to tour professionals can have the opposite effect of that intended. If you fit into the novice or non-expert category of golfer, you will learn more and be more motivated to change if you see yourself making a ‘better’ swing (self-modeling) or seeing your swing compared to a similar other (a coping model). Stay away from instructors who want to compare your swing with that of a tour player.

3. Learning theory basics

It is not a sexy selling point, but learning is a process, and that process is incremental – particularly for recreational adult players. Social science helps us understand this element of golf instruction. A good instructor will take learning slowly. He or she will give you just about enough information that challenges you, but is still manageable. The artful instructor will take time to decide what that one or two learning points are before jumping in to make full-scale swing changes. If the instructor moves too fast, you will probably leave the lesson with an arm’s length of swing thoughts and not really know which to focus on.

As an instructor, I develop a priority list of changes I want to make in a player’s technique. We then patiently and gradually work through that list. Beware of instructors who give you more than you can chew.

So if you are in the market for golf instruction, I encourage you to look beyond the X’s and O’s to find the right match!

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What Lottie Woad’s stunning debut win teaches every golfer

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Most pros take months, even years, to win their first tournament. Lottie Woad needed exactly four days.

The 21-year-old from Surrey shot 21-under 267 at Dundonald Links to win the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open by three shots — in her very first event as a professional. She’s only the third player in LPGA history to accomplish this feat, joining Rose Zhang (2023) and Beverly Hanson (1951).

But here’s what caught my attention as a coach: Woad didn’t win through miraculous putting or bombing 300-yard drives. She won through relentless precision and unshakeable composure. After watching her performance unfold, I’m convinced every golfer — from weekend warriors to scratch players — can steal pages from her playbook.

Precision Beats Power (And It’s Not Even Close)

Forget the driving contests. Woad proved that finding greens matters more than finding distance.

What Woad did:

• Hit it straight, hit it solid, give yourself chances

• Aimed for the fat parts of greens instead of chasing pins

• Let her putting do the talking after hitting safe targets

• As she said, “Everyone was chasing me today, and managed to maintain the lead and played really nicely down the stretch and hit a lot of good shots”

Why most golfers mess this up:

• They see a pin tucked behind a bunker and grab one more club to “go right at it”

• Distance becomes more important than accuracy

• They try to be heroic instead of smart

ACTION ITEM: For your next 10 rounds, aim for the center of every green regardless of pin position. Track your greens in regulation and watch your scores drop before your swing changes.

The Putter That Stayed Cool Under Fire

Woad started the final round two shots clear and immediately applied pressure with birdies at the 2nd and 3rd holes. When South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim mounted a charge and reached 20-under with a birdie at the 14th, Woad didn’t panic.

How she responded to pressure:

• Fired back with consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th

• Watched Kim stumble with back-to-back bogeys

• Capped it with her fifth birdie of the day at the par-5 18th

• Stayed patient when others pressed, pressed when others cracked

What amateurs do wrong:

• Get conservative when they should be aggressive

• Try to force magic when steady play would win

• Panic when someone else makes a move

ACTION ITEM: Practice your 3-6 foot putts for 15 minutes after every range session. Woad’s putting wasn’t spectacular—it was reliable. Make the putts you should make.

Course Management 101: Play Your Game, Not the Course’s Game

Woad admitted she couldn’t see many scoreboards during the final round, but it didn’t matter. She stuck to her game plan regardless of what others were doing.

Her mental approach:

• Focused on her process, not the competition

• Drew on past pressure situations (Augusta National Women’s Amateur win)

• As she said, “That was the biggest tournament I played in at the time and was kind of my big win. So definitely felt the pressure of it more there, and I felt like all those experiences helped me with this”

Her physical execution:

• 270-yard drives (nothing flashy)

• Methodical iron play

• Steady putting

• Everything effective, nothing spectacular

ACTION ITEM: Create a yardage book for your home course. Know your distances to every pin, every hazard, every landing area. Stick to your plan no matter what your playing partners are doing.

Mental Toughness Isn’t Born, It’s Built

The most impressive part of Woad’s win? She genuinely didn’t expect it: “I definitely wasn’t expecting to win my first event as a pro, but I knew I was playing well, and I was hoping to contend.”

Her winning mindset:

• Didn’t put winning pressure on herself

• Focused on playing well and contending

• Made winning a byproduct of a good process

• Built confidence through recent experiences:

  • Won the Women’s Irish Open as an amateur
  • Missed a playoff by one shot at the Evian Championship
  • Each experience prepared her for the next

What this means for you:

• Stop trying to shoot career rounds every time you tee up

• Focus on executing your pre-shot routine

• Commit to every shot

• Stay present in the moment

ACTION ITEM: Before each round, set process goals instead of score goals. Example: “I will take three practice swings before every shot” or “I will pick a specific target for every shot.” Let your score be the result, not the focus.

The Real Lesson

Woad collected $300,000 for her first professional victory, but the real prize was proving that fundamentals still work at golf’s highest level. She didn’t reinvent the game — she simply executed the basics better than everyone else that week.

The fundamentals that won:

• Hit more fairways

• Find more greens

• Make the putts you should make

• Stay patient under pressure

That’s something every golfer can do, regardless of handicap. Lottie Woad just showed us it’s still the winning formula.

FINAL ACTION ITEM: Pick one of the four action items above and commit to it for the next month. Master one fundamental before moving to the next. That’s how champions are built.

 

PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” on RG.org each Monday.

 

Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more Tips!

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