Try This 60 Second Golf Swing Experiment to See If You Are Keeping Your Head Behind the Ball

If outdoors, place a coin on level ground where you can set up and take a full golf swing. If indoors, in your living room or garage, make certain the ceiling is high enough and you have ample space in front of and behind you, to allow for a full swing. Place a coin on the floor. With your five iron or hybrid club in your usual grip, take your normal stance and address the coin as if it were a real golf ball.

Now ask a buddy (or your spouse) to reach out and grab you by your hair or hold firmly onto your head or golf hat, so there will be no movement of your head during this experiment. Take a slower than usual but full practice swing from address, to the top of your backswing, down to and over the coin and well into your follow through. Make as complete a follow through as you can while your head is still being held firmly.

Your partner should require little or no force to keep your head steady until after your arms are well past the coin and are parallel to the ground. At that point your partner can allow your head to come up, as it is pushed by your right shoulder (if right handed). But your head should still remain behind the ball.

Here is the feedback:

- If you were comfortably able to watch the path of the clubhead as it moved over the coin,

- If you were comfortably able to follow through with your swing to where your arms were at least parallel to the ground,

- If you executed your swing without straining any part of your body,

- If your partner needed little or no pressure to restrain your head, then

You were keeping your head behind the coin throughout swing. You were maintaining your spine angle. You no doubt already have the ideal feeling that the clubhead is swinging to the ball and not your head. CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE A GOOD GOLF SWING.

On the other hand:

- If you had difficulty at any point executing this experiment; it is probably because these movements or body positions are contrary to your usual swing. Your muscles want to return your body to those positions which they have memorized and to which they are comfortable.

- If your partner had to exert force to hold your head steady; your existing muscle memory was taking over and pushing you up and out of the shot.

Your swing is not allowing you to keep your head behind the ball through the impact zone or to maintain your spine angle. You are probably coming up and out of your shot or coming over the top. You are not swinging around a fixed axis.

The good news is that now you have identified a problem area and you can start developing the muscle memory required to keep your head back and maintain your spine angle. Training aids that provide tactile feedback to the head are most useful in developing the muscle memory required to achieve these two unarguable aspects of the golf swing.

Robert S. (Bob) Doyle is the founder and president of Forever Better Golf Inc. a golf equipment and training aid company dedicated to helping all golfers improve their swings and lower their scores. Their flagship product is the PRO-HEAD Trainer, a full swing training aid that helps golfers maintain their spine angles and keep their heads back and behind the ball through impact. To see the PRO-HEAD Trainer in use and take the 60 second challenge, visit http://www.foreverbettergolf.com

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