Swing Your Head - A Surprising Golf BackSwing Technique

When you are learning to play golf, a tip you will often hear is to keep your head still. Some instructors and well-meaning coaches will say it to you at leasst 50 times per round, especially when it comes to perfecting the your backswing.

Moving your head on the way back is one of the best golf backswing fundamentals you can learn.

Why move your head as you start the golf backswing? The idea is you have to move your head to create an axis to move around. An axis has a both a top and a bottom, like the north and south poles. When you set up to start your golf backswing, your head becomes the top of he axis and your feet and legs create two bottoms.

Basically, your head should lead the way by moving 5-7 inches to the right as you start your golf backswing. Swing your head to the right, stay in that position as you come down, and move yoru head forward only after the ball has been hit. Watch any touring pro closely and you'll notice moving your head is the proper golf backswing technique. In fact, if a ballerina or figure skater didn't move their head first, they would be unable to start their spin at all. Likewise with your backswing. Don't move your head and you never create the two-point axis needed to get proper a proper circular motion.

So the top of the backswing axis is not stationary. It's floating. Your head floats right to left to create the perfect golf backswing axis. But this does not mean your swing will be a perfect 360 degree circle. It's more egg-shaped. Which is why even a solid golf backswing technique will never be completely perfect.

If you don't move your head during the backswing you will never be able to hit the ball as long and as far as you are truly able because you are never setting up the top axis correctly.

Most people trying to learn a better golf backswing techique try to move their head back when I tell them to but they have a hard time actually doing it because it feels so uncomfortable for them to move their head.

To get the proper feeling, you must feel like your head is moving about 1 foot to the right. If you feel like your head is moving 1 foot to the right on the way back, it will actually only move a few inches. One good tip is to try swinging regularly towards a mirror.

As you watch your backswing, you can clearly see if your head is moving back 3-5 inches. As your head moves back, feel how your weight loads into the right leg. This is the tell tale sign that you have created your first axis in the golf backswing. If you don't have a loaded, powerful feeling in your right leg, you will have to move your head a little more as you go back.

If you are wearing a hat when you play golf just take your backswing and look to see if the brim of the hat is level to the ground not tilted to the left. If the brim of the hat is level to the ground at the top of your backswing your head will have moved the proper amount.

Use a friend, video camera or mirror for feedback. Constantly remind yourself to move your head back as you start a golf backswing. Feel the power shift to your right leg, and notice the almost effortless circular motion on the way down. Think twelve inches and settle for five or six. Set up the first axis point and you'll shave points off your score!

As you move your head back, beware that it may cause you to hit behind the ball a little. This is a good sign at first. It's telling you that you are moving your head back but you have too much weight on your right foot at impact. To remedy hitting behind the ball (fat shots), all you have to do is feel a little more weight shift off of your right foot through impact. If you do, you will hit the ball perfectly and with much more power than you are used to.