Keep Your Head Still Until Imapct

Last month Steve Smith made a comment in the blog about the importance of keeping your head still in the backswing that I think is important for everyone to hear.

"Many golfers have their head and spine angle lower during the start of the forward swing. Most of them also are pulling up or out or both at impact to try to make room for the club.

Most of the better players keep that to a minimum and probably would prefer to not do it at all. Tiger does it much more with a driver off of the tee and, maybe not so coincidentally, that is also the part of the game that he has been the most inconsistent. In his controlled approach shots he is much more stable. He is also a tremendous athlete that can get away with things that most of us can't get away with.

My head goes down and then back up but I am constantly working at trying to keep that to a minimum. It's usually the first thing I look at when I look at a new video.

P.S. DJ's head moves down a little but stays down through impact. Don's head doesn't move much at all. (He could probably balance something on his head and still hit the ball). ;-)"

Steve is right on about how little DJ and I move our heads in the backswing and in the first part of the forward upswing. If you watch video of my swing, I'm able to keep it exceptionally still until impact. DJ is also very still in his backswing but when he bumps and initiates his FUS, his head does move back a little as his secondary spine angle tilt kicks in but he keeps his head well behind the ball until impact.

Why is this important? A vertical swing is basically an arc around a fixed point, i.e. the top of your spine. Our power does not come from twisting our upper torso into a tight coil as rotational swingers do, but rather from our ability to swing our arms faster because we keep them out in front of our body. Up until the early 90's anyone who learned this game was told to keep their head absolutely still. Then in 1992, the whole pattern of golf instruction changed with the rush to the rotational swing. By 1994, golf instructors were telling their students that it was OK to move their heads "a little", though there was rarely a precise definition of how much was OK and how much was too much. I think that's because the pros were coming to the realization that something had to give if you were going to make a big shoulder turn. It's virtually impossible to keep your head still when you rotate your shoulders 90 degrees and more because the plane of your shoulders has to change. If you are a gifted athlete like Tiger Woods you can get away with this--most of the time. But if you are like most amateurs, the big turn can cause movement forward and back and up and down which will result in a bad swing, more often than not.

But because a vertical swinger keeps his/her arms in front of their body it's much easier to maintain our angles and get the club on the aiming line and keep it there through impact. The key to better golf is less body and head movement because this will give us more consistency in hitting solid shots with greater accuracy and distance.

Keep it vertical!

The Surge

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Comments

Steve

Nice job pal.ÃÂ You got called up to the big show.

Very good point you made too.ÃÂ When I let my head get up in the FUS, I top the ball.ÃÂ When I let it drop, I dig me a trench almost to where Dragonhead used to live.

Just serves to show that you have a great grasp on the PPGS. It is yet another reason why you are one of my heroes in golf and in general.

Keep up the great work,
Dick

Sure thing Boog. It's classic

Sure thing Boog. It's classic Surge that should be preserved.

Doc,I thought I was an early

Doc,
I thought I was an early bird. 3am in SC. Anyhow, good morning. Yes the daily Surge did back in December about head movement ala Annika Sorenstam had me shaking my head a little bit. It seems he was just exploring the thought at that moment, not particularly recomending early head release. After spending the last 3 years especially learning among other things to keep my head still till impact there was no way I personally was going to condider early release. As Surge mentions in that video daily, if it ain't broke don't fix it and he himself was going to stay with the still head till impact way.
MyÃÂ input was just an observation of preferance and not a critisism. Even thoughÃÂ I have a goal of at least 90% arms and 10% body(holding both head and knees)ÃÂ I know that when my swing is taped I still tend to move too much so any hint of allowing head or body movement lends me back to the rotational I have worked so hard to elliminate:)! Nose at the ball for me.
Todays entry by Don simply reassured me I am on the right track.
Let us know what he says when you see him.

Thanks Roger. That was it.

Thanks Roger. That was it. Too funny!!!

Do you have a smart phone?ÃÂ

Do you have a smart phone?ÃÂ If so, you can do it on them.

I will NEVER be able to do

I will NEVER be able to do that!!!!!ÃÂ ÃÂ But I will keep trying!ÃÂ :o))

Thanks for all your help,
marilyn

Surge, timely video today.As

Surge, timely video today.As all the blog knows I have been working on maintaining my spine angle lately. I had noticed that, like Steve mentioned as you quoted, that not only had I been dipping coming down to impact but also had been standing up to give the club room to clear.So my head was pretty well all over the map. Having been working on maintaining my new angle,which allows my arms to clear the chest, reallyÃÂ keeps my head stationary and behind the ball. I studied both your and DJ's swings at length in the process,among others, and they were very informative and a great help in getting me back into the swing of things. Consistency in the swing, ball striking and added zip on the ball. I did lose a few shots left and thought I may have been milking my grip coming into impact and closing the club face coming into the ball but now know the real culprit wasn't a milking problem but rather aÃÂ grip pressure problem which was causing my left wrist to cup slightly at or near impact. Just enough to shut the club face down about 9 degrees. Keeping those lower forearm muscles activated allows me to maintain that flat left wrist into the ball and the shots are flying straight and true.
Staying in the present with a steadier spine and firmer flat left wrist,
Booger

Now I'm having an Arsenio

Now I'm having an Arsenio Hall moment, Steve, hmmm, why didn't I think of that one.Thanks, I shall soon be chipping some bigger balls around the yard.

I think that there are two

I think that there are two ways to basically keep the head relatively "still" during the swing.

One is to keep the spine angle relatively stable until impact. The other is to keep the head down while the spine angle rises just before impact.

Since I think all of that happens much too fast for anyone to control I think the best thing to do is to try to keep the spine angle as stable as possible and keep the head as stable as possible.

Thanks, I have it saved also!

Thanks, I have it saved also!!

marilyn

T

Thanks you didn't have to do that. Walmart seems to be the cheapest out all that I have looked at on line.
I have a laptop but that's to much to take to the range.

Glad you got to go hit some

Glad you got to go hit some balls Robert. Yes I hope we can play again soon.

Surge,Steve and fellow

Surge,Steve and fellow Surgites,
I was very glad to see Surge reiterate the importance of keeping the head still until impact. This is in harmony with what he has been teaching for years. We remember onlyÃÂ a few weeks ago that he gave us a daily about "releasing your head early in the forward upswing" as an option for us to try if we choose to.
http://swingsurgeon.com/DailyV...
It really caught me off gaurd and I thought it wasÃÂ surprising and very un-Surgelike. Awe the Universe is back in orderÃÂ and all is well. That still head (until impact) and quiet body that allows the arms to freely swing as the rock on the string with a firmly held hand (the body) is fundemental to this swing. As he said (as he has many times)ÃÂ that the still head until impact is a must if we want to consistently hit a straight to a little draw that the head must never, ever move until after impact. For me that applies to the body and the oft refered to lesson with Matt
ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ that I also concertrate on keeping my spine and body(and knees- particularly the left kneeÃÂ still or quiet until impact and then allow the arms to release through and the body to follow and face the target at swings end.
ÃÂ ÃÂ Todays reminder was great timing to me for reinforcing my recent progress with my efforts to "get" this swing. Last week on the golf course and especially later on te range I really began to feel and experience both the power of the rock and string illustrationÃÂ and no wrist cock in a way I just hadn't felt yet. I hesitate to say it was a complete awe hah moment but I'm close. More work and testing it this week. I'm truely excited about my recent progress.
Steve, thanks again for your bright thoughts on this subject.
Good golfing and keeping it still,
PMG

BTW, I personally saw Surge perform the eyes closed driver shot on two occasions. The first time at Old South in South Carolina at the winter tourny of 2010 and last year at the Las Vegas Surgefest. It is truely only possible with an absolutely level, still head and posture.This is aÃÂ MUST SEE and save

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Mental note: when going down

Mental note: when going down into a ravine after the ball take a trusty rusty and leave the 8 iron in the bag (in my case take the 54* CG12).

Mate earlier I thought you were embarking on a tale similar to the Bishop in the "Caddyshack" movie and I thought OMG he's going to have a close call with a lightning strike :-()

Sounds like it was a good day out and you even had an extended UFO encounter with the wind blowing, great stuff! :-)

DH, We all love the shot that

DH, We all love the shot that brings us back.ÃÂ Even better when you have more than one. ;0)ÃÂ I'm thinking it's your lucky caddy that deserves the credit.ÃÂ Whatever you're tipping her isn't enough.

We have your "sunny" here today, but 10* F ( I'll let you do the conversion to C) so it looks like the clubs go into hibernation for the duration and hope the groundhog doesn't see his shadow next month.

PMGAS and stay out of those ravines.

Surges comments on keeping

Surges comments on keeping head still untill through impact confused me. He
looks preloaded back on all videoÃÂ I have seen.I do not feel comfortable with any
preload and so transfer my weight over to my right instepÃÂ during back swing and my head goes their also. Is this OK.
Many Thanks for your inspiration.
Malcy Brown.
Portsmouth
England.
11 Hcp

Roger,

Tis no problem. You instilled an interest in me to do the same. After seeing the one at Wal Mart for under $30, I remembered getting a $30.00 gift card for Christmas which I haven't used yet. Found out they are not in store available in my area, but ordered one freely shipped to my nearest store which is only a couple miles away. Only had to pay the $1.71 tax difference.ÃÂ It's like Christmas all over again. Well on the 19th anyway, when it should arrive in-store. I'll let you know how it works. Thanks for the idea!

Merry Christmas and PMG

I have an iPod Touch for

I have an iPod Touch for playing vids. Also have the V1 app that is pretty good for quick swing analysis.

Nice one Dick me laddie,

Nice one Dick me laddie, hahaha. I was out today after a couple of days practicing with my short irons, and am I glad I did. Was trialling the 17deg hybrid off the tee and the fairway. First few holes were excellent. Had a funny one on the third hole a par 3. There is a ridge before the green, which is elevated. The iron shot landed short bounced over the ridge[as intended] and should have had enough way on it to run up onto the green. it didn't!!! When I got over the ridge no ball to be seen. Then there it was in a man made hole, housing what looked like a water meter. There was my ball inside an empty individual biscuit bag!! Dropped the ball, carefully, no nearer the hole and lo! and behold I chipped it in.Disaster averted. heh heh heh. On theÃÂ 8hole another Par 3 with a pond on the left. My ball hound was stood beside the pond. I pulled my iron tee shot a tad. When I got up to her. She said, "You don't see that too often". When I asked what, she said it hit the water and bounced out onto the bank. When I saw it, my smile vanished. Deep rough next to a post. So I reversed my SW and played a right hand only back hander onto the edge of the green. My putt rocketed into the hole. Amazing. Those two holes made up for some of the other garbage I hit. For most of the round I seemed to have lost the bump and everything else. Not too disappointed though, I hit some superb iron shots and the 24deg rescue saved my bacon on a number of occasions. Tomorrow is definitely beckoning us to go and get it back, the bump that is. Telling your body to do it is one thing.The darned thing obeying is another altogether.
As it went pear shaped my brain jseemed to go blank. Eventually I relaxed, and it started to come right.
Sunny with a breeze, not bad at all, and meant to be similar for the next few days.

Quickie:

A couple of guys were playing golf. One of them hit his new ball into a ravine. He climbed down into the undergrowth to search for it. A few minutes later, he stumbled across a skeleton holding an 8 iron in it's bony hand. He looks at the 8 iron in his own hand and shouts up to his mate, "Hey Dick". His mate replies, "Hi Steve, are you OK down there?", "No mate, I am not, Can you throw me down my Sand Wedge, I can't get out of here with an 8 iron!!!"
Hahahaha,
Have a great day, Regards from a fellow Surgite in Godzone.

Not that disimilar from my

Not that disimilar from my results if my grip pressures off. My right hand too wants to take over in the fus if I'm not steady with that grip. What happens is the tension and over muscling has my right shoulder overly involved from the top and "yank!" iether pull or across and wide right. So among other adjustmentsÃÂ I have talked about recently I am all about maintaining not only less but EQUAL hand pressure from set up into BUS and back through the FUS. It makes a for a huge ÃÂ improvement.
http://www.swingsurgeon.com/Ho...
BTW, dogs are too much fun eh? We have a black Lab named Norma Jean and she is the sweetest girl all the time that we could ever have. Drives her crazy tho, any time there is any kind of animal on TV. Yes she's a dog that can watch tv. She'll start barking so much that we'll have to change channels!

Maybe we'll be able to do

Maybe we'll be able to do that when we grow up. ;-)

I suppose anything is OK,

I suppose anything is OK, just not OK if you are trying to perform a Surge swing. Pre-loading heavy right is an important part of this swing and eliminates having to move back during the back swing. You can read the articles at this link.
http://www.swingsurgeon.com/Da...

It's basically a question of

It's basically a question of accuracy versus brute force. From experience, I can say that it's best to be able to do both styles of hitting. It's best to be prepared for any situation.

Doc,

Don't know about Roger, but my cell seems a little stupid at times. Hopefully, one of my next upgrades will be to a smart phone style. Heck, I don't even get Text messaging on mine. It's like living in the stone age.

What the eye does'nt see, the

What the eye does'nt see, the heart wont grieve Pat. Stay away from the dark side & there will be not confusion or doubt. I have enough trouble with one centre of gravity without trying to take on 3. KISS I reckon. Put your faith in the Surge and you wont go wrong.

Our Australian Shepard is

Our Australian Shepard is into the Travelers commercials with the dog if you have seen them when the music starts he comes a running.
He likes playing fetch with a basketball and actually can pick it up and bring it bag. Any thing smaller he will destroy. ÃÂ

One thing is especially true

One thing is especially true for me. I have always had wrestlers neck. It's genetic and not particularly connected to a lifetime of weight training and athletics. As a result I think that any head movement tends to activate neck, torso and hip and leg movement perhaps more so for me than some other golfers. So allowing my head to move up, down or side to side almost insures a poor result. And yes I think it is a better thought to keep my posture and spine steady and stable a d my nose at the ball.
Over done to the point of tension doesn't work rather just the right athletic readiness.
Finding the balance is it. Been closer lately.

Hello Surge Nation,IÃÂ

Hello Surge Nation,
IÃÂ missed all the golf action on the tube today as I was on the golf Course with my wife. So I was only able to review DJ's day on PGA.com. He obviously had a so so day and will need to shoot somewhere around a 68 to make the cut and lower to get back in the mix.'
On another note I think I can officially say that I have made some brealkthroughs with this swing. TodayÃÂ I played 18 with Cindy and ÃÂ had my first eagle in years and it was accompanied by a birdy and along with 4 pars and two doubles and one bogie as I shot a 38 on my front nine. Cooled off on the back nine with only 4 pars shooting a 43 and finishing with an 81.
The eagle was so cool. I drove the 270 yard par 4 6th hole. At Los Prados #6 is a blind tee shot (if your going for the green) over trees and requires a fade to avoid the shot blocking fence placed in front of the direct route to the hole.It's a slight dogleg right again blocked by old growth tall trees. So my drive came off perfect and I told my wife that it's got to be close to on the green if it got over the bunkers that gaurd the aproach. When we got to the green my ball laid just 12 feet past the hole. It was a slight left to right putt. Lined up just about a cup outside left and eased it toward the hole. In she went! This was all part of a great start where I went Birdy 3 on the opening par 4(green in two and drained a 10 footer),then par, par, double, par and a bogie on 5. After 6 I was even par. A double followed by two pars gave me the 38.
Over allÃÂ I am thrilled at my recent improvements. Stiil missed too many putts but I also made several good ones. The best improvements are similar to what Kevin talks about several posts down. On all clubs with my full swingÃÂ keeping that left wrist firm, allowing no hinging or cocking on the BUS and keeping my right shoulder and hand (grip) softer and pressure basically stable and evenÃÂ while not allowing tension to over take my transition from the top have allowed me to limit my backswing to 3/4 and be more vertical and yet still have plenty of power and keep it fairly straight and nearly elliminate the right side of the golf course.
Fun! It's been a really good day.
PMG

Unfortunately I do not. I

Unfortunately I do not. I want to take some of Don drill videos to the range to refer back to.

hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I'd have

hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I'd have to wonder if moving the head forward of the ball before impact is the same thing as turning the head on the down swing.ÃÂ I'll see Surge next week and I'll have to ask on that.

Might have known somebody

Might have known somebody from Kentucky would want to play fetch with a basketball, and get a dog that could do it. Ha ha ha!
When I worked in Illinois there were a few guys from Kentucky and a few guys from Indiana I worked with and every Saturday we rented a gym and played basketball all day.
To play with those guys and not get embarrassed I had to play the best basketball of my life. They all grew up sleeping with a basketball and dribbling one to school every day.

I "think" mine has been

I "think" mine has been better lately also. Need to make a video and see.

Hardest "fine line" to walk for me is that I get a lot of power out of my butt muscles at impact. Very obvious in my swing.

Congratulations!!!!

Yeah, Robert, that was me in

Yeah, Robert, that was me in reverse,seems I was backing off on my pressure somewhere in FUS coming down into impact. That was letting my right hand overpower my left at impact ( a few degrees worth) and shutting my club face slightly. Maintaining my grip pressure has remedied that. I was going to sneak out and try some shots in the yard today but took Josh out for lunch instead since school was out for the holiday. We did learn something else Friday, that might need mentioning, Honey misses our time in the yard a lot, so much so that when I slipped out unobserved( I thought) that she tore the blinds up in the dining room wanting to watch me.Oops! I now raise them before going out and then bring her out afterwards for some fetch, large pine cones or sticks,of course.

removal of repeat.last one!

removal of repeat.
last one! Dang disqus:)

LOLThat just kinda happened.

LOL
That just kinda happened. I went out in the back yard for something and he grabbed it of the porch and brought it to me it is slightly low on air but you can still bounce it he has been playing with it ever since.

Thanks Surge, I worked on

Thanks Surge, I worked on that today, for sure, took my eight iron out and hit a few, it was 52 outside and I couldn't stand it, only lost one ball in the snow.ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ

I really hit my eight iron good, even tho, it was kinda wet out there, I tried to keep head still and spine, it worked well.ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ Well really wet!!!!ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ I really had to work on my loading right also and I did and it was good!!ÃÂ :o)))ÃÂ ÃÂ Just have to think of all you tell me.

Thanks again,
marilyn

Great round ! and eagle.ÃÂ

Great round ! and eagle.ÃÂ Sounds like you are getting more consistent with each round keep it up

I have to say though its not right between you playing and the tourneys on television I am getting eager to get out and play. I don't think that's going to happen for a while. It has been raining we actually had a thunder storm earlier in the week and Louisville actually had a couple of tornado's touch earlier this week. Its either raining or colder than heck.It was supposed to get close to 60 Sunday but now 48 but it is to wet to play. At least we do not have 10 - 12" of that white stuff on the ground like last year. I have plenty of work to do at the range anyway.

ÃÂ

Pat here and thanks for all

Pat here and thanks for all the info and guidance--i have been (briefly) to the dark side and they say that there are 3 centres of gravity and that the head and top of spine move slightly to the right on the bs, centered over the right leg, back to centre point at impact and move slightly over to the left in ft.
I always thought that it was fundamental that there was one centre of gravity and that the head should not move up/down/left or right and that the whole moving part of the swing, hands,arms shoulders moved around this fixed point and it provided the fulcrum around which to execute the swing

Marilyn, so happy to hear

Marilyn, so happy to hear that you had a good but wet session today. Your diligence under the conditions is an inspiration. I'm glad to hear that keeping your head and spine still worked out well for you,Ma'am.

I would prefer to not move my

I would prefer to not move my head very much at all from address to impact.
Ain't likely to ever happen but a worthy goal nonetheless.

With short irons I come pretty close though and when I am really in trouble with the lie my head is the most stable.
(That is also when I am at my best, not a coincidence).

That said, on my normal undesirable driver swings I am somewhat likely to turn my head before impact and almost 100% likely to have my spine angle (and my head with it) move up several inches between it's lowest point and impact with the head at impact almost always being exactly on the height line it was at address. Even with all of that, it is still behind the ball at impact and has very little lateral movement either way from address to impact.

Roger, (or whomever else

Roger, (or whomever else reads this and will do it for us)
I'm at work and don't know how to do something on my smart phone. The phones still smarter than me:) Anyhow for all the dog lovers please look up and then post here for us, "Ultimate dog tease" on you tube. It is beyond funny and will have everyone cracking up! Thanks ahead of time.

Boog,Sounds like your

Boog,
Sounds like your figuring a few things out. The keeping the forearms relatively firm and grip pressure just right is interesting.g to me. Last time out I really had a similar experience. For me, I have figured out that what I thought was a 3 on a scale of 1-5 on the the grip meter was closer to a 6! Backing off while emphasizing no wrist hinge had me on the money.
PMG

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