head moving forward?

[TourBound3617]

why and how to stop

What causes the head to move forward in the downswing? Out of nowhere, I have huge trouble having my head way too far ahead at impact, causing bad contact and a OTT move (I THINK thats whats causing OTT- never had this issue before).

So what are the causes, the fixes, the drills, the swing thoughts, and everything I need to know about why and how to fix it? Thanks in advance

[ballzo]

I fight this all the time and the only drill that I have is the feet together drill. I wish I had something better but this is the only one that I know of. basically. Its what its name says. Hit balls with your feet together as they can and try to maintain your balance. If anyone know of another good drill, please let us know.

[bscinstnct]

Hip Bump.

Bump left hip "through" your left side.

Weight should get left and head should stay back.

[Corey_sulliv21]

First, it's important that you identify "why" your head is moving forward. You fix the disease, not the symptom.

More often than not the weight moves forward for 1 of 2 reasons:

1. Backswing finishes with a pronounced lifting of the arms and your upper body is thrown forward as you dump all your lag to effectively "reach back" for the ball at impact. In this case you probably turn your shoulders very quickly and very flat. You'll need to blend more of an early arm swing and feel like you turn your shoulders later and steeper.

2. More commonly, it's caused by poor tranisitional weight shift. Your body knows you have to get 90% of the weight onto the left side at impact so it will do what ever it takes to get on that left side. Most good players shift their lower body at least 6" toward the target during the first part of the downswing which obviously transfers your weight and allows the head to stay stationery.

You indicated that you come OTT as well which tells me it's probably both of these problems. Your arms should not lift off the ribcage very much during the backswing so I would check that first. Second, and most important, I've never seen ANYONE come over the top who has a pronounced lateral move of the lower body. Left hip should end up outside of your left ankle once you're half way down.

Try it. Swing to the top and pause and slowly push your left hip toward the target as far as you can. Feel like you move your hips 12". Think you can hit the outside of the ball? No way.

As you do this slowly you'll notice that your right shoulder will lower, your right bicep will re-connect with your torso and your head will stay stationery or even feel like it moves backwards.

I would hit some very slow 8 iron's off a tee and make a full swing but only hit the ball about 75 yards. Feel that pronounced hip slide during transition and see what you get. Plus, you have to know how and why the ball flies the way it does. There's enough on the site that talks about the ball-flight laws.

[PingG10guy]

Ive been dropping my head in the backswing for almost my entire 2 years of playing the game. I just recently found that I wasnt really creating a firm rear side to turn into. You could generally say that i didnt really straighten my rear leg when i make the backswing(which caused me a lot of back problems but i thought it was correct because a lot of guys on here say its a "power sap"). So now i allow my right leg to straighten; not completely, but almost, and my motion has improved greatly, my levels dont change as much and my rotation is more centered. No distance loss either.

[happyroman]

Keep in mind that the head is a relatively large mass sitting on top of the spine ("the human head weighs eight pounds" from Jerry Maguire). The head moves if the spine angle changes. The spine angle changes because the focus is in the wrong place (i.e., the ball and not the target).

Start with a balanced set up with a little spine tilt away from the target and strive to maintain the balance throughout the swing. The head will move a little as the body rotates to the right and then back to the left. This is perfectly acceptable, and usually preferable, as trying to keep the head absolutely still can inhibit a free flowing swing.

Here are a couple of videos by Shawn Clement that may be helpful.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=clemshaw#p/search/1/FH-e0WvxwPI"]http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=clemshaw#p/search/1/FH-e0WvxwPI[/url]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=clemshaw#p/search/1/nI3i936JRd0"]http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=clemshaw#p/search/1/nI3i936JRd0[/url]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=clemshaw#p/search/6/0ZkMuKGk4_k"]http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=clemshaw#p/search/6/0ZkMuKGk4_k[/url]