Are You Focused On The Right Golf Fundamental?

/ The Grateful Golfer

Is there one golf fundamental that reigns supreme above all others? Is it your grip? Your stance? Ball position? Is there even one fundamental to tops all the others? There is an answer to that and it might not be what you think. Over the years, there is one basic swing action that continues to remind me of its importance. It is not difficult, but profoundly important!

The fundamental I am talking about comes from the Golden Bear himself: Jack Nicklaus. The tip is to keep our head steady or still during our golf swing. It is amazing the difference this small tip makes.

Every once in a while, I have to remind myself to keep my head still. During great scoring rounds, I find that I want to snap my head up to watch the ball soar towards the hole. In my excitement, I start to mess up the rhythm of my golf swing which results in mishit shots. Imagine ruining your score because you were playing too well and wanted to watch. During those moments I remind myself to keep my bobblehead still and complete my swing before looking for the ball in the distance.

Keeping our head still (notice the words down are not part of the conversation) is very important as it develops the foundation to build in which other swing motions are formed. It can be more challenging that you think, but with a little practice good things can happen to your game.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!

7 thoughts on “Are You Focused On The Right Golf Fundamental?”

  1. Pingback: The One Golf Tip Everyone Should Know | The Grateful Golfer

  2. Here’s the thing. Head travel laterally is bad. Lateral movement means at least the upper body is leaning off the central plane.

    Head travel as swivel is ok as is head travel up and down. Both of those come into play in a proper full swing.

    A big shoulder turn will force the head to swivel. Our neck muscles being connected to the shoulders will drag the head to swivel possibly enough to lose eye contact with the ball. But that’s ok. You can still make great connection because the swivel isn’t taking your body off the central plane.

    And our heads are going to move up and down during the swing. It’s attached after all and during the swing we bend the knees bringing our heads down closer to the ground and then we push up raising our heads from ground level.

    Jack’s message is old. He doesn’t bring up these points that newer teaching does. He’s certainly still right about keeping our heads centered over the ball, but it’s important to know that head movement is ok as long as it’s not side to side laterally caused by swaying.

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      • Old may have been the wrong term. But I stand by my comments. Jack speaks of keeping the head still by rotating along our central axis. His message is about making our turn properly to avoid lateral movement not just with our head but for some our entire upper torso which takes the head with it wherever it may stray.

        All the work we need to do to be able to keep the head still laterally happens below our heads.

        And again, a big turn can force the head to swivel and that’s ok. And the head getting lower in the back swing and higher through impact is also ok. Perfect even.

        It’s the phrase ‘keep your head still’ that’s outdated. Not what Jacks teaching.

        And thanks for the Thanksgiving wish. Hope your day went as great as mine. Even got in nine holes while the Turkey cooked. 😎

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  3. Jim, head still is so important. I would vote that the most important fundamental is the grip because it’s the only part of the golfer attached to their equipment. Got a bad grip and all the things you do with the other parts of your body matter less. The bad grip prevents you from delivering the club to ball correctly. That being said, there are several correct ways to grip the club, but certain grip fundamentals must be adhered to. I liken a good grip to the importance of keeping excellent tires on your car. They are the only part of the vehicle attached to the road.

    I will agree that if you have a good grip, than head still is probably tops on my list.

    Good post. Thanks!

    Brian

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    • Brian,

      I agree that the grip is critical. If we step past that area (easy to say when we are talking hypothetically) keeping out head still is a great tip. The challenge I have is trying to offer tips without making my articles into books. Happy Thanksgiving!

      Cheers Jim

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