Keeping your head

A crucial piece of knowledge to gain in order to improve your golf game is to understand the role the head plays in the swing. Knowing what the head does and doesn't do will improve your golf game. The golfer is constantly barraged with advice on what to do with the head, some of the well meaning but erroneous comments include "keep your head down," "don't move your head" and so on.

These pieces of advice and many more like them are wrong,

although in fairness they have a grain of truth to them. Your head does nothing in the swing except to respond to the movement of the body. Your height should remain constant throughout the swing (although your height will increase at the completion of the swing).

The head must be allowed to move laterally in the swing. It is impossible to swing back and forth without the head moving in conjunction with the pivot motion. If your head is in the wrong position at any point in the swing it almost certainly is due to a poor address position and a subsequent poor pivot motion. Simply stated, allow the head to move in response to the pivot motion. Do not try to keep it down or still. The best news from today's column, no more worrying about what the head is doing. The less we think the less we stink! (I got that from a golf pro from Oklahoma).

Terry Gingell, a Class A PGA professional, is the Director of Instruction at Eagle Valley Golf Club and can be reached at 887-7174.