Rotating head - Forum Archive

streak 10-10-2005, 10:33 PM

Here's a player who ranks very high in the Ballstriking stat year after year. His head rotates on the forward swing. Comments?

http://redgoat.smugmug.com/gallery/84598/1/5028804

Yoda 10-10-2005, 11:04 PM

Originally Posted by streak Here's a player who ranks very high in the Ballstriking stat year after year. His head rotates on the forward swing. Comments?

http://redgoat.smugmug.com/gallery/84598/1/5028804

I learned to keep my Head Stationary using the old Alex Morrison 'Point your chin at the back of the Ball' method. I figured if it was good enough for Alex, and his student, Henry Picard, and Henry's student Jack Grout and finally Jack's student, one Jack William Nicklaus, it was good enough for me. And so it was...for a while.

But...

By the time I hit age forty, I could hardly walk after a practice session. Or climb out of my car on Monday morning. With my chin back and my 'Reverse C' and 'leg drive' -- the mantra of the 70s and 80s -- I was virtually driven out of golf. I mean, when you take the club back about waist high and your knees buckle with a searing flash of incredible pain through your lower back, you've got a problem, right? Well, I had one, and I fixed it.

Check out my videos, maybe even the slow-motion driver Swing 6bmike just posted (Hitters Emergency Room -- Hitter's Row). You will see that my chin stays right at the back of the Ball through Impact and just beyond. But, by the end of the Follow-Through -- the Both Arms Straight position -- my chin now follows the Sweetspot and starts Tracing that Plane Line along with my #3 Pressure Point. As momentum carries me into the Finish, my back remains straight and my Head begins to move over my Left Leg. Results? No pain, even after a full day of golf and hundreds of practice balls before and after.

Sadly, Mr. Nicklaus stayed with his action as long as he could.

That is, until surgeons had to cut out his Hip.

streak 10-10-2005, 11:27 PM

In the Durant video, he appears to start rotating his head forward well before he completes his backswing, it seems like he gets his head pointing to Follow-Through long before his arms arrive there, like pre-setting his fulcrum to its most effective (and comfortable?) location ....

Yoda 10-11-2005, 12:42 AM

Originally Posted by streak In the Durant video, he appears to start rotating his head forward well before he completes his backswing, it seems like he gets his head pointing to Follow-Through long before his arms arrive there, like pre-setting his fulcrum to its most effective (and comfortable?) location ....

Annika Sorenstam and David Duval make a similar move through the Ball. As I recall, Andy Bean and Paul Azinger do so on the Backstroke as well. But check it out...I'm operating from memory here.

streak 10-11-2005, 07:42 AM

Yes, Annika, Duval, Zinger all rotate their heads as the club swings down, not sure about Bean. What's interesting to me about Durant is that he appears to rotate to pre-aim his head to Follow-Through where it stays until the momentum of his swing takes it around. Here's another video of Joe ....

http://www.golfswing.com/proswings/durant.htm

I first saw Joe swing about five years ago, the sound and trajectory of his shots is a cut above his peers. The last three years he's ranked 2nd, 1st, and 3rd in Ballstriking. Worth studying, no?

bgolfing 10-11-2005, 01:42 PM

Head rotation always made sense to me, but hard to do. When you move to turn around while walking does your head follow the bosy or body folow the head? If you get in a fight/wrestling match the best way to gain control is to go after the head. Last one, think abbout little kids and there big heads and how that controls them. i know it's not TGM but it makes sense.