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Keep Looking Up
Julie Brown, LPGA and PGA teaching professional
Woodmont Golf Club, Canton, Georgia
"You keep your head down, I will watch where the ball goes for you." Have you ever heard that before? And we all have heard this one
in the wake of an undesirable shot: "I must have lifted my head. I took my eye off the ball."
These situations occur because most golfers think it is very important to keep their head down with an eye on the ball to make a good swing.
This is a myth! Let me explain why, with this warning: The lesson here is much easier said than done. It will take practice.
To begin, you want to concentrate on swinging the club, not hitting the ball. How often have you taken a practice swing and thought, "Wow!
That felt great! I wish the ball were there for that swing!" With your pre-shot swing, you give yourself a chance to feel the swing rather than focusing on hitting the ball.
When you use your arms and hands to hit and lift the ball (rather than swinging the club), your whole body will straighten up. This takes you
out of the spine angle you started with at setup. Sure enough, your head comes up as a result of trying to control the hit--which is why we blame our lifted head!
What you want to do is maintain your spine angle through to a balanced finish position by rotating your body rather than straightening. You
will discover that your head will come up naturally with your swing in plenty of time to see the ball in flight.
Give yourself a little test. Try the eyes-closed drill. This will give you immediate feedback on your focus in the swing. Close your eyes,
place your hands on the club, assume your set up, make a swing, and hold the finish position. If you are balanced on the target foot with your chest and belt buckle left of the target, congratulations!
Now ask yourself if your shoulders are relaxed. Or instead, have your shoulders lifted up almost touching your ears? If so, you have created
tension in the shoulders by overworking the arms and hands in the swing. The more you use the body to rotate, your arms will begin to swing freely with less effort and more power.
I hope this will convince you to focus on things that will really make a difference in your swing instead of what you want to do to the little
white ball on the ground. The ball will take care of it self. It will just happen to get in the way of the clubhead swinging through to the finish. Let it go and things will be looking up.
You may visit me at www.juliebrownlpga.com
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