Golf Smart Academy Forum — Unusual Head Movement while Putting

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Unusual Head Movement while Putting ¶

By: Trenton F on June 19, 2022, 7:29 p.m.

Hi Tyler, big fan of your work as your videos have helped my swing considerably. As such, I’ve been focusing on short game and putting a lot more since going through your book a couple of years ago.

One stubborn aspect I can’t seem to solve is head movement in my putting stroke. To me it’s unusual as my head dips and not the more common head lifting I read about. What I mean is if you draw a line on top of my head at address, my head moves below it - typically around transition. Wondering if you have any thoughts? I don’t typically see too many folks asking for putting feedback on here, so hopefully this is okay. I’d really like to get to the root cause as little things I’ve been told to try like standing taller feeling, wall drills to keep head still, etc. aren’t doing the trick after doing them daily for nearly a year. The idea, according to one instructor I’ve seen for this issue, is that this is causing inconsistent contact which translates to inconsistent speed, etc. and fixing this will help with those issues.

Thanks!
Trent

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Re: Unusual Head Movement while Putting ¶

By: Tyler F on June 20, 2022, 2:04 p.m.

Hi Trent,

Posting your putting videos is definitely encouraged. It's not popular, but it's as much fun to work through as the full swing.

As far as your move, there are two things going on. What's causing the move? Should you fix it?

What's causing the move? This movement is likely caused by activity on the front side of your body (either pec/shoulder, or abs) as opposed to activity on the back side of your body (shoulder blades and spine extensors). You can see that the head lowering comes mostly from a chin tuck, and that chin tuck creates tension down that anterior chain.

Should you fix it? I do believe that most good putters use more of their upper back rather than abs and front side muscles for putting. But, here's Brandt Snedeker demonstrating a similar head dip with his stroke. So it is definitely possible as long as you can manage all the keys for a good stroke. I'd only fix it if I felt like it was a major contributor to speed or start line control. To me, it looks like there is little loft at impact and the ball is bouncing off the turf pretty hard. I'd probably experiment with ball position more forward

Happy Golfing,

Tyler

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Re: Unusual Head Movement while Putting ¶

By: Trenton F on June 20, 2022, 6:22 p.m.

Thanks, Tyler! I’m glad to finally have an idea of what is causing it. Further, I appreciate your other insights and the breakdown of whether it’s worth fixing.