Head dips down and towards ball backswing

[HerdGolf]

Help!!! I have this really bad habit of my head dipping down and towards that ball on the back swing. My body resets to this position and I hozzle the crap out of irons and hit on the very inside of woods.  I assume the head shouldn't move in towards the ball on the backswing.  Any drills or swing thoughts to help this?

[JetFan1983]

I fixed the majority of my head dip by putting my head against the wall and taking my setup without a club. I would then simulate a backswing and could easily feel the pressure of my head increase against the wall. This helped me feel the problem clearer. For me, keeping my head stable felt a lot like I was about to reverse pivot, but of course, the correct feel often feels really weird and different.

But yea, from a theoretical standpoint, you're clearly side-tilting too much too quickly on the backswing. I've noticed a trend amongst golfers where feeling the exact opposite of what you're doing can go a long way towards fixing the problem.

Perhaps you need to feel as if you're standing up on the backswing in order to not dip forward? You probably won't actually do that and move your head upwards. It might get you to keep it stable.

Use video to track your progress, so you can see what the new feels are actually doing.

[HerdGolf]

thanks.  I've tried the stand up drill before and I absolutly kill the driver when I do this.  I tend to go from a bit of a digger to a sweeper on the irons.  I kinda of forgot about that drill. It worked pretty well a while back but I took it to far and started thinning my irons.

[JetFan1983]

Keeping your head more stable can really only be a good thing, ya know? If thinning is resulting from a more stable head, something else is going on. Without video, the one thing I can say for sure is that when a player thins the ball, it's because the low point of the swing is too far behind the ball. So the theoretical fix is moving that low point more forward. How you go about doing that and in what order would be determined by what is seen on a slow motion clip of your swing.

So at this point, posting a video clip of your swing for the community here would be the next step, as far as continuing to gain assistance on your swing through this site. Not everyone who responds will give good tips, but many who do will, and hopefully you'll be able to recognize the good from the bad.

Here's a good thread on some of the guidelines on posting your swing, and here's a good article on how to film it.

[mdl]

Obviously I don't know if this applies to you without video, but for me the dipping problem comes mostly from over swinging.  I've seen videos of myself where I get near to parallel with the ground without dipping much, then dip at the end of the back swing to essentially make room for me to take a John Daly length back swing.  Tightening up to start my down swing with a sudden pause to full speed snap also contributes to this.  If I take what fees like a 3/4 length back swing and concentrate on staying smooth and loose with no tightening and snapping I tend not to dip.

Also, for me I wasn't able to diagnose the problem right by just concentrating on "don't dip the head", but if I try to visualize a rod from my tail bone to the base of my neck and concentrate on keeping that at the same angle relative to the ground throughout my back swing, I have an easier time feeling when I'm dipping and what's starting the dip.  Obviously your back isn't acting as a rod since there's various spine flexion going on and whatnot, but that mental thought helps me feel where the problem is coming from.

[uttexas]

Agree on posting a video. A head that dips down toward the ball in the backswing can be from not extending enough with your spine as you turn back. Basically, to maintain your inclination to the ground during the backswing, you have to extend your spine as you turn your hips. If you lack extension in the backswing, your head will move closer to the ball (down) due to relative flexion of the spine.