Drill: Release Your Head
By Meaghan Francella
I think the long-time golf fix of "keep your head down" is not only incorrect but in fact damaging to any player hoping to create longer, straighter golf shots.
When you see a boxer throw a punch, you don’t see them stay on their back foot, and when a world-class tennis player rockets a serve at 100+ MPH they don’t finish on their trail foot! Great racket, bat, and club motions employ a component called weight transfer. These athletes move into the impact area because they want to create a powerful strike!
The same thing goes for your golf swing. If you don’t learn to develop great footwork, then a good rotation of your core, and only then release your coconut, you will lose a substantial amount of power. Take Annika Sorenstam or David Duval when they were playing on tour; their heads were looking down the target line and they hadn’t even made contact with the golf ball yet. Let’s release the coconut like these two did!
Post Up Drill
I used this drill during my tour days with my coach Tom and we referred to this as The Duval or Annika Drill, as that was my model for releasing my head and moving into my left side better.
Start with the club in front of the golf ball and without making a backswing, go to your finish. This will be challenging at first because you do not have the momentum of the backswing taking you to the follow through. Try that a couple of times and remember to start with the club in front of the ball and go directly to your finish.
Key Takeaways
Start with the club in front of the ball
Pivot and post up into your finish condition
A few things to look for when you are holding your finish:
Shoulders are square to the target
Hips are square to the target
Trail knee physically touches lead knee
Right foot is fully vertical
