You are on the range with the driver in hand. Set it up with a perfect stance, spin smoothly, and then shoot through the shot. The ball starts to the left and Hooks in the other area code.
It’s not your swing path or your control that matters. Your upper body lunged forward during the fall, pulling whatever was left. You have heard the advice a hundred times: “Stay behind the ball”. So in the next movement, you consciously hold your head back. Now you’re stuck on your right foot, the club is three inches behind the ball, and you’ve just hit a poor putt that travels 210 yards instead of 250.
Same goal. Opposite problems.
Why “staying behind the ball” fails
The advice itself is not wrong. The interpretation is. Most golfers hear “stay behind the ball” and think that means keeping their head still and their weight on their back foot through the shot. Thus they freeze the upper body, preventing any forward pressure shift.
What Really Happens: Keeping your head locked in place while your lower body tries to rotate creates an opposite spine angle. Your club reaches the ball while your weight is still on your foot. Your hands rotate to compensate. You either hit it fat or make poor contact with an early release. Hip rotation stops. The distance falls 15 meters. Contact becomes unstable.
Tournament players keep their heads behind the ball when hitting. But check their hips and pressure distribution. Their lead hips are cleared, their weight shifted forward and the belt buckle points left of the target. Upper body back, lower body through.
The difference between maintaining proper spine angle and backswing is about three inches and a crucial weight difference that most golfers misunderstand. Confusion between head position and weight distribution destroys more drives than any other single thought.
Actual Mechanics
Your back should keep its tilt away from the target. Your pressure should move to your lead foot. These two things happen simultaneously, not in opposition.
At impact, your lead shoulder should be higher than your trail shoulder. Your shoulders should rotate in an inclined plane while your hips are significantly cleared. The exact relationship between hip and shoulder rotation varies among elite players, but what matters most is this: your hips should rotate aggressively while your spine maintains its tilt away from the target. Trying to rotate your shoulders faster than your hips usually causes you to lose that crucial spine angle and stand up during impact.
Many golfers try to keep their shoulders level or even dip their lead shoulder down. Now your spine tilts toward the target, your weight hangs back, and you either slice it or turn your hands to make contact.
Feel the pressure move into your lead foot starting at the top of the backswing, but keep your head position steady until after impact. Your lower body shifts and rotates early. Your upper body maintains the tilt, but continues to rotate. They work in sequence, not in unison.
Three checkpoints for practice
Your trail leg at the bottom: It should be completely on the toe with the heel pointing straight up and almost all of your weight should be on your lead foot. If you’re ending up with significant weight still on your leg, you’re hung. If your head moved past the ball before the shot, you bounced forward.
Rotating your belt buckle: Set up a camera or practice in front of a mirror. Take half-speed swings where your head rests behind an imaginary line (choose a spot in the mirror or a tree behind the camera), but the belt buckle rolls well past the ball before your hands reach impact. This eliminates the disconnect where golfers either slide everything forward or hold everything back.
Your main shoulder: The shoulder of the bullet should stay up as it rotates. At impact, check that it is higher than your trail shoulder. The proper finish has you rotating fully and balanced on your side of the bullet with your head naturally dropping forward just after the ball has left.
Practice protocol
Hit 40 balls with a 7-iron where you lift into the shot and check two things: Is your lead shoulder higher? Is your belt buckle to the left of the ball turned properly?
Both must be true simultaneously. One without the other means you’re either hanging on or pushing yourself forward.
Good ball striking requires both tilt AND Milestone to create speed. Many golfers think that standing back means limiting your spin. Wrong. Stop holding. Start spinning. Your boot monitor will notice.
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