I just watched a young girl of 16 playing. She's a good player and qualified for her state championships last spring. I think she plays to a 1 or 2 hdcp. I noticed she has that same strange head bob that I see in Natalie Gulbis's and Paula Creamer's swings. You know a downward thrust of the neck and head at impact. I have only seen this move in females. why do they do this? Why does it seem to be only girls and women who do it?
The "head bob"
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Kevin Shields
Super Moderator
IMO, most female tour players are slingers of the club. The weight is fired past their bodies and they aren't strong enough to react to the sudden expansion of their swing's angles.....or, it's an extreme chase move to hang on from hooking it.
I kind of think it could be a (relative) lack of strength issue, too, combined with a lot of flexibility. The young lady on that show was pretty little, and she had that Michelle Wie, back-to-the-target followthrough. That said, every lady dosen't do it. But I don't know if I've ever seen a guy swing like that.
Brian Manzella
Administrator
If you COULD you would.
Below are a series of pictures that show LOTS of things relative to hitting a golf ball far and straight.
I could write a 10,000 paper on it, but for now, I just talk about the infamous "HEAD BOB."
MANZELLA MATRIX PRINCIPLE:
"If there are a multitude of people doing something, over a long period of time, that are competing at a VERY high level at their activity, then, that something is probably VERY CORRECT."
Golfers, Baseball hitters, Pitchers and Throwers, Football Quarterbacks, Hockey Players, Boxers...etc, ALL tilt their NECKS (and therefore their heads) on an AXIS as to provide SHOULDER SUPPORT AND SPEED in the process of propelling whatever it is they are propelling!!!!
The girl golfers are just getting their necks in place, for the WHACKING.
That's it.
Once upon a time, I used to say that they should have their necks in the right place at address.
Now I know better.
There AIN'T any way to get enough waist bend and neck slant at address to eliminate the down head movement.
THE BALL HAS NO IDEA WHAT THE HEAD IS DOING!!!!!!!!!
If you could arch you back and your neck, to put your shoulder "into it" like these girls....you would.
I say what they are doing is PERFECT EXECUTION.
My head and spine moves up on the backswing because of flexibility issues.
So what?
I hit it just fine. Because:
1. I make the club work like a club.
2. I make my body help.
I really am starting to come to the thought that the REASON for all the funny positions PROMOTED in golf is because the teacher PROMOTING it, have VERY LITTLE athletic ability.
Or sense.
Below are a series of pictures that show LOTS of things relative to hitting a golf ball far and straight.
I could write a 10,000 paper on it, but for now, I just talk about the infamous "HEAD BOB."
MANZELLA MATRIX PRINCIPLE:
"If there are a multitude of people doing something, over a long period of time, that are competing at a VERY high level at their activity, then, that something is probably VERY CORRECT."
Golfers, Baseball hitters, Pitchers and Throwers, Football Quarterbacks, Hockey Players, Boxers...etc, ALL tilt their NECKS (and therefore their heads) on an AXIS as to provide SHOULDER SUPPORT AND SPEED in the process of propelling whatever it is they are propelling!!!!
The girl golfers are just getting their necks in place, for the WHACKING.
That's it.
Once upon a time, I used to say that they should have their necks in the right place at address.
Now I know better.
There AIN'T any way to get enough waist bend and neck slant at address to eliminate the down head movement.
THE BALL HAS NO IDEA WHAT THE HEAD IS DOING!!!!!!!!!
If you could arch you back and your neck, to put your shoulder "into it" like these girls....you would.
I say what they are doing is PERFECT EXECUTION.
My head and spine moves up on the backswing because of flexibility issues.
So what?
I hit it just fine. Because:
1. I make the club work like a club.
2. I make my body help.
I really am starting to come to the thought that the REASON for all the funny positions PROMOTED in golf is because the teacher PROMOTING it, have VERY LITTLE athletic ability.
Or sense.
I have a question, Brian. Do you think that people like Tiger (when he was younger), Creamer, Gulbis, and other lightweight people who come up on their toes because they're going after it, duck their to offset the fact that they leave the ground at impact? I know that they're seeking that neck-parallel position at impact, but do you think this could be another factor for the degree of "down"?
self-mastery
New
Can the 'head bob' also be a power move? I've seen several powerful recreational players with a similar move. I was on a speed monitor last week and I got an extra 7-10mph when I dropped my right shoulder from the top and squeezed into my right side.
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Jim Kobylinski
Super Moderator
Probably because you created more trigger delay.
golfbulldog
New
Head bob linked to "up on toes"?
Pg 202 Percy Boomer's "On Learning Golf"
"… When they study film pictures or flickers of great golfers many people are intrigued and some were quite indignant – to see that some of them are right up on their toes during the impact period. And some of the very greatest golfers - Vardon, Bobby Jones, and Miss Joyce Wethered - are amongst the worst 'offenders'."
He goes on to explain to his student Mme. Lacoste who is worried about an impact photo that shows a Gulbis type position that ...
"...It is not all wrong...look! your head and shoulders are beautifully down and that's all you need to have down. Then see you stretch up through the body- its marvellous, that is what gives you your wrist snap and makes you such a long hitter for such a little dainty lady."
It seems that this is all natural reaction of an athletic body to the forces required to uncock the wrists and stay in balance.
Pg 202 Percy Boomer's "On Learning Golf"
"… When they study film pictures or flickers of great golfers many people are intrigued and some were quite indignant – to see that some of them are right up on their toes during the impact period. And some of the very greatest golfers - Vardon, Bobby Jones, and Miss Joyce Wethered - are amongst the worst 'offenders'."
He goes on to explain to his student Mme. Lacoste who is worried about an impact photo that shows a Gulbis type position that ...
"...It is not all wrong...look! your head and shoulders are beautifully down and that's all you need to have down. Then see you stretch up through the body- its marvellous, that is what gives you your wrist snap and makes you such a long hitter for such a little dainty lady."
It seems that this is all natural reaction of an athletic body to the forces required to uncock the wrists and stay in balance.
Brian Manzella
Administrator
More BOBBING....
The HEAD BOB is something that happens in golfswings because the shoulders are trying to re-ALIGN themselves for the "strike."
Folks do it who DON'T raise up, and folks do it who do.
One does NOT make the other more prevalent.
The REASON golfers get up on their left toe, is to SNAP THE KINETIC CHAIN better.
This "toe raise" makes it easy to stop the hips.
Thankfully, lots of folks can SANP IT with the foot down.
The HEAD BOB is something that happens in golfswings because the shoulders are trying to re-ALIGN themselves for the "strike."
Folks do it who DON'T raise up, and folks do it who do.
One does NOT make the other more prevalent.
The REASON golfers get up on their left toe, is to SNAP THE KINETIC CHAIN better.
This "toe raise" makes it easy to stop the hips.
Thankfully, lots of folks can SANP IT with the foot down.
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