What can be learnt from this ?

[golfbulldog]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wN2p4KkO2A

I posted this link in another thread but did not want to threadjack so posted again here. I apologise if it has been discussed already on this forum but can not remember where i found it!

Any comments.

Head movement is so hard to self monitor - have a look at this

http://v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=FR2652751&F=0

This device was designed to allow golfer to keep head motionless but actually i find it better to judge just the right amount of movement.

I arrange a golf shaft to hover 6-8 inches above the ball so that it obscures my view of the ball at address. ( place an upturned range ball bucket 3 feet infront of your address position and run an old shaft through the holes so that the grip end is suspended above your line of sight to the ball) Backswing head movement allows me to see the ball completely( to the right of the shaft). If i make sure i never see the ball appear to the left of the shaft then my head has not slipped forward of its address position.

If you follow the "search for the pefect swing" findings of the impact head location ( driver) being 2-3 inches down and right of address position then this is the equivalent of seeing the whole ball to the right of the shaft at impact. NOW you can judge what you head (at least your eyes) are doing during the swing.

Just have to be sure that weight is still being shifted to left side ( ie axis tilting causing head to "stay behind the ball" rather than just hanging back on the right side).

Any comments?

PS i am not the inventor and have no product to sell!

 

[puttmad]

gbd,

I don't think it is essential to keep your head still during the swing. In fact it may actually be detrimental.

Most of the best golfer's I see move their heads a bit at sometime from start to impact, but generally it is a rotational movement, not a lateral one, the rotation center being the 7th cevical bone at the top of the backbone. It happens on the downswing when the player shifts weight to the left side, the lower body mass goes left, the top of the head goes right.

I think C7 is the real place that needs to be anchored during the swing as it is your swing center..

 

[JeffM]

puttmad

How do you know that rotation occurs at the 7th cervical vertebrae, and not at another cervical vertebral level?

It is my understanding that rotation of the head occurs at the C1/2 level.

Why do you conclude that C7 is the swing center? I have hear that the true swing center is at the level of the upper sternum, roughly where a line across the mid-shoulders crosses the midline - and that is lower than C7.

Jeff.

 

[birdie_man]

I dunno how much it shows us other than just being neat.

What this camera shows isn't what Tiger sees- it's attached rigidly to his beak and moves as his head moves....whereas his eyes turn in the sockets and stay fixed on the ball. (looking away in and around impact)

 

[Ringer]

Interesting to me that his hands appear to go back over his right foot, and come back over his right foot.

 

[shortgamer]

Interesting to me that his hands appear to go back over his right foot, and come back over his right foot.

The camera is on the end of his hat thus giving this illusion.

 

[golfbulldog]

gbd,

I don't think it is essential to keep your head still during the swing. In fact it may actually be detrimental.

Most of the best golfer's I see move their heads a bit at sometime from start to impact, but generally it is a rotational movement, not a lateral one, the rotation center being the 7th cevical bone at the top of the backbone. It happens on the downswing when the player shifts weight to the left side, the lower body mass goes left, the top of the head goes right.

I think C7 is the real place that needs to be anchored during the swing as it is your swing center..

Hi Puttmad, please don't misunderstand ... I never said that it was ideal to keep the head steady ( although the guy who patented it intended it for that purpose...).

what i find more significant is that it allows one to monitor the amount of head movement. If you make the obstructing object large like a tennis ball then alot of head movement is required before you can see the back half of the ball ( ie too much movement)... but a golf ball sized obstruction demands only a small amount of head rotation and movement before the back half of the ball is visible. You can then fine tune the exact amount of head movement by specifying how much of the ball you want to see at impact.

If you take c7 as your fixed point in the swing then ,assuming axis tilt on downswing, your head will move back and down at impact ( cf. address). The angle of your ball-to-dominant eye line will alter and thereforethe obstructing object will no longer eclipse the golfball.

Most golfers do not experience this... most golfers, even if they achieve this position, are not aware of it ... this contraption makes the golfer aware!

 

[golfbulldog]

I dunno how much it shows us other than just being neat.

What this camera shows isn't what Tiger sees- it's attached rigidly to his beak and moves as his head moves....whereas his eyes turn in the sockets and stay fixed on the ball. (looking away in and around impact)

Precisely Bman... that's why it is about head movement during the swing. Many people who have an athletic lower body movement during downswing ALSO have too much upper body and head lunge on downswing... no axis tilt... this is one way to monitor it and provide feedback.

If you want to know what Tiger might see (assume right eye dominant) then draw a line between right eye and the ball at address and at impact. Use the picture that Brian did of Tiger ( from commercial for Nike) on which he superimposes the address and impact head positions ( as well as his dots).

http://www.brianmanzella.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7722

The angle of the line will be different by a small amount. too small amount to be perceived by most golfers. BUT if youo set up an "eclipse" of the ball at impact with an object of appropriate size you can then see the back half of the ball at impact. ( due to the altered eye-to-ball line)... self monitoring...no video required...nobody holding your head still during the swing...just tiger -like head control.

 

[golfbulldog]

http://www.putfile.com/golfbulldog/images/76866

Using the stationary point (approx. between the shoulder joints) favoured by "Search for the Perfect Swing" and Brian Manzella and others...

See what you think.

If a player as accomplished as Stewart Bannatyne's head moves forward of his address position at impact and he can not sense it then what hope for the rest of us!!!...

have a go and then post! Thanks