Struggling To Make Solid Contact With The Golf Ball

Dear Golf Nut.  I am having a problem making consistent solid contact with the golf ball.  I’ve had a couple of friends look at my swing and they don’t see anything that they can point to as to why I am having this problem.  Any thoughts on what may be causing this?This is one of those questions that can be tough to answer without seeing your golf swing, but let me give it a try.  If nothing major jumped out at your golf buddies, let me talk for a minute about something that gives a lot of amateur golfers like us a bit of a problem.

That is getting rid of movement in your head during your golf swing.  Now I’m not talking about keeping your head down.   This is something a little more subtle.  But I see a lot of golfers that move their head up or down or side to side during their swing and it can cause mishits and pushes or pulls.  And most average golfers never notice it.

So the first thing to do if possible is take a short video of your swing.  If you don’t have a camera, then get a friend or even you spouse to take a few minutes to watch your swing.  That is if your spouse will spend any time feeding your addiction to golf!

If you or they see side to side or up and down movement of your head, this may be your problem.  Now you just need to work on doing what the pros call “maintaining a quiet head”.   So let’s talk about how to help this.

You don’t want to stiffen up your shoulders or neck or you will cause other problems.  The key is really to just focus on not having major movement of your head during your golf swing.  One thing that I have used to do this is focusing on the golf ball a little more intently during my swing.  And this sounds a little crazy, but even picking a spot on the golf ball and not letting my vision move from that spot.  Then I also try to make sure that I see the clubhead swing through the golf ball at impact.

By focusing on this, without trying to “keep my head still” with the muscles of my neck, I have been able to keep my head quiet and improve my contact on the golf ball.  So, the next time you are hitting some balls at the range, try this approach.  Then video yourself again or have that same person watch you again to look for improvement.

I hope this helps and great golfing to you.