“Keep your head still” might be the most repeated tip in golf. It’s also one of the most misunderstood. Try to lock your head in place and you’ll usually restrict your turn, tense up your neck and shoulders, and make things worse.
The better idea, and the one many great teachers actually mean, is to keep your head centred.
The Nicklaus story
Jack Nicklaus’s teacher, Jack Grout, was famous for insisting on a steady head. As E.A. Tischler explains on GOLF.com, Grout would sometimes grab hold of the young Nicklaus’s hair while he swung, to stop him swaying off the ball.
But here’s the important bit. Tischler points out that Nicklaus never tried to keep his head completely still. He rotated it to trigger his backswing, turned it on the way through and raised it into the finish. What stayed consistent was its position: centred over his stance from start to finish.
Tischler’s advice is to note where your head sits at address relative to your feet, and keep it there. Let it rotate if that feels natural, but don’t let it drift. Full credit for this framing goes to Tischler and, of course, to Grout.
Why head position matters for contact
Your head is heavy, and where it goes, your body tends to follow. If your head drifts away from the target on the backswing, your centre of mass usually goes with it. To strike the ball cleanly, you then have to move everything back, and the timing has to be perfect.
When the timing is off, the low point of the swing moves. Hit too early and you catch it fat. Compensate and you catch it thin. Tischler links Nicklaus’s centred head directly to his consistency, saying it helped him control the bottom of his swing.
The link to hip sway
Head drift and hip sway often travel together. Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) defines a sway as excessive lateral movement of the lower body away from the target in the backswing. When the hips slide, the head often follows. Fix one and the other usually improves.
Two drills to keep your head centred
Drill 1: The head reference
In their video “Stop Your Sway In The Backswing”, PGA professionals Andy Proudman and Piers Ward of Me and My Golf show a simple drill. A friend holds an umbrella or the end of a club just beside the side of your head, on the trail side. As you swing back, you’ll feel instantly if your head moves into it.
Why it works: it’s simple negative feedback. You can’t cheat it, and you don’t have to think about mechanics.
How to practise it:
- Set up to the ball with the reference just outside your trail ear.
- Make slow half swings without touching it.
- Build to three-quarter, then full swings.
- Hit five balls, then remove the reference and hit five more with the same feel.
Drill 2: The address check
Following Tischler’s advice, use your stance as the reference:
- At address, notice where your head sits relative to your feet. Is it over the middle of your stance, or a touch behind the ball?
- Make a swing and hold your finish.
- Ask yourself: did my head stay roughly over the same spot, or did it travel?
This is hard to judge on your own, which is why a camera helps.
Using DE-SHANK to track head movement
DE-SHANK gives you a head movement score from 30 to 100 on every swing, based on how steady your head stays. Because it’s measured from your phone’s camera, you don’t need anyone to hold an umbrella. You can practise alone and still get honest feedback.
For the best results, prop your phone face-on with your whole body in view, in good, even light. If conditions aren’t good enough, we’ll flag the result as low confidence rather than guess. Our how it works page has more tips on setting up.
DE-SHANK gives estimates from one camera view. It’s designed for practice feedback, to help you spot habits and track trends.
Common mistakes
- Trying to freeze your head. This restricts your turn. Let it rotate; keep it centred.
- Keeping your head down too long. Let it come up naturally as you rotate to the finish.
- Fixing your head but ignoring your hips. If your hips sway, your head will often follow.
Our take
Think “centred”, not “still”. It’s a small change in wording that can free up your turn and tidy up your contact. For more drills, see our Coaching Tips.
Try DE-SHANK free
Find out how steady your head really is. Try the free DE-SHANK beta and get a head movement score on every swing. It’s free during the beta.
