Rick Shiels is probably the most recognisable golf YouTuber in the UK. Today his channel is known for equipment reviews, course vlogs and challenges, but its roots are in coaching. Some of his early lesson videos are among the most useful things on it.
One example is “Keeping The Head Still – Golf Swing Lesson”, filmed in November 2013. It’s barely three and a half minutes long, and it captures something every coach sees: a golfer whose contact improves dramatically once their head stops drifting.
DE-SHANK isn’t affiliated with Rick Shiels, and nothing here suggests he endorses our app.
The pupil
The video features Steve, who had never had a golf lesson. He’d been playing a few years, estimated his handicap at around 20 to 22, and was tall, at six foot six. Shiels is generous about his swing, pointing out that there was a lot of good in it for someone with no coaching.
The problem was contact. Steve was hitting a lot of shots fat, catching the ground behind the ball.
The diagnosis: lateral movement
Shiels shows the swing with a silhouette overlay comparing address and the top of the backswing. Early in the swing, Steve moved quite a bit laterally onto his trail side.
When he came back down, he struggled to get back to the same place. His head ended up behind the ball at impact, and Shiels explains that his centre of gravity was then two or three inches behind, so he caught the ground first.
The fix: an imaginary wall
The fix was simple. Shiels asked Steve to imagine a brick wall on his trail side, and to feel himself pushing up against it as he turned. The aim was to turn and wind up the shoulders without sliding into the wall.
The result, as Shiels shows on video, was that at the top of the backswing Steve’s head had barely moved. On the way down, he simply turned back. Shiels notes that the head moved back very slightly, but the strike was dramatically better.
He also mentions a small grip change, moving the lead-hand grip more into the fingers, but the head and wall concept is the heart of the lesson.
What golfers can learn
Fat shots often start in the backswing
It’s easy to blame the downswing for a heavy strike. This lesson shows how a sway in the backswing can make solid contact almost impossible.
“Still” really means “centred”
Even in a video called “Keeping The Head Still”, Shiels acknowledges the head moves slightly. That matches the view of many coaches. GOLF.com’s E.A. Tischler makes a similar point about Jack Nicklaus: his head rotated, but its position stayed centred.
Simple images beat complicated instructions
“Imagine a wall” is easy to remember on the course. It does a lot of work without lots of technical detail.
A note on tall golfers
Steve’s height is worth a mention. Taller players have longer levers, and a small slide at the hips can become a big shift at the head. If you’re tall, it’s especially worth checking your lateral movement on camera, because you may not feel how far you’re travelling. The same principle applies to everyone, though: a centred turn makes the bottom of the swing far easier to find.
How to practise it
- Find your wall. At address, picture a wall just outside your trail hip and shoulder.
- Rehearse. Make five slow backswings, turning against the wall without leaning into it.
- Half shots. Hit ten balls at half speed, focusing on contact.
- Full shots. Build up, keeping the same feeling.
DE-SHANK makes this easier to check on your own. You’ll get a head movement score showing how steady your head stays, and a hip sway score showing whether your hips slide. Record a few swings before and after the “wall” feeling and compare. See all our features.
DE-SHANK gives estimates from one camera view. It’s designed for practice feedback, to help you spot habits and track trends.
Why we like this video
It’s a real lesson with a real pupil, not a staged demonstration. You see the problem, the fix and the improvement in a few minutes. It’s also a nice reminder of where one of golf’s biggest channels started. Find more on the Rick Shiels Golf channel.
For more profiles, visit our YouTube Coaches section.
Try DE-SHANK free
Check whether your head is drifting. Try the free DE-SHANK beta and get a head movement score on every swing. It’s free during the beta.
