The best golf lesson in recent times is learning to stay on top of the ball during the swing.
Unless you stay on top of the ball during your golf swing, you will most likely swing and move the top of the spine angle. This will cause the arc of your swing to bottom out at the wrong spot and result in an incorrect golf shot.
It is very interesting how the community of instructors and professional players continue to change the description of the simple mechanics of golf.
The golf swing instructions remain the same, but the terms and nomenclature to describe different golf mechanics continue to change with each new generation of golf instructors, it seems.
Now they have chosen to call this most important discipline: “staying on top of the ball.” “Staying on top of the ball” is necessary if you want to hit straight golf shots.
It is a term used to describe how the top of the spine angle should remain stable during the back swing.
Perhaps the best way to describe this discipline required to hit a golf ball directly is to maintain eye contact with the ball from the beginning of the swing through contact with the ball.
Theoretically, if you maintain eye contact with your ball throughout the golf swing, you will not be able to move your head laterally away from the ball.
Another way to describe the swing thinking of staying on top of the ball is nothing more than the historical warning to keep your head steady during the swing.
Whether your swing thinking is to “stay on top of the ball”, keep your head steady during the golf swing, or maintain eye contact with the ball during impact, you must maintain a stable position on top of the ball. spine during your golf swing for your swing arc to bottom out in the same position as at the beginning of your golf swing.
Just as there has been some confusion about the concept of “staying on top of the ball” during the golf swing, there has been equal frustration about the concept of keeping your head steady during the golf swing.
Keeping your head steady during the back swing does not mean that your head should not move during the down swing to counteract the rotation of your hips. In fact, you must.
The concept of keeping your head steady also doesn’t mean that you can’t move during the swing.
For example, you could turn your head in the way that Jack Nicklaus made famous, and still maintain the position of your spine during your golf swing.
As long as your upper spine effectively remains in the same position during the back swing as when completing the setup routine, you can move it any way you like.
So what should you do to stabilize your upper spine during the swing to “stay on top of the ball”?
First, keep your left foot firmly planted throughout the golf swing.
Keeping your left foot planted during the golf swing will help keep your upper spine stable and dramatically improve your golf swing.
Second, maintain eye contact with the ball through impact.
As noted above, maintaining eye contact with the ball through impact will help keep your upper spine stable.
Third, avoid lifting, lowering, or moving your head to the side during the backswing. If your head doesn’t move up, down, or sideways during your backswing, your upper spine will remain stable.
If you do these three things correctly, you should certainly “stay on top of your ball.” Applying the combination of these three can really be the best golf lesson of recent times.
Copyright © 2012 by Gordon Jackson
