Ask any coach what the worst piece of golf swing advice they hear, there's a good chance they’ll say it’s golfers trying to keep their head down, and very still.
Sure, you don’t want your sliding all over the place during your golf swing—it’s hard to be consistent that way. But when you try to actively lock your head in one place as you swing, can really hurt your lower back,
it can stop you from turning, and it cause you to get flippy with your hands on the downswing.
In short, it’s no good.
Which brings us to Nelly Korda, and the interesting way her head moves.
You can watch the full video on this below, or keep scrolling.
The key draw move
As she turns powerful into her trail hip on her backswing, notice how Nelly allows her head to move subtly back and around with it. There’s no tension between her head and upper body.
When you measure Nelly in the Sportsbox 3D app, it says Nelly’s head moves back about three inches to the back and around to the right.
When you look from this angle, gives her body this shape.
Once Nelly create this backwards "C" shape with her body, with her head over her right leg, Nelly begins driving her lower body drives towards the target.
This is the key move.
Because Nelly allowed her head to move back and around her on the backswing, instead of trying to lock it in place, it allows her to bend her upper body away from the target. She bends more than she turns, which as Golf Digest Best in State Teacher Jeff Smith explains here, is a key trait for players who hit right-to-left draws.
It's what allows Nelly to hang back with her upper body, and release her arms out to the right.
It's the secret to her draw, and perhaps even some good advice for the rest of us, too.
You can watch the latest episode of Film Study below: