While working out the model I’ve been building of late, I fell across something that may have solved my issue of “head shift on the back swing or into the down swing, head shift at all or none” that has been on my mind.

First, does anyone remember how Jack Nicklaus used to get over the ball and, just before he began his backswing, he’d tilt his head to a certain spot and then swing?

Well, what if I told you that I’m pretty sure Dunaway’s head shift in his particular model could have been eliminated with the same move pre-backswing?

At least, that’s what I’m looking at presently, and the only difference between his head shift and a swing with the same model but with no head shift has only to do with the position of the head pre-swing.

So, there are 2 good ways to swing when it comes to head motion:

1. Completely stable from the back swing to the transition and down into impact,
2. A head shift on the back pivot and a stable head on the down swing to impact.

The 1st one is of course the best, but Byron Nelson for whom the Iron Byron is named, one of the greatest ball-strikers ever on the PGA Tour, had the 2nd:

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Lord Byron also had a head drop into the down swing, but that is neither here nor there, because it wasn’t dropping and moving backward, which is the move you don’t want.

A dropping head only means you’re standing taller in your stance than you will be at impact, and the absence of any big lateral motion lets one swing well regardless.

There are 3 other ways to swing, which are absolutely not going to be good for you, either because you will sacrifice consistency and accuracy or you will risk injury (the 3rd):

1. Head shift on both the back and down swings,
2. Stable head on the back swing and a shift towards the target on the down swing and
3. A stable head on the back pivot and a head shift back and down on the transition and down swing to impact.

You want to avoid both of the 1st two head motions because it is nearly impossible to swing with both power and accuracy with a head shifting during the down swing, especially toward the target.

The 3rd of the latter three have been seen in many pro swings, and is a move I had years ago which I coined the “Trebuchet Drop” and I don’t like it because, while one can swing with power and consistency with this action, you get the risk of back injury:

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Above is the poster child of swing models that cause back injuries, your Mr. Tiger Woods, whose head positions in the address and then impact with this swing model from about 5 years ago differ this much:

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When you have the head dropping and moving backwards, you’re putting a lot of compression force on the lower back into impact and then you have the whiplash effect of the backward-moving head then being dragged forward on the follow to the finish.

Come to think of it, there were a few events TW had to WD with neck issues and not the back, so there you go.

So, we’re left with the original two, a relatively stable head on the back swing and down swing to impact, demonstrated from above by Jack Nicklaus:

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… and the shifting head on the back pivot of Mike Dunaway:

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… which had me thinking, because the “my own model” process has taken me to a place where I can either swing with a head shift to my right as with Dunaway above, or with a simple move of my head à la Jack Nicklaus, I can perform the exact same swing with a stationary head.

In theory, that is – I’ve been looking at this issue as I mentioned in the previous posting, and my next swing session will be exactly this – can I swing with the same model but with either a shifting head or stationary one on the back pivot?

I think this move may have been built into Dunaway’s swing by his mentor Austin, or else Dunaway, being an athlete who moved from American football to golf after an injury made him unable to play football, liked the feeling of a “drawback” into the top of the back swing, sort of like an archer pulling the arrow back before releasing it:

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There is a 3rd possibility, that neither Dunaway nor his mentor Austin thought there was a way to swing with power without that drawback of the head on the back swing, but that would be disappointing.

In my opinion, if I could swing either way with the same model, I’d go with the stable head position, but it could be that others swinging with this model feel the need to set up with the head and weight balance more towards the target in order to shift back into that trailing side and foot on the pivot.

I get that concept, but my visceral reaction to a moving head with a precision move like the golf swing just sets my teeth on edge, and the reason I had so much difficulty ever trying to swing like Austin/Dunaway was precisely this reason.

I would set up and think my head was shifting, but athletic instinct kept my head still and I’d end up with a reverse-pivot or Stack & Tilt type of move as you can see in this swing of mine from 2013:

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Even a little bit of a Trebuchet Drop there, so you have two bad moves, the first being the front-loaded pivot and the second being the resulting snap of the head to the right coming down into impact.

But shifting my head to the right on a back swing?  Man, I’d have to really really really drill that so that it actually does shift on the back swing.

So, I’m willing to accept that even my own model may have a shift of the head into the proper position when all is said and done, but my supreme preference would be a stable head, Nicklaus-style.

The work continues, more to come.