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Hank Haney is a great teacher.  no question about it.  However, in this months issue of Golf Digest his tip is about putting and is dead wrong.  Hank implores golfers to watch a missed putt as it rolls past the hole.  He says that it is important to watch how it curves after it goes past the hole because this is will show you "exactly how it will break" coming back to the hole on the next putt.  This is without question wrong.  The break of a putt is determined by a few inputs; slope direction, slope severity, and time.

A putt rolling up a hill is traveling at a different rate of speed than a putt rolling down the same grade.  A five foot uphill putt hit correctly will reach the hole in less time than a five foot downhill putt.  Once you change one of the data inputs, the amount of break changes.  The amount of time the ball took to roll three feet by the hole is different from the amount of time it will take to go back to the hole.  This is both a function of the original putt being either up or down a slope AND your two or three foot second putt will not be traveling fast enough to get two or three feet on the other side of the hole.  In other words, the ball that rolled past the hole will NOT follow the same amount of break back to the hole.  This is a long standing myth, but it is just that, a myth.

"Keep your head down" is a phrase that is thrown around all too often. Let's take a minute to examine this.

If your friend tells you to keep your head down during the shot, what exactly is happening?  Clearly, your head is higher from the ground than where it started. My question to you is why is that happening? Once you are told to keep your head down you will make swings with that in mind, yet your head continues to rise.

First of all, let's define what happens when your friend sees your head rise. Your neck hasn't grown longer. What has happened is the angle of your spine relative to the ground has changed. As the spine moves from the angle it was in at address towards vertical, your head will move higher. So it is a posture issue, not a "head" issue.

I see this happen for two reasons. One is physical. If you do not have the mobility to make a proper golf swing while staying in posture, mentally trying to do so won't work.

The second reason for the loss of posture occurs in the forward swing is that you are making a down move rather than a forward swing. If the arms in any way force the club towards the ground, we have a physics problem and your will lose your posture.

Think back to middle school when you learned Newton's Laws of Motion. Law 3: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. As this translates to golf, forcing the club towards the ground sends energy towards the ground. An equal amount of energy will also be sent up into your chest forcing you out of posture or to "lift your head."

So when you hear "keep your head down," let it translate to "rotate into the forward swing" rather than forcing the club towards the ball.

There has historically been some bad advice handed out to golfers over the years.  A lot of these tend to come from fellow golf friends that are commenting on what they see in your swing. 

One of the common phrases I hear is "take it back low and slow."  This is horrible advice to give anyone.  If the club moves away from the ball in a slow and deliberate manner a few bad things are going to happen.
1. The hands will end up controlling the golf club.  Because the club has no momentum, the hands will have to lift the golf club.
2. The players brain will sense that no energy has been created. This will often result in a violent move from the top of the swing.

There needs to be some energy in the backswing.  If the torso rotates with some speed, the golf club will have momentum to swing to the top and absolve the arms and hands from lifting.

For anyone who wants to see what I am referring to, watch Rory McIlroy swing a golf club.  The backswing has enough pace that he can let the club swing to the top while he is at the same time preparing to make an explosive move into the forward swing.

Forget low and slow, create enough energy with the body so the club can swing.