Philosopher Voltaire once said, "A witty saying proves nothing." That is exactly what the "keep your eye on the ball" myth has become -- a witty saying. Keeping your eye on the ball does damage to the golf swing. It could be the worst advice ever given to a golfer.
The average player interprets this myth as one of the most important things to do in the swing. In part because it seems important to look at the object that they are attempting to strike and also out of fear of missing the object they are attempting to strike.
It creates a domino effect of negative actions in the swing. It promotes stillness. Whomever said, "keep your eye on the ball," never clarified which eye. Keeping your eye on the ball for most right-handed golfers will translate into their dominant eye, which is most commonly their right eye. Since this is the case for most of us, trying to make a full chest and shoulder turn for the backswing (90 degrees), letting your head move (between 2 to 4 inches), keeping your eye on the ball (your more dominant eye) and keeping the spine in the correct tilt is not possible for many of us because of the way our eyes are set in our head.
The majority of students I've taught over the past 20 years try to look at the ball instead of just see it. Years back I was playing the mini tours and PGA section events. I was teaching on the side in attempt to supplement my income. I was teaching a woman one afternoon, who asked me during the lesson: "What part of the ball do you look at when you hit it? My husband tells me to look at the back of it."
I was stumped by this. I had been playing extensively in tournament competion and had never thought of such a random concept. I remember standing back and stiffening in an attempt to give an honest answer. In the back of my mind I asked myself: "Why do you want to know? Why do you need to know that?"
I recall needing to hit a few shots for the woman, as if to demonstrate, but I was simply trying to find the answer myself. It dawned on me and I said to her, "I don't really look at the ball, I just see it."
When your body experiences tension in your upper back and neck it's because of the eyes staying glued to the back of the ball during the motion of the backswing. The eyes create tension, which is felt in the neck and shoulder region.
A good description I use is being too "ball-bound." The results are catastrophic for most average golfers for several reasons. They make other mistakes to compensate for the feelings shooting through their body and they don't know how to recover, at least not all of the time.
A poor chest and shoulder turn is the result of keeping both eyes frozen, or glued to the ball. It creates a jamming in the ability of the chest and shoulders to turn. I would like to be specific that it is a chest and shoulder turn, not a shoulder turn, that needs to be achieved in your backswing. Lack of motion is once again caused by the head staying still and both eyes staying glued to the ball.
Turning into the downswing, or coming over the top, is the dreaded downswing motion that gets most of us, even the best players, into trouble with a pull. Let me describe to you what really occurs when you come over the top. The first motion of the downswing should happen with the top of the left leg, the femur bone. It is one of the biggest bones in the human body, and when it moves toward the target it moves the hips with it. Like throwing a ball side-arm, the top of the left leg moves in order to keep the body well-balanced to support the weight of the two arms whipping the club at the ball. The over-the-top motion, with the upper torso moving on the downswing before this balancing motion, destroys any chance of a well struck golf shot. The true cause of the over-the-top motion is in the eyes. The upper body, shoulders and chest start to turn because the eyes turn back to focus on the ball.
If you put yourself in the correct position at the top of your backswing, you won't be able to see the ball with both eyes. In fact, if you want to feel a backswing turn that many of the tour pros experience, then let your eyes move off the ball while making a practice swing and see what that feels like at the top. You could see the ball out of only the left eye for a right handed golfer and the ball may be more in your peripheral vision. The first motion that occurs when you come over the top is looking at the ball with both eyes. Your eyes are like lasers and when this happens, the head turns, the neck bends in the opposite direction of the spine tilt and you're over the top.
What for many years has been described as the big muscles, specifically the chest and shoulders, turning into the ball at the start of the downswing is really the eyes attempting to see the ball more clearly. This causes a head and neck tilt in a direction opposite of the spine. What quickly follows is the spine re-aligning itself to the neck and the whole upper torso turning into the downswing too early.
What has always been described as a chest and shoulder turn back to the ball too early is not the cause, but rather a symptom of the core problem. I have watched a lot of footage on the golf swing, taught tour pros as well as some of the best in the college ranks and they do not keep both eyes on the ball at the top of their swing, unless they are struggling. Keeping both eyes on the ball is the cause of their struggles when they have them. I'll bet it is for you, too.
