Believe it or not, the words “Keep your head down!” could really do more harm than good. Instead, keep your eyes on the ball!

The position Grant is photographed in, in red, is typical of what you’ll see people do when they keep their head down for too long. At impact, everything looks perfect, but by keeping the head down, the body’s movement is restricted, the arms can’t continue swinging towards the target and the wrists therefore take over and ‘flick’ the clubhead to the left. If you are doing this, you are sure to be having problems controlling your pitches – both in terms of strength and direction.

The correct pitching motion (in green) shows that the body has turned towards the target after impact, allowing the arms to continue swinging. This allows the wrists to remain more ‘passive’ which helps hugely with controlling accuracy – and how far you want to hit the ball. The way to do this is to make sure that once the club has hit the ball, you allow your head to turn and watch the ball float towards the hole. Notice how the body and arms seem to still be completely in control of where the club is – ie ‘in front’ of the body. This is a sure-fire sign of good pitching technique.