GOLF.com Review: The Steadhead Training Aid

Welcome to GOLF.com’s “Best Of” review series, where one of GOLF’s editors review new, interesting and helpful products from around the golf world.

Background

Like many inventions, the “Steadhead” was a product of personal necessity. The product’s inventor, Reed Howard, is a professional golfer on the mini tours who noticed during his travels that his swing was moving pretty severely down and back during his downswing.  It was a move that was costing him accuracy from tee-to-green, and when he looked at the game’s other great players, he noticed their heads staying far more still.

“Golf’s best players were very good at rotating around a very stable center,” Howard says. “It’s like trying to shoot an arrow at a target from the top of a horse vs. a stable position. If your head’s moving around all over the place, your hand-eye coordination is going to suffer.”

The Product

A moving head is pretty common among golfers all across the skill spectrum. Golfers commonly sway off the golf ball during their backswing. Others lift their head up, or move their head down and back during their downswing as Reed did above. Jason Day, for instance, talked about how much trouble he’s had swaying off the golf ball during his backswing in an interview with GOLF.com.

It’s a hard problem to fix because, obviously, you can’t see your head during your swing the same way you can your wrists. After looking around for products that could help, but to no avail, he developed his own. It’s pretty simple: It’s a clip that attaches to the brim of your hat. There’s an arm that extends down from the clip and eventually attaching to a diamond-shaped object. The idea is to give your eyes a point of reference. It comes with a little case, so you can keep it protected in your bag.

Does it Work?

In a word, yes.

It takes a few swings to get used to, and it’s important to note that you’re still supposed to focus on the golf ball. The yellow point of reference on the aid forms a halo around the golf ball and is supposed to reside in your peripheral vision. Once you get used to it, you’ll notice that your new point of reference will allow you to see how your head is moving.

I’d recommend starting with some small pitch shots before working your way up to full swings and then through the bag. If you’re good at keeping your head movement minimal then the Steadhead won’t hurt, it just won’t help as much as someone whose head moves around a lot during their swing. Speaking from personal experience, I tend to struggle with my head moving down and back on my driver and longer irons, which leads to my club getting “trapped” inside and lots of blocks right. After about 30 minutes with the Steadhead, I found my head moving and even got a few of my swings “zeroed-out,” as you can see in the video below.

The first few swings are an adjustment, but if you’re having trouble with swaying off the golf ball, this could be a helpful tool for you.