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III. Illustrative Examples.

1. Good Head and Eye Positioning for a Propitious Gaze Pattern.

A. The "Classic" Setup: a Two-part Rule -- Eyeballs Above Ball PLUS Back of Head Flat to Surface:

In the "classic" setup of head and eye position at address, there are two interrelated rules: 1. position the eyeballs directly above the ball; and 2. orient the axis of the head horizontal to the surface, with a "flat back of the head." This combination generates the real, essential, solitary rule: "aim the eyes straight out of the face so that the golfer "faces" the ball directly." When this real rule is recognized, then neither the positioning of the eyeballs over the ball nor orienting the back of the head 'flat" to the surface is required. The "classic" position arriv es at the essential rule by accident. This "classic" position dates back at least to the end of the 19th century.

This admittedly exaggerated posture nonetheless illustrates the classic "flat back of head" plus "eyeballs above ball" taught as an article of faith in putting instruction current in the 1950s and 1960s. Here is Billy Casper:

The line from the top of Casper's ear across his pupil indicates the aim of his face, and this is straight out at the sweetspot of his putter, meeting the surface perpendicularly. Whenever the face aims at the ball, the gaze is straight out. For the face to aim at the ball, the plane of the face (coronal plane) must parallel the plane of the surface at the ball.

Here is Bob Charles in 1963:

Here is a "modern" golfer setting his eyeballs above the ball but without also setting the back of his head flat -- resulting in a poor gaze direction somewhat down his nose with flawed head-gaze geometry. Compare the alignment of his neck / axis (tilted forehead-up higher than chin) with that of Charles above (axis parallels surface).

 

Charles is using his putter to set a vertical relationship between his eyeballs and the ball, so that his gaze meets the surface perpendicularly. This produces the "flat back of the head" as a necessary concommitant of the gaze-to-surface relationship.

Other "classic" setup postures include Cary Middlecoff:

Isao Aoki in 1990:

Arnold Palmer: Palmer's down'the-line head turn shows the "classic" position of "Ferris-Wheel" eyes -- with the left eye and the right eye in an orientation in space like two gondolas on a Ferris Wheel. The plane of the wheeel is vertical, and so the left eye and its field of vision is vertically above the right eye and its field of vision. During the head turn, because the AXIS of the head turn is parallel to the surface or horizontal, the rear field of vision "follows" the trajectory of the left field of vision in the "wheeling" of the head and face towards the target, and this generates an "optic flow" of the apparent motion of the background surface that does NOT "skew" sidewise. The absence of this sense of the "skewing" of the optic flow is one of a number of perceptive cues that the instincts look for to gain confidence that the targeting is reliable and accurate.

In contrast, here is Lee Janzen in two panels adopting his address setup. The left panel shows him following the 1960s protocol for placing his eyeballs directly above the ball, but the right panel shows him abandoning the necessarily required "flat back of head" for a tilted-up axis of rotation. This queers his gaze out of the orthogonal relationship to the surface and redirects the gaze down the face rather than straight out, even though his eyeballs remain vertically above the ball.

Flick's down-the-line gaze exhibits the identical geometry as that in Palmer's above.

The beginning of this "straight-out" gaze goes back deep into golf history. Here is Leo Diegel in 1925:

Jerry Barber in the 1960s -- note the near-vertical orientation of the side piece on his glasses:

Willie Park Jr 1898:

Style circa 1900-1910:

Bobby Locke 1940s:

Johnny Miller 1964:

Willie Park Jr. circa 1900-1910:

Greg Norman 1984:

Nick Price 1993::

Nick Price 2004:

Sam Snead 1950:

Lee Trevino 1974:

Dave Stockton Jr. 1977:

B. The "Transitional" Setup: Eyeballs Inside Ball PLUS Gaze Straight Out of Face at Ball:

Dating mostly to Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones in the 1920s and 1930s, a substantial number of golfers have used a "transitional" setup that more closely approximates the golfer's posture of head and eyes for the full-swing setup. In order to avoid the flawed geometry of gaze directed other than perpendicular out of the plane of the face, it is ONLY necessary to aim the gaze straight out of the face. So the two-part "rule" of the "classic" setup of eyeballs above ball and back of head flat to surface generates a straight-out gaze useable with a fixed-axis head turn, but the real key is the gaze direction straight out of the face and head, and not the eyes above the ball OR the back of the head being flat. Thus, with a gaze that is straight out of the head, the setup that positions the eyeballs INSIDE the ball will still generate a line of sight in a straight line along the surface with a fixed-axis head turn. However, in order now to "face" the ball with this straight-out gaze from a vantage above and inside the ball, the axis of the head will necessarily be tilted up from and not "flat" or parallel to the surface. The precise angle of the head's tilt depends upon the size and setup of the golfer, which determine the spatial location of the eyeballs above and back from the ball. There is not one tilt angle in this setup, and the only important factor is whether the eyeballs are aimed straight out and the golfer is "facing" the ball directly. Naturally, once the "flat back of head" is abandoned or neglected,with its one-size-fits-all clarity and exactness, and this "transitional" setup gains currency among top golfers, many golfers followed the general trand and found themselves with dysfunctional setup postures that caused targeting misperceptions.

Bobby Jones circa 1930:

Walter Hagen late 1920s:

Here is Ben Crenshaw as a young phenom in the late 1960s. Beginning in about 1975, Crenshaw became the bellwether "elite" golfer often praised in golf magazines as the model of the modern "natural" putter.

Crenshaw in 1981 illustrating what has been called his "million dollar look," in which he lifts his head for a last look to the hole.

Crenshaw in 1995 showing that his face is aimed directly at the ball -- an acceptable arrangement that allows a straight-down-the-line look with a fixed-axis head turn:

C. The "Flawed" Setup: Eyeballs Inside Ball WITHOUT Gaze Straight Out of Face at Ball:

Since the late 1990s, many Tour players seem to be unaware of the earler technique for setup at address. Scotty Cameron has reported that the players visiting his studio typically setup with eyes inside the ball (about 1.25" inside), but he does not seem aware of the gaze issue. These golfers typically have their heads tilted forehead-up and their gaze direction down their noses. The face aims beyond the ball (line from top of ear across pupil) and the eyeballs aim down the face at the ball (line from eyeball to ball in relation to plane of face).

Cameron Beckman 2004:

Michael Campbell:

Alex Cjeka 2004:

Fred Couples:

David Duval 2004:

Brad Faxon 2006:

Jim Furyk 2003:

Sergio Garcia 2001:

Retief Goosen 2004:

Padraig Harrington 2002:

Peter Jacobson 2004:

Per Ulrik Johanson 2001:

Robert Karlsson 2005:

Justin Leonard 2004:

Ian Poulter 2006:

 

Tiger Woods, exhibiting only half of the "classic" two-part rule, resulting in a gaze direction of the eyeballs down the nose with geometry guaranteed to cause difficulties. His eyeballs are above the ball okay, but the back of his head is not flat, so that his "face" aims far beyond the ball. If he in fact had a straight-out gaze, his face and his eyeballs would aim on the same line, so a straight-out gaze compels the golfer to "face" the ball.

Lee Janzen in 1998 in the first panel illustrates eyeballs above the ball, but in the second panel he has tilted his head up and lost the benefit of the "flat back of the head" he had in the first panel, so his gaze is now "flawed".

 

In conclusion, a gaze that is straight out of the face, the golfer "facing" the ball directly, is necessary for the golfer to be able to turn his head targetward so that his line of sight runs in a straight line sideways on the ground. Such a gaze does not use extraocular eyeball muscles to change the gaze direction during beside-the-ball targeting. The golfers "faces" the ball and then "faces" the target by turning the head with an apple-on-a-stick rotation of the neck. This physical targeting procedure runs the line of sight in a straight line across the ground. Squaring the head and neck to the putter face aim before the head turn (by setting the neck or stick of the apple-on-a-stick to match the top edge of the putter face) guarantees that the line the vision is run along on the ground is the SAME line along which the putter face is aimed.

The eyeballs may but need not be positioned vertically above the ball, and may but need not be positioned inside the ball as well -- either one is fine for seeing a straight line on the ground, so long as the eyeballs aim straight out of the face. Positioning the eyeballs beyond the ball does not alter ability to see a straight line sideways with a head turn, but is not advisable due to the inner ear and balance issues. Of the two main sorts of acceptable setups, eyeballs over ball and eyeballs inside ball, both with straight-out gazes, the eyeballs above the ball with a flat back of the head is probably moderately prefereable due to the orthogonal relationships between the face, the surface, the inner ear, gravity, and the neck-shoulder arrangement. But it is also worth matching the angle of the neck out of the shoulders to the plane of stroke motion of the shoulders, so that a vertical stroke plane corresponds with a horizontal neck line and flat back of the head, whereas a stroke motion on a 12-degree tilt (for example) corresponds with a neck line and axis of head rotation tilted up off horizontal by the same 12 degrees. In this manner, the "plate" at the base of the neck matches the plane of motion of the shoulders in the stroke, so that before the stroke, the head turn towards the target generates the same plane of motion in the neck plate that will be generated in the stroke.