Good golf posture can go a long way in your journey to becoming an above-average golfer.
If you enhance your golf stance, you could see a significant distinction in your game, practically overnight. You will more likely play first-rate golf instead of chasing balls in the rough and through the woods while pondering about your skills, or lack thereof.
Proper posture offers you the capability to hit the ball solid more often while manipulating the shot’s movement.
Jack Nicklaus once said, “If you set up correctly, there’s a good chance you’ll hit a reasonable shot, even with a mediocre swing.”
If Jack Nicklaus is going about the importance of good golf posture, I think it’s definitely something to dive into!
Table of Contents
What is Golf Posture?
Golf posture is how you position your body leading up to and during your golf swing. There is no need to try and put this into more words, this is the plain and simple definition.
Why Your Posture is Important
The common denominator one sees amongst all exemplary players is a strong stance. A good stance is essential, as it will determine the condition of your swing.
When I stroll up to a driving range at a practice facility or the country club, I generally notice what type of golfer someone is by observing their posture.
After getting the appropriate grip, the next critical part of a golf swing is getting in the proper stance.
Having the correct stance permits a golfer to make the best turn back and hit through the golf ball, and I consistently inform golfers that they ought to be in an athletic position with their pose.
Everybody advised us as children to stand up straight. It’s sound guidance for our golf posture, too.
I notice many intermediate golfers whose odds of making a good swing are inadequate since they don’t set up the ball. Proper posture is paramount to maintaining your balance.
That all said, here are the main reasons why golf posture is important:
Staying Power/Longevity
Staying Power/LongevityA good golf stance is crucial for staying power in your golf swing; an inadequate golf posture can produce two actions that affect your ability:
- Poor Balance – Preserving your balance during your swing can permit you to apply massive power from the club to the golf ball rather than squandering your energy attempting to stay erect.
- Poor weight shift – If you are not shifting your weight adequately — or “sliding” it about too intensely — it screws up the sequence of your downswing, which makes it less efficient and robust.
Consistency
An excellent golf stance is crucial for accurate, consistent, and mighty ball striking.
You need not be an all-star to execute outstanding posture over the ball, and the tips in this post will perform for golfers of all skill levels and proportions.
The golf swing is fundamentally a twisting movement around a central column: your spine. Consequently, the more profitable the angle and the position of your spine at address, the more satisfactory it will be during the swing, particularly at impact.
Now, various people will have distinct natural stances. As such, your posture may not be ideal when you are standing, sitting, or driving, for instance, but with a wee bit of training, you may produce a very efficient pose around the golf ball.
Does Golf Posture Affect the Golf Swing?
Hopefully, at this point in the article, you know that the answer to this is a resounding YES!
Do you ever ponder the inconsistency of your golf swing (if applicable)? Even though there are various possible problems, maintaining the proper stance at address is an essential notion that most golfers neglect, and they don’t respect the swing.
A good posture helps decide how the club moves around the body, permits the body to turn nicely and fosters good balance.
All huge factors in the golf swing sequence.
How to Create Good golf Posture: Step by Step Guide
Back Alignment
Good back alignment is paramount to a pleasant golf swing; ergo, the middle of the (cervical) upper spine, the knees, and the balls of the feet need to line up on top of each other (vertically). Next, every golfer should barely turn their back knee inward-pointing toward the target.
Your lumbar (lower) back needs to remain flat and not be rounded. You should feel like you are pushing yourself backward by slightly sticking out your buttocks.
Shoulder Alignment
Let your shoulders be rounded and relaxed, natural.
If you turn the shoulders on the backswing, you will influence the power of your swing. Likewise, if you keep your spine straight, you’ll see farther drives and more uniform shots.
Head Position
The most typical golf posture errors I notice as a low handicapper are:
- The neck is too bent
- The shoulders are too rounded
Of course, there is a reason those mistakes are so popular. Think of how often you have been advised to “keep your head down,” it’s a lot, right? It may be the most standard bit of advice in the game.
Yet, this guidance sets novice golfers up for failure since it interrupts their body’s rotation during the swing.
Instead, try to lift your chin ever so slightly for a more free head position.
Best Golf Posture Drills: Great Video
How to Review Your Stance
This brief golf stance drill will enable you to obtain a sense of the correct spine angle (neutral) and position at address.
I’ve discovered that the spine’s angle is one place many novices fumble with this in their swing.
Perfect Golf Setup
Even if a golfer is told they have to quit slouching or straighten their cervical spine, they usually lack the necessary body awareness to do it. Everyone knows what it’s like to flex the knees a little more; however, it’s not as straightforward to know how to flatten out the lower back, so it’s not rounded.
After you learn what a good spine angle and flat back feel like, the additional components of a good golf stance (e.g., the knee flex and position of one’s head) are painless to add on.
Golf Posture too Upright
If your stance’s spine angle is too upright, the swing plane will also be too upright; this means that as a golfer swings their golf club away from the ball, their clubhead will then push too far up from the alignment pole.
Golf Posture too Bent Over
When you’re too bent over, you’re inclined to lift the golf ball too much. Most golfers would rather see someone stand too tall than bent over too far since that golfer can still go down and get it and connect for a decent shot.
Golf Posture: Closing Thoughts
The writing is on the wall, golf posture is KEY to your success.
There are so many things involved when it comes to putting a good swing on a golf ball. The goal is to create something that yields good results and is repeatable.
While learning to set up correctly, with good posture, will take some work, it will put you in a position to have a swing you can count on for years to come.
It can also help you with preventing back injuries and other golf-related injuries because it keeps your body in the correct positions throughout the entire swing.
There you have it. Thanks for sticking around! Now go work on that posture! 💪
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To your golf success! 🏌️