Is your golf swing inconsistent? If so, you need to work on your posture. The success of the golf swing is heavily dependent on your posture. Besides posture, other ingredients that determine how your swing works, how it looks, and where your shots go are ball position, stance, and grip.
A poor posture affects not only the path of your golf swing but also causes faulty swing mechanics and disrupts swing plane and swing arc, resulting in a chopping swing with fat, thin and inconsistent shots. Getting this resolved is extremely important to your golf game!
That’s not all. Poor posture also leads to a more dominant arm swing as it restricts your body’s rotation – all of which can make you hit fat shots, toe shots, or, worse, missing the ball entirely.
So work on getting a good posture, and you’re sure to improve your golf swing and achieve success. Here’s a closer look at what good and bad golf posture looks like.
● Good Golf Posture
The spine angle is hinged from the hips with a pelvic spine tilt. It’s a similar angle as the one you have when standing up straight. When you have your arms hanging directly down naturally under your shoulders, you’re said to have a good posture.
● Poor Golf Posture
The whole spine is hinged when you have a poor posture. As a result, your back curves, creating a tendency to reach forward with your arms. All the while, there’s little to no pelvic tilt from the hips.
What Causes Poor Posture during a Swing?
Many factors are to blame for poor posture in a golf swing, but a handful of them stick out like a red rose in a sea of grey, including (but not limited to):
- Poor flexibility – Without proper flexibility and mobility around your shoulders and in the hip area, your golf swing will take a hit.
- Muscle stiffness – Stiffness of muscles affects your spinal posture during a golf swing.
- Inability to stabilize the core muscles (hips and glutes) – When your core muscles are stable and directly proportional to your spine’s angle and strength, you acquire good golf posture.
- Inability to separate the upper body from the lower – Alter your original posture (without forcing your shoulders to rotate around the spine) to achieve good posture.
Finding and maintaining proper posture is essential for a good golf swing technique. Why? Because it puts your weight toward the ball.
Your arms should always hang free, your back straightened, and buttocks slightly sticking out when you take a stance to hit the ball.
You’re said to have a proper posture when you stand upright – with your back relatively straight, and your knees slightly bent.
What is the Correct Golf Swing?
Developing a sound golf swing is essential for any golfer seeking to make a serious run at playing golf.
Often, golf swing trainers insist on having a stronger swing technique, especially if you want to attain top player levels. But it doesn’t come easy. You need to achieve proper form through hours of training on the driving range. And it all begins with a pre-shot routine, which includes checking your proper golf grip (to ensure its tight enough), your posture, and foot position.
Key Techniques on How to Golf Swing Like A Pro
First, line up your shot correctly. That is, ensure to stand behind the ball (about three feet away) and pick an object along the line of your ball.
Face the clubhead along the target line of the ball. Or rather, rest your clubhead behind the ball along its target line. Then put a firm grip on your club. But not so tight that you’re straining to hold on to it.
Next, stand parallel to the target line. That is, slightly relax your legs and keep your feet, hips, and shoulders parallel (and directly) to the target line. From the end of your belt buckle to the club’s grip ensure to have enough distance for two fists.
Turn your hips and shoulders such that your club swings back and is cocked over your head. Golf swing trainers insist on pointing down your club along the target line of the ball at the top of the swing.
As the club comes forward, shift your weight toward your front foot then pivot your hips and shoulders forward while at it.
Lastly, swing the club and hit the ball on an angled trajectory. Ensure your trajectory is neither vertical nor horizontal. Let your wrist snap through the point of impact to add extra speed to your clubhead when hitting the ball.
How Can I Improve My Golf Swing?
Follow these handy tips for the golf swing to strengthen your game. Ready? Let’s get started.
Keep Your Hands Low
The lower you keep your hands in the finish, the lower your shots’ trajectory will be. Often, you can achieve the same results when you, for example, try to swing easy, choose a bigger club, or alternatively move the ball back in your stance. But these moves are more challenging to achieve than keeping your hands low.
Give Your Spine The Forearm
As a golfer, you want to hit the ball (a great shot) and backswing perfectly. To make this possible, you need accuracy and a solid ball-striking. Giving your spine the forearm does precisely that.
Use Your Body For Power
Every golf swing beginner knows that power comes from the arms and not your body. But sometimes you need to power your club with your body, your core instead of your hands and arms.
How to do this? Address the ball as usual; however, you need to activate and engage the core muscles by creating tension, bracing (hoop tension) at the core level to stabilize the hip and avoid excess lateral sway. Visualize someone punching you in the stomach to create that core bracing technique required.
When a Golfer possesses an excellent postural alignment, their body will hold an optimal rotational axis, rotating much more efficiently.
Final Thoughts
Every golfer knows that a good golf shot begins with a simple golf swing with the proper posture. If your posture is inadvertently poor, it affects your balance and power during the swing.
That’s why you should get smarter and more natural with your golf posture. Also, make sure the cornerstone ingredients – that is, ball position, stance, and grip – are all in harmony with your posture. If maintaining a good golf posture becomes a challenge, golf swing training and golf posture conditioning can help a good deal.
Remember, poor posture can have a significant effect on the path of your swing. So, improve your posture, and you’ll improve your swing mechanics and your game.