Best Way to Improve Your Golf Posture

Posture is the positioning of the body during the golf swing and is an element that the weekend golfer often neglects, to the detriment of his or her golf swing. In all good swings, the golfer leans forwards from the waist, with the shoulders relaxed and the arms hanging freely. This helps produce a free and unrestricted movement that makes for greater club-head speed and well struck shots of appreciable length.

Any body tension during address is immediately reflected in loss of rhythm, which affects the strike and the length of the shot. Keep your back fairly straight and, with the longer clubs, the lower spine should be almost parallel to the line formed between the heels and the back of the knees. Good posture allows for a freer, more complete movement and reduces tension.

Because the right elbow is slightly bent and the right hand is below the left on the shaft, lower the right shoulder, otherwise the upper body would point far too much to the left, restricting your backswing.

For the longer shots the weight is predominantly on the balls of the feet and the greater the distance required, the more your weight should favour the right foot.

Flex the knees to assist good balance and weight transference, which will occur naturally during the swing if your set-up and alignment are correct. The right knee is inclined to the left in order to prevent the upper body from swaying. This puts weight on the inside of the right foot, enabling you to turn around the right hip.

The head and upper body are significantly behind the ball; they are increasingly further behind the longer the club you use.

Posture

• Note how the arms are hanging freely from the shoulders, with the hands inside the eyeline, and the body bent forwards from the waist.

• The knees are slightly flexed and everything is parallel to the target line: feet, knees, hips, shoulders and – very important – the eyeline.
• Note also how the right shoulder is lower than the left, and how the right elbow is bent and nearer the body than the left.
• It is from this position that the backswing should move quite naturally into the correct path and plane.