10 Things To Remember About Golf Posture
Posture, in a golfing context, is how you stand to the ball, how you look when you are addressing the ball. The golf swing begins with your posture. The better your posture, the further you will hit the ball. Yes, you can lose power before you even begin your swing.
Here is how to have the perfect golf posture in 10 steps:
- You want your stance to be athletic like a goalkeeper standing for a penalty.
- You want to be on the balls of your feet. You can find your balance point by rocking backwards and forwards until you find the sweet spot.
- Good golf posture is a case of all good things in moderation. We want a little knee bend but not too much. The same applies for how much you bend from the hips. Also, we don't want the chin too high, holding the neck in a strained position. The opposite of this is burying the chin in the chest, which is not advisable either.
- Let the arms hang long and relaxed and not tight. Imagine two strands of wet spaghetti hanging from your shoulders. Relax your grip on the club also.
- Your posture will get more upright as the club gets longer (woods and long irons) and will get more bent over when the club gets shorter (high irons and wedges).
- Make sure everything is aligned parallel to your target: your shoulders, hips, knees, forearms and toes should all be aligned in symmetry.
- Your hips should be tilted slightly rather than level. The way to achieve this is by tilting the hips towards the target and tilt your shoulders away. Think of tilting your lower body towards the target and your upper body away.
- Have some tension down below by pushing your knees out. Doing this will give you a slight "bow-legged" look. Bracing the legs in this way will help you resist with the lower body as you turn your upper body to increase torque and power through your swing.
- Pull your shoulder blades down and back as you stand over the ball to get your upper body positioned correctly.
- Breathe out as you are over the ball to let any tension out of your body. Many golf instructors advise their players to swing with their lips pursed and breathing out to avoid tension caused by gritted teeth.