Correct Posture in Your Golf Swing Avoids Aches and Injury and Boosts Power.
Parents, teachers and coaches have been stressing proper posture since you learned to sit, right? Proper posture is also important in golf. Poor posture will impact more than your swing. Hunch over your clubs and risk injury. Bow your core too far forward and risk lower back aches.
Use proper golf posture and reap the benefits:
• Better technique
• Free flowing motion
• Less likely for injury
• Make more putts
The keys to proper golf posture are simple! But, I like to make them fun.
1 – Salute the general – When you salute, you stand tall (your core is automatically engaged), your shoulders are back, your chest is forward yet relaxed. Your spine is in neutral position.
2 – Alligator Arms – Think of those short little alligator arms, connected right to the body. When you properly grasp your club, your elbows are in/connected to your ribs. The posture sees forearms and shaft at a right angle to the spine. This promotes using slow twitch muscles (shoulders) and not using fast twitch muscles (hands or wrists).
3 – Close the car door – Bend at the hips and imagine shutting a car door with your back-end (AKA boxing out in basketball, soccer and hockey).
Combining these three posture elements creates a swinging motion under your chest, an engineer would call it a pendulum. Pendulums have rhythmic pace and aid with accuracy in direction and distance control.
Want to brush up on your golf posture? Come see me at Palmetto Dunes. A quick lesson will have you in neutral spine with an engaged core, your elbows connected and your back-end boxing out it in no time.
By Doug Weaver, Director of Instruction, Palmetto Dunes Golf Academy
North Carolina and South Carolina PGA Teacher of the Year, Doug Weaver is the Director of Instruction at the Palmetto Dunes Golf Academy. He conducts “Where Does the Power Come From?”, a free interactive clinic and demonstration every Monday from 4-5 p.m. at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course. Call (866) 455-6890 or go to www.palmettodunes.com for more information.
