How To Achieve The Perfect Golf Posture When You Play Golf?

Your posture is the major key in golf. The position, which you set up before beginning your swing will have a significant impact on the ball flight that you’re going to generate. A lot of amateur golfers often use a poor posture to address the ball, thus, making it harder to create a high-quality shot.

The perfect golf posture is not complex or difficult to achieve. However, it takes some attention to the details as well as a little practice. In case you’re serious about improving your playing golf’s technique, then, consider these simple guides below and try to draw attention to your posture improvement as the first thing to do in your to-do-list.

Stance

Before swinging your golf club, putting yourself in a well-balanced position is a crucial factor to achieve the most perfect golf posture in golf. The width of golfer’s posture, as well as golfer’s weight distribution, are of the greatest importance.

Feet shoulder width apart

Feet shoulder width apart

Ensure that your feet are a “proper distance apart.” So, what is the meaning of a “proper distance apart”? When starting with shorter clubs (in other words, the wedges), your feet should be slightly inside or just less than your “shoulder width.” This stance creates a slight pyramid base, therefore, keeping yourself perfectly balanced with your feet.

For longer clubs (i.e., the driver and fairway woods), you should widen your stance (the insides of your feet should be two or three inches wider than the width of your shoulder).

Toe position

Toe position

Moreover, your toe position is also one of the most important factors that you must draw attention to. Avoid pointing the toes out at a certain angle too much. Besides, you also need to put your rear foot at a right angle to the target line.

On the other hand, your front foot can be slightly angled outwards. It should point about five degrees outwards. You should keep your feet in a neutral position as this will help you feel neutral.

Bending over from your hips

The appropriate way to bend is from your hips. Your hips are not too far from your waist. However, the difference is significant, especially in supplying a platform to swing. You will notice that your buttocks just out whenever you bend from your hips, but this will not happen if you bend from your waist. This is the key factor in maintaining your balance and retaining your forward bend (or axis tilt) in golf swing technique.

There’re three things that you should take notice when bending over.

Firstly, watch your back: Do not slouch making the “C-posture” since this can cause injuries to your back and create a lot of restrictions when you rotate. Moreover, do not try hard to be over-correcting as the “S-posture” may resist your rotation as well.

Bending over from your hips

Secondly, as a lot of golfers do not bend over enough, here is the useful checkpoint that you can apply – ensure that your head points somewhere between 1 o’clock and 2 o’clock.

Lastly, consider your weight distribution. You should not distribute your weight on your heels but the front part of your body. Because when your weight is distributed on your heels, the force can pull your back during your swing. Besides, putting your body’s weight on the balls of your feet can make it much easier for you to stay down.

Bending knees

Knee bending is another essential element that help you to achieve the right golf posture. Just remember that, instead of “sit down,” you can bend your knees forward to allow the pressure to distribute equally to your low back, upper thighs and the balls’ feet.

In case you bend your knees in the same way as sitting down, all the pressure will be put on your knees, and this is not recommended.

Moreover, your knees’ direction is essential as well. You should point your knees forwards, in the similar direction to your toes. If you point your knees too much outward or inward, it will cause restriction to your hip rotation. Do not exaggerate as you may push your knees out.

On the other hand, do not forget to check your angles so that you can perform perfect knee bending. In case you’re too upright, then, you may encounter inconsistent compression, and therefore, your power cannot be maximized.

Looking into a mirror is a good way to check your angles. Take a stick or a golf club, and drop it down from the inside armpit, this club should go through your knees and end at the balls of your feet or in the middle of your feet (relying on the physical features of your body).

Bending knees

Distance to the golf ball

The distance between the golf ball and yourself will affect your golf posture and your swing as well. If you stand too far away, it will force you more effort to reach out with your club, with your arms straight completely and your elbows locked – this ruins any chances of an easy and nice swing.

It is a great idea to stand as near to the golf ball as possible and then, adjust until you are able to establish a comfortable and nice position.

Address the ball and then, lock your knees so that there isn’t any flex in your knees. Your weight should be shifted towards your heels. Now, slightly flex your knees until you can feel your body weight shift from the heels towards the feet’s balls. Whenever you feel that your weight is perfectly balanced over the feet’s center, then, it is enough knee flex.

After that, take your chosen club and begin lowering it onto the front thigh. This club should touch approximately one inch above the kneecap. If this does not happen, you should alter the distance between the golf ball and yourself as necessary.

Remember that you must not straighten or flex your leg to make the golf club rest one inch above your kneecap – all you need to do is to move your feet closer or further to the ball.

Though each club in the golf bag has different length and requires your distance to the ball to change suitably, the position that we show you can be applied to.

Distance to the golf ball

Correct position of the hands at address

Your hands should be placed in the similar position, just right of the inner left thigh and left of the center, for all kinds of clubs. A lot of professional tour golfers often place their hands in the same position at address – anywhere between the left inner thigh and the center of their posture.

The proper posture is that your hands are in the position, which is near the left inner thigh, and your left arm is much more straight line-aligned with your club shaft at address.

The final selection of your hand position at address is not compulsory – and it’s ideally acceptable for golfers to have their hands always pointing at their left or front hip. Consequently, you’ll undoubtedly get a nice clean strike and better posture impact.

Body rotation

Clearly, a certain amount of sliding is all right – it is indeed inevitable. The essential thing is that you do not replace lateral motion for the golf rotation.

A lot of amateurs attempt to shift their body weight to the right side on their backswing (and left side golf rotation for the lefties), thus, tilting their upper body in the direction that they choose. Unlucky, this’s counter-productive as their balance overturns to the outside of their right foot and consequently, this makes it difficult to switch back to the left on their downswing.

To remove your slide and gain the perfect golf posture, you can pay attention to rotate around your spine, chest, and head. Ensure that when swinging, your spine angle should be kept still. Think of your spine as the axis that the whole golf swing and your body rotation take place. Thus, it’s essential that this spine (axis) stays as straight as possible. Just as the axels for a car’s wheels, if they are bent or bowed, the wheels will uncontrollably wobble.

Therefore, you should tip your upper body forwards and bend at the hip joints. In case you want to maintain your spine straight, you have to “stick out” the buttocks to remain the balance. The center of gravity should be in the middle your feet’s center and neither toward the toes or the heels.

Don’t move down and up or side by side. We will compare 2 kinds of body rotation for you to consider: with wrong spine angle vs. steady spine angle.

Swinging with steady spine angle

  • Consistent ball contact; can create power
  • Powerful body movement
  • Head stays steady

Swing with wrong spine angle

  • Head move down and up, side by side
  • Causes inconsistent ball contact
  • Too busy to make contact and very little power

Therefore, from now on, you have already known the difference between wrong and right spine angle. The next step is to practice to master your skill of body rotation.

Backswing

To prevent the backswing slide, you should focus on the first foot of the golf swing. Players, you intend to slide in the backswing often do that immediately when starting the swing. Once the club starts moving away from the golf ball, your right knee will drift to the right, and as a consequence, the rest of your body also follow along.

As a matter of fact, with this type of slide, you may even get to a point where it’s really your right knee, which is beginning the swinging action.

To solve this problem and achieve the perfect golf posture, ensure that your left shoulder will start your swing at address, you had better stand with a right posture and your chin must be well up away from the chest.

When you have a great stance, try to turn the left shoulder under the chin and allow the rest of your backswing to care for itself. This is extremely simple, and the reason is that so long as you are able to ensure that your left shoulder turning away from the target is the first thing to do in your swing, then, it will be difficult to go wrong.

Your slide should be gone after you know how to turn your back correctly and how to put your right knee in place perfectly.

Most golfers attempt to complicate their backswing by making all types of different moves. However, it is best carried out as long as you keep it as simple as possible.

Remember that your right knee should be in a stable state when you turn the left shoulder under the chin. By this way, you will always achieve success.

Downswing

The other slide, which you can apply to your swing – downswing slide – is much more difficult to correct. Just assuming that you’re getting to the top of your swing in an appropriate position, your downswing slide will be mostly the fault of your left knee.

Instead of using the left hip to help yourself rotate to the left, you allow the left knee to move towards the target, and as a result, your hips are sliding. This is a typical problem among many amateur players, who try to “help” the golf ball into the air.

A lot of players feel the requirement to hit upon the golf ball at impact, and a great way to do that is sliding in the downswing. Nevertheless, you’ll be a better ball striker if you are able to let your upper body over the ball and confidently hit down through impact.

Drill

Overall, to remain a steady spine angle and create an excellent body rotation, you have to keep your knees still. Do not forget to keep an eye on the golf ball until you make a full swing in order to maintain your head in a decent position.

You also need to observe the ball even after hitting it. Moreover, attempt to concentrate on using your shoulders, abdominals, hips, thighs as well.

Here is a simple drill for you! Firstly, put your hands on your shoulders and make small rotations to the left and right.

Do not forget to keep the knees steady since your knees do not lead the rotation. In case you have a poor body rotation, the possibilities of getting injuries are high. When you are familiar with your body rotation, add it to backswing and downswing.

Conclusion

The right golf posture is imperative for powerful, accurate, and consistent golf ball striking. In contrast to what most of the non-golfers believe, we’re making an extremely athletic motion. It is necessary to prepare yourself with proper stance and balance just as other athletes. You should feel agile, comfortable and in a perfect balance before starting any golf swing.

4 thoughts on “How To Achieve The Perfect Golf Posture When You Play Golf?”

  1. I am confused with the stand close to ball,,and the 1 inch from knee ,,if it’s the end of club now I stand further from ball

    Reply
  2. Thank you very much for this in-depth guide. I am really grateful for this post. I have no friends that play golf but I want to learn this game as it stands I have no one to teach me. this post has been really helpful for me. Thanks for sharing this post with us.

    Reply
  3. This is a little confusing…
    If you stand too far away, it will force you more effort to reach out with your club, with your arms straight completely and your elbows locked – this ruins any chances of an easy and nice swing.

    Maybe add: it will force you “to exert” more effort.
    You write well, this is hard to explain. This is an excellent point!!
    I wish I had read this article 45 years ago.

    Reply

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