March 10, 2018 5:43 pm

By Jon Woodroofe –  Master Professional, World of Golf London

I firmly maintain that swinging a golf club is the easy bit in this game. The holding of the club and the standing to the ball correctly, is where all the problems are. In other words, good posture is the key to success. Here is a really good drill to show you how easy and natural it is, to move the body the correct way during the golf swing.

Place a golf club behind your shoulder blades as in picture 1. Then take as near to your normal address position as you can. Then turn your shoulders 90 degrees as if you were completing a golf back-swing. Then have a look at what you have moved and, probably more to the point, what you have not moved. In picture 2, I have turned my shoulders the allotted amount and my hips have accordingly turned through about half that, about 45 degrees. My knees have been forced to move a little, the left one slightly more than the right one and finally my feet have not felt compelled to make any movement at all. All too often, we see people on the back-swing, lifting their left heel off the floor. If you are an octogenarian, or you have back trouble, then you would be excused lifting your left heel, from an inflexibility point of view. But if you do not fit into one of those categories, then do not lift that heel. All it does, is add another unnecessary movement on the downswing.

If you start in a bad posture and then repeat the practice drill, you will see in picture 3 how my shoulder has now tilted instead of turned. This has caused my hips also to tilt, not turn – picture 4. My left knee has been forced out and the right knee has gone back and straightened. My left heel has been pulled off the floor. This will almost certainly lead to a slice to the right. It is not the swing that is the root cause, but the posture.

It might seem basic, but give it a try and see what difference it makes.

Categorised in: Tip of the month, World of Golf London