Golf Posture

Better Golf Posture: Easy Fix for Big Results

Proper golf posture can transform your swing and lead to better golf than you thought possible.

It will ease the strain on your back and allow you to play pain-free longer, but it’ll also help get the fundamentals dialed in. When you incorporate a good golf posture into your swing today, you’ll almost immediately hit better, hit it longer, and lead to more consistent golf shots.

The thing about posture is that it’s super easy to do. It requires very little effort, but provides you a significant amount of stability. All you have to do is remember to do it, and you’ve got it.

Today we’ll cover all things posture – from knee bend, back position, forward bend, how the arms hang, and more.

Key Takeaways

  • Proper golf posture can help you swing freely and play more consistently.
  • Posture is more than just your back but also your stance, knee flex, arms, forward bend, and more.
  • The wrong posture can hurt your swing, and can lead to common golf injuries.
  • To improve your full swing and achieve perfect golf posture, it’s vital to stretch, exercise, and incorporate mobility to your workouts.

Keep reading to know why mom told you that posture is very important (in golf and life).

Correct Golf Posture

Correct Golf Posture 101

Perfect golf posture is not just the spine, but it is a big part of the equation. Good posture also includes your shoulders, head, hips, arms, and waist too.

When you address a golf ball, your posture is the position of all these body parts before and during your swing. It’s your foundation and set-up that allows you to maintain balance and properly execute a golf swing.

According to Greg Norman, posture isn’t that hard to find. Here’s the strategy he recommends on his website“Without a club in your hand, flex your knees, bend slightly from the waist, and then let your arms drop down naturally. Clap your hands together, and you’ll be in the proper address posture.

It’s as simple as that. If you grip your club – any club – from this position, you should find that its sole lies flat on the ground. If it doesn’t, don’t change your posture, change the club.”

Don’t worry, we’ll go through the step-by-step guide to go through each part of the lower and upper body positions. Before we do, here are two reasons why golf posture is so important.

Longevity

Good posture will keep your back in a healthy condition, so that you can continue to play the game for many, many years. Golf is a unique sport because you can play it at any age; that is, if your back is up for it.

So, start using good golf posture now, no matter how old you are, to extend your playing career. There’s nothing worse than a lower back injury, as it can make swinging nearly impossible. Just think about guys like Fred Couples, Tiger Woods, Jason Day, and Rocco Mediate who have all battled with lower back issues.

Our goal is to help you improve your spine angle to avoid injuries and play golf for decades to come (and pain-free).

how to maintain spine angle in golf swing

Consistency

Second, good golf posture will allow you to hit better golf shots and play with more consistency. Which feels like the biggest golf goal for nearly every person who plays this great game. Good posture is going to help the rest of your body move in the correct way.

Too often, amateur golfers start with a bad posture and it forces them to work against their body to swing correctly. A bad posture makes it more difficult than it already is to hit a ball well.

Think of your golf swing as a tether ball; if you’ve ever played the game, you know that it’s based around a pole that has a ball tied to it by a string. That ball flies around the center pole during a match.

Think of your spine as the pole, your arms as the string, and the club as the tether ball. The more you keep your spine in good form, the better the ball and string will fly around it.

In golf this will lead to bottoming out at the correct point, getting your weight to your left side, more distance from using the ground, and more consistency.

Step-By-Step Guide to Proper Golf Posture

To develop great golf posture, we first need to avoid two common positions; the C posture and S posture.

Having C posture is when there is excessive rounding in the upper back. This position restricts the ability to rotate your upper body and leads to swinging too much with your arms.

Having S posture is when there is excessive arching of the lower back. This position can lead to a lot of lower back issues and compensations in the swing like early extension.

The correct golf posture is fairly simple, but let’s break it down piece by piece.

  1. Straighten your back
  2. Push back your shoulders
  3. Lift your head
  4. Flex your knees slightly
  5. Stand the proper distance from the golf ball
Correct Setup Posture in Golf

Straighten your Back

The first thing you want to do, after you’ve addressed the golf ball, is straighten your back as much as possible. To do this, you’re going to feel like you’re sticking your butt out in a strange way. Sometimes it helps to have someone take a video or photo of your set-up, so that you can see with your own eyes that it doesn’t look as crazy as it feels.

Imagine there is a string attached to your belly button and someone is pulling it. Your lower back will feel like it’s not straight, but bending in towards the ball. That’s actually the correct way to do it.

Push Back the Shoulders

Next, you want to take your shoulders and push them back. A lot of times, the tendency is to hunch over the golf ball. When you hunch over, your shoulders roll in towards the ball as well. Push your shoulders out and back, so that you feel like you’re pinching your shoulder blades on your back.

Lift Your Head

Next, lift your head to make sure your neck is straight along with your back. You’ll still want your eyes to be focused on the ball. If it’s uncomfortable to move your eyes to see the ball, then you may have lifted your head too much but you need it up enough for a good left and right shoulder turn.

How to Use the Ground to Gain Power in Golf

Knees

You want some flex in your knees but avoid bending them too much, or you won’t be able to use the ground force to push off for more power. But you don’t want them straight, as you’ll likely lose balance.

Distance from the Golf Ball

Another aspect that impacts your golf swing is the total distance from the ball. Standing too close or too far away has a big impact on your posture.

When you stand too close to the ball, you’re too upright, which might affect your turn and swing plane. If you’re too far away you’ll likely be too hunched, which can impact your takeaway and swing plane as well. 

Read our full article on how far to stand from the golf ball for more.

More Ways to Achieve Great Golf Posture

Alright, now that you know how to create a great golf posture, let’s talk about some drills and exercises that’ll help burn that into your muscle memory.

Proper Golf Posture

Club Down Spine Drill

The first drill is one of the best for checking your posture:

  • Address a golf ball and pause.
  • Maintaining your back position, take the club and put the shaft of it down your spine.
  • The shaft of the club should touch your back in three places; the back of your head, between your shoulder blades, and tailbone. If you can keep that position, you’ll have a pretty good posture.

Club Across Waist Drill

The next drill helps you get set into the proper address position.

  1. Stand straight up, with your back in a good posture.
  2. Then, take your club and hold it with two hands; one hand on the grip and the other near the head. Place the horizontal club across your waist near your hips.
  3. Then, keeping your back straight, bend with only your waist until you are at a comfortable angle to hit a golf ball.

That’ll teach you how to set up a golf shot in the first place without having to correct. Most people set up a golf ball with too many moving parts. All you need to know is that a good address position is done by just bending at the waist, not the back.

Golf Workouts

Sometimes setting up to the ball with good golf posture is impossible with muscle imbalances. This is why it’s so important to get in the gym for strength training routines (check out our guide for golf workouts here).

If you’re not ready for a full gym routine, even body weight exercises can help a ton. Some of the best exercises you can do at home without equipment include:

  • Squats
  • Lunges
  • Box jumps
  • Jump squats
  • Jump lunges

These exercises will help improve your explosiveness and have a low impact on your spine too.

Best Golf Workout

Stretching and Flexibility

While working out is very important – not only in golf but in life – don’t forget about flexibility too. If your upper body or lower body is too tight, it’s nearly impossible to swing correctly.

Unfortunately, most humans sit far too long during the day which leads to horrible posture and lower back issues. This is why stretching, foam rolling, getting massages, visiting a chiropractor, and more will help improve posture.

FAQs About Posture and Impacts on Your Golf Swing

Do you have more questions about getting into the perfect golf posture? Or confused on how the upper body and lower body work together? If so, keep reading through the most commonly asked questions and answers now.

What is the proper golf stance?

Stance is dependent on the shot you’re about to hit. If you’re hitting an iron, shoulder width apart is the ideal position. If you’re hitting shorter shots you’ll want a more narrow stance and if you’re hitting longer shots you’ll want a wider base.

For full swing shots, it’s also a good idea to externally flare your feet slightly. This will help you achieve a full turn to complete your backswing.

What is C posture in golf?

C posture is when your back is bent too much and has a rounding effect. A slight bend is okay, but too much bend in this position can lead to injuries and impact your golf swing too.

Correct Golf Setup

My Experience

I want to play golf for a long time and have made posture a big focus as part of my exercise routine. With proper mobility work and checking my posture throughout the day as I work (a standing desk can help) it’s positively impacted my golf game.

Don’t forget, the golf swing isn’t easy on the body… especially if you play/practice a lot. Take care of your body so it will allow you to keep playing the game we all love.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve ever experienced back pain, or want to play your best golf, start taking posture seriously. Amateur golfers can see a big difference in distance, accuracy, and solid contact by simply adjusting posture.

Keeping the back straight, butt out, shoulders back, and head up will help you to play longer and better golf from the moment you start doing it. As you can see, it’s really simple to do, it just takes some getting used to and memory. 

Eric Peyton

Eric Peyton

Eric is a golf professional from Iowa who has been playing, teaching, writing, and talking about the game for a living since 2006. He’s worked at several different courses including Prairie Dunes Country Club, a top 20 course in the country.

He now has his own teaching business, Eric Peyton Golf, where he gives both in-person and online lessons. Eric also hosts a golf podcast called “the Looper podcast” where he interviews interesting people in golf and provides instructional content.