Hi, my name is Jim Roy.
I'm a former PGA and Champions Tour player, and I'm here in Syracuse, New York, at my
home course, Bellevue Country Club, and I want to talk a little bit about, today, staying
in posture.
I'm sure many of you out here have heard this on TV, have other instructors talking about
it.
It is important in the golf swing, so I wanted to give you a couple ideas that may help you
stay in better posture throughout your swing.
So, what do I mean, first of all, by staying in posture?
Well, when we set up to the golf ball, you know, we're going to have our knee flex, and
then we bend from the waist, and we create an angle here that most people refer to as
our spine angle.
And throughout the swing, we're going to want to maintain that angle the best we can.
Does it stay perfect all the time?
Even in the best players, no, it doesn't, but we want to try to keep it as close as
possible.
The biggest problem I see with the amateur golfer is, when they get up to the top, they
immediately straighten out.
It's kind of called 'early extension'.
So, their spine will straighten out too much, which can cause a myriad of problems.
For the better player, that club falls behind them too much, and the club starts swinging
way out to the right, and if their hands are active, they're going to either hit a big
smother-hook or a big block out to the right.
So, how do we do a better job of staying in posture?
Well, let me give you a couple of feels, anyway, and then a couple of images that might help
you out.
I'm going to grab my alignment stick here, and I'm going to put it across my chest.
I'm going to get in my golf posture, and as I turn, I'm going to just feel myself stay
in that position, and you can see that this angle here is still the same.
And I'm just going to go in slow motion, return that club, where it's now back parallel to
the target line, and then turn here to my finish.
So, you can see, I still have that same inclination at the end that I did at the start.
So, just doing this in slow motion, and feeling how my tilt in my upper body remains the same
as I keep going through the shot.
Again, the common flaw is, someone turns, they straighten up, and you can see now that
my alignment stick is pointing way off there to right field.
So, we want to turn back here, return back to address position, and then turn back to
our finish, to really kind of train and create a feel for what it's like to stay in posture.
Now, a couple of images that I've used before in my game.
Pick one, pick both, it doesn't matter.
I hope one of them works.
When I set up, I'll visualize that my glutes are against the wall here, or just a little
bit, maybe, away from the wall.
When I turn back, my right glute is going to be against that wall, and when I turn through,
my left glute is going to be against that wall.
What we don't want is to turn back here, and then move away from the wall.
So, that's one image that may work.
When I hit, I can hit some shots, when I feel like I'm getting out of posture, I'll hit
some shots with that image.
There's a wall there.
I'm going to turn my right glute there, left glute there.
You can see, I'm ending up in the same tilt that I started with, and that helps the club
swing in that circle that we want.
Another image that may work for you better is to set up and almost feel like your head
is against a wall.
So, if we took the club back and we left the wall, you can see my spine angle and posture
has changed.
So, if there's a wall here, if I keep my head up against that wall, I'm going to turn and
return, just like I did when I had the alignment stick across my shoulders.
So, that image may work.
There's a wall here, I'm going to keep my head against that wall, and you can see that
my spine, when I was done, was in a similar position to the address position.
And one more thought that may help is, think of your belt buckle at address.
It's basically pointing at the golf ball.
So, if we took our club back and we extended early, now, all of a sudden, it's pointing
above the golf ball and over here.
So, a thought that may help you is to start back here and point that belt buckle at the
ball as you're starting down.
That's going to keep you in posture.
So, on this shot, I'll have that thought, where that belt buckle is going to be looking
at the golf ball, and I'm able to stay in posture.
So, try those three images, this drill here, and hopefully that works for you.