Maintain Spine Angle for a Better Golf Swing

August 16, 2007
By: Butch Bundy

There are a lot of important keys to having a consistent and repeating golf swing. Balance has to be good, the right grip must be taken and the arms and the body must work together. The better players all achieve these goals, but sometimes it looks like they all do it very differently. In fact almost all players have different postures, different swing speeds and different grips. So a good question is what can you learn from watching good players swing a golf club that can help your game? Watch how they maintain their spine angle from the start of their golf swing into their finish.
In my opinion this is the main key that we all need to work on in our golf swing. One thing I have learned in both teaching and playing the game is that the torso can’t go up and down and rotate at the same time. If the body lifts the rotation in the golf swing is over and the arms will take over and lift the golf club into poor positions. I have a practice drill that I use in almost every lesson that gets golfers to stay still without making them think too much.
When you take your set up position with a 7 or an 8 iron, lay a golf club on the ground a few inches from your toes and right underneath your hands. You then want to make what I call a 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock motion. In other words the back swing and the follow through never go past waste high. The goal is not to hit this shot very far at all, but more to keep your hands traveling on top of the club on the ground and to keep your arms in front of your body. If the hands stay on top of the club and the body turns, this makes it almost impossible to move or lift your body. This also tends to help balance and gets the body and the arms working together during the golf swing.