Stand Up Tall Part II

Three Guys Golf Blog: If you’ve read my last piece, you know that I’ve been working on standing taller, and not letting myself get too bent over, with my head stuck in my chest.  Part II of my work in this area has been related to spine angle, where I coil or turn into my right leg without dipping my left shoulder, and thus changing my spine angle.

An easy way to feel this is to take your stance facing a wall with your forehead an inch from touching the wall.  As you turn back to the top of your swing, if your forehead bangs against the wall, then you’ve changed your spine angle towards the ball, and forward.  That’s not the feeling we want.  You want to feel yourself turn back without moving towards the ball—or the wall, and then you want to feel your forward move start from the ground, off of your right toe, bumping your hips to your left side to move your weight to your left foot, and then the rotation of your hips that pulls your shoulders in your natural right-handed, underhand throwing motion—picture skipping a rock or throwing from short-stop to the second baseman for the double play. If you haven’t changed your spine angle, this should flow easily, again without pushing your forehead towards the wall.

 Stand tall-no head banging!

 Another great way to feel yourself turning back without changing your spine angle, is to put your left hand on top of your right shoulder at address, and then as you turn back, make sure your right shoulder doesn’t raise UP, but turns BACK away from the wall.  You’ll find yourself swinging much more balanced, with your swing path much more down the line, instead of out and across the line.