When I first started playing I was taught what "athletic" posture was in the golf set-up. Straight back, stick the butt out and have the chin up. Similar to what this article and video recommend.
Adam Scott was said to have the most athletic posture and that having the chin up allowed the shoulders to turn. I'm going to share why I feel that information is wrong and can be harmful to your body. According to this Tilteist Performance Institute(TPI) Article
One of the most clinically relevant patterns of muscle dysfunction is a lower crossed syndrome. Simply stated, the lower crossed syndrome is a grouping of weak muscles combined with overactive or tight muscles, that create a predictable movement pattern in the lower back that can lead to injury.
S- Posture would be the pic of me on the left. “S” posture is caused by a player creating too much arch in their lower back. We’ve all been told to stick our butt out at address, yet when over done, it impinges the spine and the body’s ability to rotate.
As I said I'm feeling posterior tilt, in reality I am closer to anterior but adding posterior. By tucking my tailbone under me, posterior, I place the hips in the best position to release the flexion of my right hip during the backswing, not to mention how much easier this position is on the lower back.
The shoulders feeling rounded, inward and down, allows the chin to be down, which allows for the ball to be seen with central vision. The eyes which are located in the head are what need to be stable or centrally foviated on the object to maintain the balance centers located in the eyes, ears, and muscular system. When we are looking at the golf ball, and our head is down, we are able to see the golf ball out of the middle of our eye sockets and in the center of our vision, called "foveal vision". When an object is in foveal vision, we are able to make more detailed processing of the image (being golf ball and surroundings) during the golf swing. If the eyes are being forced to strain within the eye socket and keep relocating the golf ball because vision is temporarily lost from one eye, this is called "saccadic eye movement" and is slower and less detailed processing of sensory input from the eyes to the brain.
If we lose the ability for depth perception, which can cause compensations and make it difficult for our brain to calculate where we are relative to the ball. This could cause the golfer to have to adjust to see the golf ball out of both eyes and make the fastest adjustments during the course of the golf swing.
Adam Scott has made some changes the past couple years.
So even though there may instruction that advocates what Adam was doing in 2002, it's hard to find examples of this kind of address position from the best players. Especially players from Hogan, Palmer, Nicklaus years. TPI would call a Hogan or a Palmer address a "C" posture. I will say that today's players have the chest "taller" than players in the past but still do the neck tilt piece well. More of a neutral posture between the C and S postures. I like the way the classic guys did it, I think it just looks much better and sets them up to perform a very dynamic motion. A lot of address postures to me look too static. Check out these pics
And a few good videos to share
From Martin Hall's show
