Good Golf Posture (How to Address the Golf Ball)

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.

Posture Article

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

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.

Feeling some posterior pelvic tilt and rounding my shoulders inward.  I can view the ball out of my central vision in the right pic.  Weight is also balanced, too much into my heels in the left pic.

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

Couple posture drills

- Place your heels 2-4 inches from a wall or stick

- Stand up straight, bend from the hips and add knee flex until.....

-  ....y our butt touches the wall.

- Then soften the upper back and lower the arms

Here's a feel/visual/drill for those that struggle with an upper back that is too upright. Balance a cup of water on top of your neck/cervical spine. If you can't do it, then your eyes are looking up too much and/or you're not "slouched" enough.