Good Golf Posture (How to Address the Golf Ball)

[wingback]

hi all, saw a video of my swing my posture was slumped over the ball, looked terrible.Im over 6ft so I guess this can happen easily.Anyway before my round yesterday I had a session on the range, standing far taller to the ball the results were dramatic, benefit 1 the new address position felt far more athletic , benefit 2 standing taller obviously increased my swing arc, benefit 3 and for me the most important I felt I had far more time to swing the club, especially on the downswing, this extra time definitely helped my rhythm and tempo.Initially I lost a few balls to the right in the range session, but once I sensed the extra time on the downswing the consistency was excellent.Went out and shot a lifetime best score of 5 under 67 was never out of position.if anyones got posture problems give it a go, hope this may help someone.

[cipher]

http://thesandtrap.com/t/56069/good-golf-posture

[TJBam]

Originally Posted by MiniBlueDragon

Nah the 'big butt' is (partly) a cause of the anterior pelvic tilt/lordosis. When I stand completely upright I still have a fair amount of tilt:

From there to address position adds a few degrees but not a significant amount; the difference between standing upright and address for me is a slight forward lean (more of a curving of the upper back) and settling on the balls of the feet more than tilting the pelvis.

Ok now one with the shirt pulled up a little bit.  This thread just took a sexy twist.  "Show us your bum bent over at address"

[TJBam]

Originally Posted by gwlee7

Working on seeing the ball from the center of my eyes is something mvmac has had me work on.  In doing so, I hit the ball on better trajectory (especially with the driver) than when I lapse into the old way of "looking under my glasses".

Either mvmac or iacas gave me the same advice from my swing video and it has given me good results.  Before I was looking "down" at the ball (head up with eyes down) and causing some side to side head sway during swing.  Looking directly at the ball (head down eyes forward) gives me more consistency with my shot making.

[guiseppe]

I remember reading a comment by mvmac in another thread talking about head/eye position where, I think, he recommended to someone that he get his eyes on more parallel line to the ball at address.  He said something to the effect that it gave him a "few other things for free" which I took to mean set him up to perform some other fundamentals more easily.  This was in regards to a full swing, not putting.

What is the 5ks theory on head/eye position at address?

[Golfingdad]

What is the 5ks theory on head/eye position at address?

Look directly at the ball.

[Ernest Jones]

Look directly at the ball.

Unless it's behind you in which case,

1. Turn around
2. Look directly at the ball.

[guiseppe]

Found what I was looking for.  I should have known there was a "posture thread" somewhere:

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.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/56069/good-golf-posture

[Golfingdad]

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.

Isn't that just a reallllly fancy way of saying "look directly at the ball."

[randomzero]

From the latest Golf Magazine:

I was wondering about what it says in the back section. It says his back shouldn't be straight, but he's pulling his shoulders back(which is what someone would do to straighten their back in the shoulder area, isn't it?). Also, aren't the arms supposed to hang down naturally, and isn't pulling your shoulders back contrary to that idea?

[mvmac]

I was wondering about what it says in the back section. It says his back shouldn't be straight, but he's pulling his shoulders back(which is what someone would do to straighten their back in the shoulder area, isn't it?). Also, aren't the arms supposed to hang down naturally, and isn't pulling your shoulders back contrary to that idea?

Lower back is pretty straight but upper back is curved, in order to get the neck/eyes down and also helps with the pivot.

Take a look at the first post in the thread.

Shoulders blades should not be pulled back, should not be pinched together, otherwise arms can't hang and makes a solid pivot more difficult.

[iacas]

I was wondering about what it says in the back section. It says his back shouldn't be straight, but he's pulling his shoulders back(which is what someone would do to straighten their back in the shoulder area, isn't it?). Also, aren't the arms supposed to hang down naturally, and isn't pulling your shoulders back contrary to that idea?

It says he's pulling his shoulders back, but I don't see it. The picture would look quite different if he was pulling his shoulders back.

[randomzero]

Yeah, I've read the whole thread. Your responses are kind of what I was referring to. If he was pulling his shoulders back, then his back would be straighter(in the shoulder area), and his arms wouldn't be hanging down naturally. It seemed like either bad observation or bad advice, based on this thread and the history of golf swings. I wasn't arguing for a straight back. Sorry I didn't make that clear.

[chipandcharge]

I may be asking a question that has an obvious answer, but how important is having depth perception, and correct depth perception, at that, to the golf swing?  For three years, I have been fighting a problem related to retina damage in my left eye.  On the opthalmologis's' depth perception test, I score zero out of nine (can't see even the first one).  Furthermore, if I were to try to simply tap the ball with the butt end of the club, I would miss it completely, on the short side of the ball.  If I finally tap it after several tries, I can then tap it again through some kind of spatial memory, but if I make a 360 degree spin and try again, I miss it again.  I'm currently changing my learning process to mimic as best I can what I think a sightless golfer would use, which mean that I have to cut down on the dynamic elements of the swing and focus more on making good contact.  Thank you for reading.

[MiniBlueDragon]

I may be asking a question that has an obvious answer, but how important is having depth perception, and correct depth perception, at that, to the golf swing?  For three years, I have been fighting a problem related to retina damage in my left eye.  On the opthalmologis's' depth perception test, I score zero out of nine (can't see even the first one).  Furthermore, if I were to try to simply tap the ball with the butt end of the club, I would miss it completely, on the short side of the ball.  If I finally tap it after several tries, I can then tap it again through some kind of spatial memory, but if I make a 360 degree spin and try again, I miss it again.  I'm currently changing my learning process to mimic as best I can what I think a sightless golfer would use, which mean that I have to cut down on the dynamic elements of the swing and focus more on making good contact.  Thank you for reading.

George Knudson used to do a lot of work with his eyes closed to "feel" his swing mechanics.

I reckon to begin with it would be more difficult but as time went on and you learned to understand the feelings, pressures etc you'd be perfectly fine with the swing itself.

Like me (no binocular vision) you'd benefit greatly from using a laser range finder with no depth perception.

[chipandcharge]

George Knudson used to do a lot of work with his eyes closed to "feel" his swing mechanics.

I reckon to begin with it would be more difficult but as time went on and you learned to understand the feelings, pressures etc you'd be perfectly fine with the swing itself.

Like me (no binocular vision) you'd benefit greatly from using a laser range finder with no depth perception.

I can give this eyes closed practice a try, which would be what looks like a small extension of

trying to emulate the cognitive processes of a sightless golfer.  I say "what looks like a small extension"

because in trying to understand the cognitive processes of a sightless golfer, I had my cognitive processes

analyzed (tested) by a cognitive psychologist, and they turn out to be almost exactly the opposite of

those that would be theoretically used by a sightless golfer.  Fortunately, I have been assured that a person

is able to learn to use his/her opposed cognitive processes--it's just that it won't come naturally.  Sounds a little

far fetched, but the models are a close match to how I learned other sports, depending more on the eyes than

visual imagery.

[cipher]

Getting part of it right.

[saevel25]

I think some people might find that their hamstrings stretch when they get into a proper posture.