Get Golf Fit!
Promoting Posture
- By Kevin Dishon, PT, DPT, TPI level 2 Medical and Fitness Professional
P
osture is vital to the golf swing and position at address; however, it remains overlooked
by many amateur players. Golfers become concerned about their position at the top of the
back swing, forgetting that if you don’t set up properly, then you will struggle to hit the
ball consistently.
There are three typical positions a player can be in at address, and all of these positions can
ultimately affect the outcome of the shot. Not only will poor posture rob you of distance and
power, it may also put you at risk for lower back pain. The three positions at address are: C
Posture, S Posture and Normal Posture, all of which have different effects on your swing.
C posture is where there is an abnormal forward bend in a player’s mid-back. This could be
caused by range of reasons, such as clubs that are too short for a player or someone having
general poor posture. C posture becomes an issue for golfers when they are at address because
it stops the thoracic spine (one of the two main locations for rotation in the golf swing). This
results in a player having less of a turn in their swing, which ultimately leads to a loss of power.
In S posture, the golfer addresses the ball with too much of an arch in their low back. According to
studies performed by the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI), this posture has a high correlation
to a reverse spine angle at the top of the back swing, which is one of the most common causes
for low back pain in golfers.
14 | CSGA Links // July, 2017
www.csgalinks.org