How to Maintain Posture in the Golf Swing: Tips & 5 Fixes

A great setup is needed to be successful when hitting golf shots. Having the proper hip hinge, forward tilt, neutral spine angle and balanced stance.

However, as some golfers swing the club back they lose all of this. They stand up or sway during the backswing and the club travels on a new arc that requires compensation to hit the ball far and long.

We will walk through the common reasons golfers lose posture during the backswing and the appropriate ways to fix it.

Key Takeaways

Here’s a quick review of what you should know about losing your posture in your backswing and a few quick fixes:

• If your spine angle changes before the club reaches the top, you’ll fight for low-point control and club-face stability all the way down.
• A proper hip-hinge and shoulder tilt give you room to turn without rising.
• The trail hip should rotate “behind” you, not slide away from the target, this move will help you keep your posture throughout the swing.
• Presetting a flatter lead wrist (and a bent trail wrist) keeps the face square and prevents you from lifting the arms and losing your posture to “save” an open club-face.
• If the extension number on your lead wrist increases before the top of your backswing, you’ve likely lost posture and opened the face, fix it before you start down.

Why Golfers Lose Posture in the Backswing

Losing posture in the backswing can be hard to feel, in fact sometimes you won’t realize it has happened until you are on your way down to the ball and have to make compensations. Here are a few reasons you may be losing your posture in the backswing.

• Excess knee flex and no hip hinge at address: there’s nowhere to turn, so you stand up.
• Trail-hip sway: hips slide instead of rotate, shifting your spine off the ball.
• Lifting the arms: disconnects the shoulders from the torso and straightens the spine.
• Early wrist cupping: open face feels weak; you subconsciously lift to add speed.

How to Fix Losing Posture In the Backswing

Here are a few of the easiest ways to fix losing your posture in the backswing. Work your way down this list and see which one clicks to help you stay more centered and stable.

Get Your Setup Posture Correct

Start by setting up the golf ball the right way. The goal here is to not focus so much on knee flex and instead on hip hinge.

You’ll want about 25 to 30 degrees of hip hinge, a slight knee flex and the weight in the arches of your feet. Keep your chest over the balls of the feet.

Use a video camera or a mirror to check that your starting posture is good and allows you to rotate around the spine without needing to stand up.

Keep Your Trail Hip Depth

When you start to take the club back feel the right hip turn behind you instead of sliding.

Rotating instead of swaying keeps your spine centered and tilt constant. It’s a more compact move and it will create additional power.

Feel a More Centered Turn

Place an alignment stick on the outside of the trail hip. Make some slow backswings without touching the alignment stick.

The idea here is to turn around the fixed access instead of drifting laterally.

When you can make this turn, keeping your posture and avoiding standing up in the backswing is easier.

Check the Clubface at P2

Ensuring that you have a square clubface and haven’t added too much extension in the backswing will help prevent you from losing your posture.

Work on keeping a square clubface in the early part of your swing and removing the urge to lift the arms or take the arms back without rotating the hips.

Maintain Arm Connection

Maintaining the connection between your arms and your body will ensure that your torso doesn’t lift independently.

Keep a ball between your arms as you take the club back. You’ll have to stay connected and this will help prevent a vertical lift where you lose your posture.

• Video timestamp – 8:16

Drills to Help Keep Posture in Backswing

Now that you have the basics down of how to keep your posture in the backswing, here are a few drills that can help you get the process down.

Mirror Posture Check

Practicing with a mirror can help you learn how to maintain your posture in your backswing.

The great thing is that you can even do it at home without a club, just focusing on rotating around the spine. Here is how you should do it:

1. Stand side-on to a mirror/phone. Hip-hinge until your fingertips touch just above your knees.
2. Let the arms hang; add slight knee flex.
3. Hold a club across your shoulders and make slow coils, keeping the shoulder line on its original tilt.

HackMotiopn Combined Top Drill

This drill is a “bridge” between slow-motion top-of-swing practice (as in the Static Top or Dynamic Top drills) and a true full-speed backswing.

The goal is to move your wrist into the green zone at full-swing speed.

Training you to reach an optimal top position while swinging aggressively will also help ensure that you don’t lose posture due to inconsistencies in your clubface angle, plus it is a good way to improve your wrist mechanics.

Trail-Hip Constraint (“No Sway”)

To keep your trail hip from swaying, try this Rob Cheney drill where you are forced to turn in your backswing.

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Low-Point Line Drill

If you feel like you are getting inconsistent in your backswing the Low Point Line Drill is a good one to try.

Working on your low point will help you make cleaner and more consistent contact, whether you lose your posture on the backswing or downswing.

• Video timestamp – 4:50

Final Thoughts

Trying to “hold” posture is nearly impossible unless the fundamentals including setup, centered hip turn, connected arms, and sound wrist structure are already in place.

Work through the fixes and drills above in small practice blocks, and let HackMotion confirm that your wrists (and therefore your spine) stay stable throughout the backswing.

You’ll coil tighter, deliver more shaft-lean, and enjoy a noticeable jump in both power and consistency.