How to Stop Losing Spine Angle in Golf: Tips & Fixes

Losing spine angle in the downswing is a common mistake even for better players. The problem with losing spine angle is that it’s difficult to feel. Most players don’t know they are doing it before it starts having an impact on their game.

A steady spine angle lets you return the club to the turf on the correct arc, compress the ball, and keep your swing path neutral.

When you “stand up” in the downswing, the hips thrust toward the ball, the chest lifts, the low?point shifts behind the ball, and contact gets thin, fat, or both.

We will look at the main reasons golfers lose spine angle and the fixes that rebuild better posture and movement on the downswing.

Key Takeaways

Here are some of the most important things you should know about the loss of spine angle and the issues it can have in your golf game.

• Loss of spine angle usually starts before impact. Hanging back on the trail foot, early hip thrust, or casting the club lengthens the swing radius and makes you stand up to reach the ball.
• Balanced weight + centered rotation = steady posture. Feel 60-70% weight on the lead foot from takeaway through finish, and turn around a fixed spine instead of sliding.
• Quiet wrists will help. A flat (or slightly flexed) lead wrist and bent trail wrist shallow the shaft so you don’t need to lift for “room.”
• Use a Drill with feedback. The Casting Drill or Alignment-Stick Wrist Check will give you instant clues when your posture slips.

What Causes Loss of Spine Angle?

Here are a few of the reasons you may be losing your spine angle in your downswing. Again, remember that this can be a difficult thing to feel so look for these causes.

• Early hip thrust toward the ball: The pelvis moves closer to the target line, and you have to stand up to avoid hitting the turf first or striking the ball with a wide-open clubface.
• Weight stuck on the trail foot: Your weight should be moving to the lead foot as part of the downswing. If it hangs back you may have to stand up so the club can reach the golf ball.
• Casting or early release: Throwing the clubhead early lengthens the arm?to?club radius; posture rises to match the new, wider arc. Most golfers cast because they believe they are creating power in their golf swing.
• Clubface is opening in transition: An open face feels dangerous; the golfer stalls the body turn and lifts to flip the face square.

Fixes and Drills to Hold Your Spine Angle

Now that you have some of the most important causes of losing spine angle in the downswing lets work on how you can fix this issue in your golf swing.

Try working through this list in order to try to get your balance down first and then working on rotation and wrist angles.

Weight Forward Half Swings

Getting your weight forward moves the golf swing’s low point in front of the ball.

When you do this, there is no need to lose the spine angle in the downswing, and you can stay in your posture and strike the golf ball.

Try taking some swings where you preset your weight forward.

• Video timestamp – 0:30

Keep Your Center with the Centered Turn Feel Drill

If your tendency is to sway off the golf ball, staying centered can ensure you don’t lose your spine angle in the downswing.

A sway left or right changes the spine tilt. Focus on turning around a fixed axis and keeping your chest over the ball.

Here’s what a solid iron swing with good rotation looks like. Feel free to pause anytime and check out each position along the way.

To get your body turning around your center instead of swaying side to side, try the Centered-Turn Feel Drill.

Print out the steps below and take them to the range so you can start feeling a more solid swing.

Hips Stay Back

Early extension starts when the pelvis drives toward the ball.

Putting a solid object against your glutes gives instant feedback: if you keep light pressure on it, your spine angle stays constant; if you lose contact, you’ve stood up.

Casting Drill – Retain the Angle

When the arms take over from the top of the backswing, it’s easy to lose spine angle.

As you get close to the ball, there may not be enough for you to strike the ball cleanly if your lower body is not leading the way and turning out of the way.

• Video timestamp – 4:55

The Casting Drill helps you maintain the lag in your golf swing by ensuring your lower body initiates the downswing while your wrists hold the lag.

Holding lag keeps the club shorter and shallower, so you don’t need to raise your torso for clearance.

Square The Clubface Early From the Top

Having a square clubface on your downswing makes it easier to hold your spin angle in the downswing. The Motorcycle Drill is a great way to work on squaring the club a bit sooner from the top.

Twisting the lead wrist into flexion squares the face early, eliminating the urge to flip (and lift the spine angle) at impact. This Motorcycle Drill can be found in the HackMotion app.

• Video timestamp – 6:50

Alignment Stick Wrist Check

Now that you have your body turning and your weight moving, you can start to fine tune your wrist angles to get more distance, the ball flight you want, and increased accuracy.

The alignment stick wrist check prevents early release and keeps the handle leading,g so your spine angle can stay constant as you rotate.

• Video timestamp – 5:20

Final Thoughts

Trying to just focus on maintaining your spine angle is difficult.

However, if you change the focus to maintaining a balanced weight, a centered pivot, and stable wrist angles, it becomes easier to maintain your spine angle in the downswing.

Groove those fundamentals with the drills above and reinforce them with HackMotion’s live wrist data. Stay down, strike it solid, and watch your compression and ball striking improve.