Up, over and off

Up, over and off

Erika Larkin is the Director of Instruction at Larkin Golf Learning Community at Stonewall Golf Club in Gainesville, Virigina. She was recently named the 2012 Middle Atlantic PGA "Teacher of the Year" and the 2011 "Top Golf Pro" by Washingtonian Magazine and she's oobgolf's newest columnist. She'll be writing on a variety of topics including instruction, so if you have a question for her or an idea for a column, email her at erikalarkin@pga.com. Enjoy!

So many swing flaws and mis-hits can be linked back to a poor setup including posture, grip or alignment. Today we are focusing on posture. Remember these three words: UP, OVER and OFF. Use them to improve your posture and your shots!

UP: Don’t sit or squat- get UP on straighter legs with knees just barely soft. Feeling tall in your legs is a good thing and will help you with the following.

OVER: Stand so that you tilt your chest down enough that your arms can hang from your shoulders relaxed and without touching your own body. To help you feel the proper position try this: first, stand up straight, then place your palms on the top of your thighs. Slide your hands down your legs until your finger tips reach the top of your knees. This should show you how far to fold forward from your hips so you have enough spine angle.

OFF: Close your eyes and feel where your weight is on your feet… most people sit on their heels too much which pulls them away from the ball through impact and leads to other compensations. Try and rock forward just enough that your center of gravity is over your laces but not so far to the balls of your feet that you are falling over forward. If you are UP on your legs and OVER with your chest you should find it easy to get OFF your heels but still be in balance and ready to hit the ball with good posture.

If you can practice and feel these posture keys you will promote better contact with the ball more leverage and more power. Good luck!

Image via Flickr, Companygolflessons

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[ comments ]

Banker85 says:
that is usually what my wife says to me in bed. LOL

7/5/12

legitimatebeef says:
Good stuff Erika. I am finding out how posture is one of the big challenges in golf. Not that it's such a hard thing in itself to achieve; setting up the same way every time, that is the hard part. So many variables involved. One thing I do to check posture is to setup then take my right hand off the club and let it hang. It should hang very near to the grip.

7/5/12

joe jones says:
Beef. Right on. I know the conventional wisdom is to widen your stance to gain distance but it restricts my turn even further than it already is. I try to have one swing thought on the take away in order to lengthen my swing. Left shoulder under my chin on back swing and left shoulder under my chin on follow through. If I can REPEAT this on every swing it ads a little distance but more importantly I can trust my swing and hit as many fairways as possible. Doing the same thing every time , even if it isn't perfect is my best bet for consistency.

7/5/12