Practice Tip  

Spine angle

The best players have about a 15 to 20 degree bend at the hips towards the ball. This angle is important to achieve proper plane or leverage into the ball with the arms and shoulders.

To achieve this angle stand upright with feet shoulder width apart and slight knee flex and then take a slight bow from the hips so your arms drop straight down with about 4 to 5 inches space between the little finger of your left hand (right-handed golfer) and your legs. We've now created the proper space for your arms to swing.

A great drill to do from this setup while not holding a club is to simply maintain this spine angle and throw a range ball with a side arm motion out into the driving range. If you put a chair up against your posterior while in the address position and maintain it there while you throw a ball or hit a golf ball you'll be on your wayto better golf. Holding the spine angle until the ball is gone anfd the right arm throwing motion are two big keys to accuracy (spine angle) and power (right arm throw motion).

A big mistake many amateurs and some professionals make make on their bad shots is disrupting the spine angle before the ball is hit. The classic "come over the top move" is often created by not holding the spine angle long enough into the shot. They disrupt the amount of space their hands have to swing through the hitting area by usually straightening up in an effort to hit harder. this pushes their hands out and off plane creating big misses.

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