Maintaining your spine angle throughout the golf swing sounds pretty easy, but it proves quite difficult for many players. If your spine angle rises during the swing, you’ll mostly likely catch the ball thin, and you may even top it.

This drill will instill the feeling of a well-maintained spine angle:

• Place a club across the front of your shoulders, with the arms crossed and the hands holding the shaft against your body.




• The club should be level with the ground and pointed down the target line.




• Tilt forward from the hips into your setup posture.




• Turn the shoulders as though making a backswing, with the goal of pointing the club at the ball as you reach the top.




• As you turn into and through the shot, try to point the other end of the club at the ball as your right shoulder passes beneath the chin.

If you can point the club at (or close to) the ball on both sides of the swing, you’ve got the hang of it. This drill also makes a good pre-round warmup routine.