You're Correct!

How your spine looks at address is really, really, important, as it leads to your posture and if your spine is in the correct position it makes rotating around this position much easier and it allows you to bring the club head back to the start position much more readily.

If your spine is in the wrong position at address, it becomes very difficult to rotate during your golf swing, which you need your upper body to do to generate any type of power and also you will find that you stand up through your golf shot and you alter your posture height meaning you get a very inconsistent strike with the ball, because you are lifting your upper body up then dropping it down again as you are trying to hit the ball.

To create the correct spine position in your golf address here is a great drill. Your spine needs to look straight when you are in your address position. Straight, but leaning forward towards the golf ball, as you have tilted forwards from your hips. Take an alignment pole and place it down your back inside your tee shirt. Pull it out of the bottom of your tee shirt and then just tuck it into your belt or the top of your trousers. This will now have you standing very upright, with a straight back. Make sure that you have got your head back on that alignment pole, so you have got a really straight line coming up from your hips, from where your trousers are and your belt are, all the way up your t shirt, up your back and to the back of your head.

What you now want to do is set your feet shoulder width apart, so you are in your golf stance and then tilt forward from your hips maintaining this straight line down your back and from your head, so keep your head back on the alignment pole as you tilt forward.

Tilt forward until your arms are dangling freely from your body and then just soften your knees to take the pressure from your hamstrings in the back of your thighs and that is the correct golf posture to be in to begin your golf swing.

A lot of people have very hunched shoulders and a very “C” shape look in their spine, so they are dropping their chin down towards their chest and really hunching over at their shoulders. This position makes it very, very, difficult to rotate your upper body during your back swing and on your down swing, and what will tend to happen in this situation is you get very “armsy”, you will not generate a lot of power from your upper body. You will lift your arms up, rather than rotate your upper body. As you lift your arms up, you will tend to stand up from this position, so you will lift your head up as your arms swing back because you cannot rotate and then you will have to drop your head to swing back down towards the ball and this is going to make it very difficult to connect with the ball consistently.

Work on having a straight back - straight from the back of your head through your shoulders down to the bottom of your spine and tilt that forwards from your hips, maintaining this straightness.

If you maintain that straight position of your spine during your swing, you will rotate around your spine angle and you will not get any lifting or dropping in your head.

If you are standing too upright and vertically, again it will be very difficult for your upper body to rotate and you will really pick the club up with your arms. This will produce a swing that is more like a chopping action where you lift your arms up and then drop them down and you will find it very difficult to create power with that movement. You will also find it difficult to get a consistent connection on the ball because the club head will be dropping down towards the ball so steeply and you will tend to hit the top of the ball.

Work on having a really straight spine from the back of the head through the shoulders down the spine to the bottom of the spine, but tilt forward from the hips keeping that straight line and just soften the knees to allow the arms to dangle freely from the body.

If you are in that position and set up, you are going to have a great chance to make a very good golf swing.

Work on having a straight back - straight from the back of your head through your shoulders down to the bottom of your spine and tilt that forwards from your hips, maintaining this straightness.

If you maintain that straight position of your spine during your swing, you will rotate around your spine angle and you will not get any lifting or dropping in your head.