A common problem in the golf swing for many amateurs is posture and rotation. It’s not that these types of players don’t understand the importance of those elements in the swing, it’s that they’re restricted in many instances — which, in effect, negatively impacts their shots.
But Jake Toliver, an instructor at Los Angeles Country Club (LACC) — home of this weekend’s U.S. Open — has three simple drills for players who struggle with their posture and rotation to try.
In the video above, Toliver breaks down the drills, which can be seen below.
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3 drills to help improve your golf swing posture and rotation
In order to get make better contact with the ball and increase distance, it’s going to require using your core to fully rotate. This means faster hip movements as well, which will give you the necessary torque to generate more club speed.
This is the first area that Toliver focuses on, which uses a club between his feet and one across his shoulders.
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“For the first drill, I’ve got a club between my feet that’s set up perpendicular to my target line, and I’m going to put a club across my shoulders,” he says.
“Now I’m going to work on making turns into my right hip, turning around my spine, and getting this club [the one across his shoulders] parallel to the one beneath my feet.”
By doing this drill correctly, you’ll feel a nice coil around the spine — which can also help you get loose prior to teeing off for a round.
Focusing on your posture
Can acting like an airplane help your golf swing posture? According to Toliver, it absolutely can.
“For the second drill, I’m going to stay in my same golf posture, and I’m going to extend my arms out like airplane wings,” he says.
“I’m going to rotate around my spine, getting my airplane wings parallel to the sticks on the ground. I’m going to turn back the other direction and try to achieve the same thing in the downswing. This gives me a really nice image for how I’m going to rotate in my posture throughout my swing.”
With your arms acting like the wings of an airplane, you’ll begin to feel different motions. Whether that’s more in-to-out, or out-to-in, your “airplane wings” will be impacted.
“So turning around my spine, achieving the wings parallel to the sticks in each direction. This is a great visual for rotating in posture.”
See better impact position
As Toliver says in the video, this drill helps you train for the impact position.
“Same concept here; golf posture, stick beneath my feet. I’m going to extend my trail arm and hold the [club]face in my hand,” says Toliver. “Next, turn back to get my trail arm parallel and behind that stick, and then I’m going to rotate down — and I’m going to imagine I’m delivering that clubface into impact with the golf ball.
“This is a really nice one to stay in my rightward bend, stay in my posture, and deliver the club right to the bottom of the arc. I’m feeling a lot of hip rotation into my left side as well.”
So whether you’re using these three drills before a round to get loose, or at the driving range to improve your ball-striking ability, you’ll see better rotation and posture in your golf swing.
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