keeping spine angle

first we must realize, if we dont already, that spine angle is kept in the lower back, not in the middle or upper back. Spine angle is the relation of upper body to lower body where they meet.
First we must set up right, bend at the waist. Now have you heard about sitting on a bar stool and other things like that? we need to get the hips into the correct position. take your hands and place them on your hips like you are going to square dance. Now take your thumbs and push the upper part of your hips towards your stomach while pulling the bottom part of your hips back and up. Biomechanically speaking this will help lock them into place

now make practice back swings while feeling that position we established with the lower back and hips at address
and now let the discussion begin

Thrusting the hips towards the ball is a HUGE fault in many downswings. You loose your spine angle, which it turn destroys your swing plain and will make you loose balance at the finish. Check out any mags that have a rear shot of a pro's swing. Its amazing how the spine does not move foward or back.

I struggle with maintain spine angle and hip position. You must rotate the hips, not thrust them. It might be the single hardest thing to learn. Its much more natural for most people to start rotation with the shoulders.

I have always loved the "sit on a barstool." Also, remember to keep that head up when setting those hips, dont bury your chin.

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My understanding of keeping the spine angle is to ensure that when you rotate your shoulders, they have to be perpendicular to the bent spine rather than perpendicular to the ground. In other words at the top, the left shoulder should be slightly lower than the right?

hi shootin
As you probably know by now, i am a firm believer in practising basics and keeping things simple.

Spine angle can be defined by the angle that the spine and the ground create. The spine angle is created when we bend from the hips to take our stance. Once we have taken our stance we want to maintain this spine angle for most of our swing. At this point we can think of the spine as the axis or the pivot point for turning our shoulders.
Another image you can use is imagine your spine and shoulder create a t-square. While maintaining the angle between the spine and the ground begin to turn your shoulders. Your shoulders should pivot around your spine, done correctly the line created by your shoulder will point to the ground. Turn your shoulders so your chest faces the target, the line created by your shoulders should point along the same line as when your chest faced away form the target.
To illustrate this better, take your stance and place a golf club across your shoulders. Turn your shoulders so your chest faces away form the target. Here you can see the shaft's end point towards the ground. Now take note to where the shaft is pointing. Turn your shoulders so your chest is facing the target. At this point your spine angle should remain the same as at address. Also the shaft's end should point along the same line as before.
If during the golf swing we stand up, the spine angle becomes more vertical and this causes the golf club to come outside the target line. Normally if a golfer stands up during the swing it occurs in the backswing. In order to make contact with the ball the club must travel from outside the target line to inside the target line through impact. This outside to inside swing path creates a steep plane angle and causes fat shots, pulled shots, severe slice (open club face), smother hooks (closed club face).

regards .......terry

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Hmm does this mean that a person loses his spine angle on the backswing cannot have consistent straight shots??

What Simon says is correct!

What TPG says is spot on. What I like to do from time to time is make swings standing infront of a mirror to check this.

The spine angle at address, the spine angle at the top of the backswing, and the spine angle at the finish position SHOULD ALL BE VERY VERY VERY CLOSE TO THE SAME. This keeps the swing consistent and keeps the swing plane from changing.

good post and good drill for golfers to see what is going on. THe biggest thing that I am trying to get across in this thread is that the spine angle is kept in the lower back. So when people do the drill you perscribed, they can heep the same shoulder angle at the top one of two ways. One is keep consistent spine angle, which is pretty obvious, and two is to manipulate the shoulders and middle back to get that look, all the shile their lower back has lost its spine angle. In doing your drill they need to make sure taht the lower back is what gets them into the psoition they want.

I totally agree. look at any picture of Nick Faldo at address . he is a perfect example of the point that SHOOTIN is making.

I just hit a bucket on my lunch break. I noticed that when I started off on fire. +/- 2 yards on each shot. Nice high trajectory.

However, my back started to cramp a little, which started to cause me to use my shoulders more and come UP out of the shot (loosing the spine angle). I started hitting it thin and have a slight fade instead of a draw.

I took a couple minutes to stretch my lower back and hamstrings. My hamstrings were SO tight.

After the stretching, I was back to pure contact.

My point...make sure your muscles are ready to go. I try to stretch 3 times a week when I am at the gym. It has helped, but with the damp weather we are having in PA today, I cramped up.

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What's in my bag....
Cleveland VP 2 Blade Putter
Ping Tour Wedges, 54 & 60
TaylorMade rac LT2, 4i thru PW
Tour Edge Exotics Iron-Wood 21* 3i - Aldila NV 90 Stiff Shaft
Ping G5 18* 5 Wood - ProLaunch Blue 75 Stiff Shaft
Ping G5 15* 3 Wood - Aldila NV 75 Stiff Shaft
Cleveland HiBore XL 9.5* - Fujikura Fit-On Red Stiff Shaft

I am glad to hear comments on this right now as this is probably my number one swing fault right now. I have recently tried Shootin's drill and can see the effectiveness and the need to make sure you are getting the feeling from the lower back not bending in the middle (as I have).

I also see the need to start doing more back stretching and hamstrings as I think this might be part of the problem. being a bigger guy isn't any fun if you don't have any flexibility. So I will now be stretching every night (my daughter thinks it is funny as heck when I do so I get a double bonus )

Thanks for the tips!

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my suggestion,
stretch three times a week, cause if you do it everyday it will feel like a burdon. ANd if you work out keep it under an hour, for the same reason. Many people go Gung ho and work out for 2 hours 3-4 times a week, TOTALLY change there eating habits, etc etc. But when they cheat on their work out or diet, they thien feel guilty. once the guilt sets in they avoid what causes the guilt and end up quitting it. in my life I do 15 minutes of yoga 5 days a week and work out 2 times a week, I eat good 75% of the time. If I miss a workout or yoga session, or eat a bad meal I dont worry about it because I know that living right 75% of the time is better then living right 50% of the time and that living right 100 percent of the time is unrealistic. Life is a balance, not too much, not too little

well im know thrusting mi hips before my downswing with a very good results specially with all the woods 3, 5, and drivers!
so i guess it is rigth what they said there is no two swing look a like!

I resurrected this thread because of its fundamental importance. From time to time I have a problem hitting the ball off the toe in a radical fashion. I try all sorts of remedies. I have been in such a fix over the past few weeks and did a search and found (again!) Shootin's thread.

I followed Shootin's instructions about the spine angle and immediately started seeing positive results. A few more swings and I was hitting the ball as well as ever.

I'm just a rank (not ranked ) amateur and am prone to forget. I've been through this before and "discover" again the importance of spine angle. I don't have time to practice all the fine points of the swing that so many work on. Just a simple swing, back and through, and I can play respectably and happily. I can get by with forgetting almost everything except this maintaining the spine angle at all costs. It cannot, IMHO, be over-emphasized.

Thanks Shootin.

Bill

great bill I am glad to hear it, and thanks for the kind words.
personally, in my swing, if I set up correctly and maintain a good spine angle I think of nothing else

here is another tip on spine angle
when we think of spine angle we think of spine, well where is the spine? in the golf swing it is behind us. now in the golf swing if I ask you to turn and make your back face the target, or if I stand behind you and ask you to make your chest face me, which one is easier for your? for me it is the chest because it is in front of me. So at address picture an imaginary line that is directly behind you, and at the top of your back swing make sure the center of your chest is along the same line

Shootin,

I do something similarly, as in imagining a rod where my spine is and rotating around it. Nevertheless, without consciously "locking" my hips in place--I consciously contract the muscles in the small of my back--I can still lose that position. Your post reminded my that I had stopped thinking about that locking position. "Lock and load"! Thanks again.

Bill