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Body Turn Drill


The body is the engine of the swing. Understanding how to properly use the body is 90% of learning a golf swing.

I sometimes teach this drill with a club shaft or alignment rod cradled in crossed arms. It gives a visual reference to check that the shoulder turn is being done at a 90 degree angle to the spine, especially if you are practicing with the aid of a mirror. Everyone has a different level of flexibility so just turn back as far as you can without straining.

I need to define two terms used in this drill: "Bend" refers to the forward bend from the waist towards the ball with a straight back. "Tilt" means the tilt of the spine from side to side. Both of these terms describe how your upper torso forward inclination should be towards the ground during the swing.


Body Turn Drill Done From Erect Posture

To begin, stand straight up with legs spread a comfy shoulder width apart, body poised and relaxed, with the arms across the chest. With your weight evenly distributed between both feet, rotate your body to the right (for right handers) while maintaining your erect spine angle. It is important that your spine not tilt away from the target more than a couple degrees and that the base of your spine stay rather stationary. If the base of the spine slides away from the target, your weight will shift more on to your back leg which is not necessary. The turning of your body to the right will pull your hips back as well. It is perfectly ok for them to rotate around as the upper body pulls them, in fact they must be allowed to turn. The hips will rotate around an imaginary fixed point at the base of your spine as well, with no lateral slide to the right. The feeling should be that your shoulders and hips stay parallel to the ground and that you are not bending forward from the waist..

It is ok if you cannot rotate your shoulders to 90 degrees right without feeling a lot of tension in the torso or without making a large hip turn. During the actual swing, your muscles will more naturally stretch as the body becomes alive and athletic. For now, simply rotate your shoulders a comfortable turn to the right while keeping your weight fairly evenly distributed and your spine angle constant.

From here, "bump" your core to the left to set your weight on your left leg and simply unwind your body back to the left. Feel as if everything is rotating together, with no one part out racing the other. In actuality, the hips will lead the way, but you needn't think about this, it will be a natural response to the coiling of the upper body against the lower because the hips will not turn as far during the backswing. Again, the spine angle is critical. It should remain constant with the base of the spine acting as an "anchor" for the rotation of the torso. the shoulder plane is of utmost importance. The shoulders should rotate around the spine at a 90 degree angle throughout the swing. If the shoulder plane changes, the path that the club will take to the ball changes and you will be forced to make compensations to strike the ball.


Body Turn Drill Done From Golf Posture: Core Rotation

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[ Lessons from Tom Tucker - Class "A" Teaching Professional - WGTF "Top 100 Golf Teacher" ]