The foolproof way to ensure you have perfect posture every time, according to a Top 100 Teacher

Trillium posture

Trillium Rose demonstrates an easy way to ensure your posture is on point before every shot.

Jessica Marksbury

Having good posture is one of the golf swing’s most important fundamentals.

Like your grip, stance and ball position, your posture sets the tone for your swing before you make your first move, and ensuring your body is in the proper position is the first step to executing a good golf shot. But how do you know if your posture is sound?

At GOLF’s recent Top 100 Teacher Summit at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, Ariz., I asked instructor Trillium Rose if there is a way for players to perform a self-check on their own posture, and she had a quick answer ready.

“If you stand up straight, there’s a little arch above your lower back. When you take your posture over the ball, squeeze the glutes and hinge from the hips,” she said. “Then, just check to make sure that little arch is still there.”

club taking divot
Why this Top 100 teacher’s childhood swing advice still resonates today
By: Jessica Marksbury , Trillium Rose, Top 100 Teacher

Sounds simple enough, right? It is. Essentially, Rose says, you’re looking to maintain the same spine angle that you have standing up as you do when you bend forward in your posture.

“The hinge point is right in your hip joint,” she said.

Rose suggested thinking about how it feels to do a deep squat or lift something off the ground to get the sensation you should feel in posture.

“You want to feel your butt go back over your heels,” she said. “Engaging the glutes is key. Vaguely bending forward isn’t the answer — you want to be really intentional about where that bend is coming from.”

Another way to practice the sensation is to imagine putting your hands in your pockets and feeling your pelvic bone.

“You should feel that bone tilt, so your belt buckle is now facing the grass, as opposed to your belt buckle at the horizon line,” Rose said.

Give Rose’s posture advice a try, and enjoy your newly-solid strikes.

For more tips from Trillium Rose, click here.

More than $100 in value

Give the gift of InsideGOLF for only $20!

Click to gift

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.

generic profile image

Golf.com Photographer