Virginia Golfer May / Jun 2019 | Page 38

Fit for Play Posture Perfect 3 Exercises to Enhance Your Stance This Season by DAVE POND T HERE’S NO WAY to overstate the importance of posture and stance in golf. Your entire swing depends on them. These fundamentals can not only improve your game, but help prevent inju- ry, too. “Posture and stance directly affect balance… which affects rotation… which affects speed, and ultimately, consistency,” said Leighann Albaugh, director of instruction at Moseley’s Magnolia Green Golf Academy. “When players are starting out, we give them guidelines for posture. Tilt from the hips— not the waist—with your arms hanging down from your shoulders. Along the same line that as a player’s swing develops, instruction becomes more detailed. The same holds true for posture.” Of course, what “good posture” looks like is different for every golfer. “T h e r e ’s n o o n e b e s t p o s t u r e f o r everybody, but there is a best posture for every body,” said Albaugh, who was named one of Virginia’s best teachers by Golf Digest in 2017. “‘Best posture’ is highly personalized and is based on how each player is built. It 36 takes into account characteristics specific to each golfer, like arm length, torso length, and leg lengths, to name a few.” So, that means posture is a product of each of our own physical makeup; our flexibility, spatial awareness, and ability to move body segments differently in space and time. Sounds simple, but it’s far more complex than “grip-it-and-rip-it.” “Posture is not a static thing,” Albaugh said. “It needs constant adjustments to maintain balance and positioning as we turn our torso, shift our center of mass, and move throughout our swing.” Good, bad or ugly—and however effective our swings are or aren’t—we’re all creating motion using some sort of posture. With that in mind, here are a few ways to check if your golf game might be suffering from a posture- related issue: •  C heck your balance. Are you falling backward at the end of your swing? V I R G I N I A G O L F E R | M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 9 • D  o other golfers in your foursome keep telling you to keep your head down? •  A re you losing distance? How about consistency? •  Do you find yourself exhausted with significant back fatigue after playing 18 holes? “Self-correction and pinpointing the source of a swing issue can be really difficult,” Albaugh said. “My goal is to help my students understand basic cause-and-effect relationships that exist within their golf swing; the cause of an errant shot and what to change when those shots occur. You’ll save a lot of time and frustration by seeking the help of a certified golf professional who can pinpoint your posture and stance issues and give you feedback and recommendations on how to improve.” Until then, here are a few drills you can do at the range, on the course, or even at home. vsga.org