Golf Swing Step 3 - Body Position

One the club is gripped properly and the proper stance is assumed, the next move is to stand up straight and flex the knees as if to begin sitting down in a chair.

One the club is gripped properly and the proper stance is assumed, the next move is to stand up straight and flex the knees as if to begin sitting down in a chair. The knees are the shock absorbers of the swing and cannot absorb any shock if they are locked back in their sockets. On the other hand, don't flex them too much so as to restrict the movement and arc of the swing. Just assume a slight knee flex that would be barely noticeable to and observer.

With the knees flexed and the weight of the body focused on the insteps/balls of the feet as described above, bend forward at the waist slightly with back kept straight and chip up. This posture might be achieved by sticking the buttocks out a bit while at the same time looking down your nose at the ball, The posture to avoid is that of hunching over the ball with a curved spine and pressing the chin against the chest as if trying to look at the ball over the top of a pair of glasses.

The end result of the above body position is that knees are flex, spine is straight, and arms are hanging down fairly straight from the shoulders. This leaves the hands about 4-6 inches out from the inside of the left thigh. With the ball positioned somewhere between the middle of the stance and the left heel, the hands are slightly ahead of the ball and just inside the left thigh.

If someone were standing across the ball from the golfer and looking at the left arm and the shaft of the club, the arm and shaft would appear to form a straight line. That is, there would be no bend in the left elbow and no bend in the left wrist where the face of a wristwatch would normally be.

Viewed from behind the ball, looking down the target line, there is a slight wrist break downward in the line formed by the left arm and the club shaft. It is very important that the hands not be elevated as viewed from this angle. Let the hands hang down from the shoulders to create a kind of sag between the shoulders and the clubhead.
Although the proper grip, stance, and body position of the golfer are all generally agreed upon by the master teachers of golf, there seem to be as many different views on how to maneuver the club as there are master teachers. Before describing some of these different viewpoints, however, there are a few general principles about the golf swing to keep in mind.