Breaking 100/90/80/70

Get your spine in line

By Jerry King
with Matthew Rudy
Photos By J.D. Cuban
Photo Illustrations By Jim Luft

When you watch tour players swing, you see efficiency. The spine is the key. They maintain the same posture and spine angle from setup to impact, and create a dynamic where the arms, hands and clubhead can freely accelerate through the ball -- not hit at it.

Tour players understand that the body is always seeking to stay in balance: If your spine is curved when you set up, it will try to straighten during the swing, costing you power. In following sections, I'll give you tips and drills to help you set up and swing more athletically -- the first step to making golf look as effortless as tour players make it look.

Breaking 100: When you get into a good position before you start your swing, it's much easier to stay in a good position all the way through.

Breaking 90: To hit low or high shots with your irons, your posture should stay exactly the same.

Breaking 80: Practice hitting putts with just your rear hand, holding your front hand gently on your rear shoulder.

Breaking 70: The swing is a dynamic movement, not a collection of static parts. Instead of thinking about where you want the clubhead to be, focus on the movement you want to make.

About the author: Jerry King is ranked No. 1 in Hawaii by his peers on Golf Digest's list of the Best Teachers in Your State for 2007-2008. He is director of instruction at the Kapalua Golf Academy at the Kapalua Resort on Maui.