GO | NO GO: AT THE TOP – ROTATION
Go: At the top of your swing the rod across your chest should be perpendicular to your target line. Note: using a rod on the ground outside your back foot placed at 90 degrees serves as a great visual target.
No Go: If the rod does not approach perpendicular to your target line or points up in the air, you have failed to rotate properly.
It has always been difficult to see your own body’s rotation during your golf swing. It’s one of the more helpful things a second pair of eyes can provide, and a big reason why golf instructors can be such a useful resource. But without any help, how do you know if you’ve rotated your body enough in your golf swing? By using Swing Align of course! Using a Swing Align swing trainer to rehearse the correct body positions associated with rotation works as well as having someone watch you, as long as you know what to look for. You can do this out on the range while you hit balls without another soul around. Seeing and feeling the correct rotation, and knowing how and when to look for the correct amount of rotation, helps to create a more consistent golf swing that delivers both more power and more accuracy. The best and easiest way to see your body’s rotation at the top of your golf swing is to use a ground based alignment tool – like the Swing Junction that comes with our Swing Align Bundles – while also wearing a Swing Align device on your arms. By paying attention to the difference in position between the alignment rod on the ground and the one on your body, it becomes easy to get immediate feedback on how much your torso has rotated away from your target line.
Since you are able to see where the front end of Swing Align’s highly visible alignment rod points at the top of your swing, you will begin to get a feel for how much you’ve actually rotated. Ideally, at the top of your backswing, the alignment rod you are wearing on your upper body should be perpendicular to the alignment rod on the ground that represents your target line. Alternatively, if you have an alignment rod on the ground along the outer edge of your trail foot, already perpendicular to your target line, all you have to do to get your body fully rotated is to match the alignment rod across your shoulders with the one that is parallel to your trail foot. With Swing Junction one alignment rod can do both jobs, simply screw part of your alignment rod into the puck at a 90 degree angle and place the rod around that trail foot. This can be an even more effective way to see and feel the proper position at the top of your golf swing – it is a visual target that is hard to miss.
Once you have reached the top of your backswing, the other important swing fundamental you can check is how the rod is oriented relative to the ground. Ideally you want to see the front end of the alignment rod across your chest pointing slightly downward, toward the ground. Getting the rod to be either level with the ground, or the front end pointing slightly down, indicates that you have maintained the proper spine angle and you are on the proper swing plane! If you’ve rotated your front shoulder down and under you should have no issues finding a better position at the top of your backswing. If you are struggling to get your body fully rotated at the top and on the proper swing plane, it could be because you are setting up with your shoulders open to your target line, or during the takeaway the club is getting out of position. Use the set-up and takeaway content in our Instruction section to check these key swing areas.
