That familiar, frustrating feeling of a thinly-struck ball or a shot that veers off to the left is an all-too-common occurrence that many players experience. Often, the cause is a subconscious habit: pulling up during the golf swing. This common issue robs you of power, consistency, and clean contact. This guide will walk you through exactly what pulling up is, why it happens, and provide practical, easy-to-follow drills and advice to help you stay down through the shot and compress the ball like never before.
In golf coaching, "pulling up" is what we call early extension. It happens when your hips and spine, which you carefully set in an athletic posture at address, move upward and closer to the golf ball during the downswing. Instead of rotating your body around the fixed angle of your spine, you straighten your legs and lift your chest, losing your posture right at the moment of truth.
Think of it like this: at address, your glutes are pushed back. During a good swing, they should stay back and rotate. With early extension, they lunge forward towards the ball. This forces your arms and hands to make last-second compensations, often leading to a block out to the right or a quick flip of the hands to save the shot, resulting in a hook.
So, why is this one of the most common faults in golf? It usually comes down to a few core reasons:
The secret to stopping early extension is surprisingly simple in concept, though it takes practice to master: you must maintain your setup posture throughout the swing. The spine angle and hip hinge you create at address need to be preserved from the top of the backswing all the way through to impact.
Imagine a rod running through from the top of your head down your spine. The entire swing is a rotation around that fixed point. Your chest should feel like it stays "covering" a larger portion of the ground and the area where the ball resides, not pointing skywards at impact. When you do this correctly, you allow the club to swing on the proper path from the inside, using your body's rotation as the engine. This is how players generate seemingly effortless power. They aren't lifting or heaving at the ball, they are turning through it with incredible speed and stability.
Your goal is to transition from a "lifter" to a "turner." The feeling is that your right hip (for a righty) works back and around, making space for the club, rather than thrusting forward into the space your hands need.
Understanding the theory is one thing, but feeling the correct movement is what builds new habits. Here are four effective drills to train your body to stay down and rotate.
This is the gold standard for fixing early extension because it provides direct physical feedback.
Early extension is often caused by the arms disconnecting from the body's rotation. This drill helps sync them up.
This drill helps your body learn how impact should actually feel - and it’s a lot different than the standing-up position.
If you can find a slightly downhill spot on the driving range, it makes for an amazing built-for-purpose drill. A downhill lie naturally forces the correct mechanics.
While you're playing, you don't want your head filled with complex mechanics. Instead, use simple swing thoughts that create the right feelings.
Pulling up in your golf swing is a power-robbing habit, but it is one you can absolutely fix. By understanding that the swing is a rotation, not a lift, and by ingraining the feeling of maintaining your posture with targeted drills, you can transform your ball striking, going from thin shots to pure, compressed contact.
The trickiest part about fixing a swing flaw like pulling up is knowing if your 'feel' matches what's actually happening. That's a big reason we built Caddie AI - to give you an on-demand golf expert in your pocket. If you suspect you're adjusting your swing a certain way on the course, like pulling up on a sidehill lie for instance, you can snap a photo of your situation and get immediate, unemotional advice on the best way to approach the shot. Taking that guesswork out of the equation lets you commit to the swing with a newfound sense of focus and confidence, allowing you to approach each shot with certainty and clarity.
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