Rising up in the golf backswing is a frustrating move that silently steals both your power and your consistency. It’s that subtle, or sometimes not-so-subtle, feeling of standing up as you take the club away from the ball. This article will show you exactly why this is happening and give you some dead-simple, effective drills to train your body to stay in posture, finally creating that coiled, athletic move that good ball-striking is built on.
Before you can fix the problem, you need to understand the root cause. When a golfer sets up to the ball, they create a specific spine angle by tilting forward from the hips. Staying "in the shot" means maintaining that angle throughout the backswing. Rising up is simply the act of straightening your body and abandoning that initial posture. It almost never happens in isolation, it's a compensation for something else. Here are the most common culprits.
Many golfers think the goal of the backswing is to "lift" the club to the top. This is a huge misconception. The swing is a rotational motion. Your goal isn't to lift the club, it’s to turn your torso. The turning of your shoulders and hips is what moves the club up and around your body on the correct plane. If your primary thought is "lift," your body will naturally stand up to accommodate that lifting action. The correct thought is "turn" or "rotate."
Sometimes your body simply can't do what you're asking it to. A proper golf turn requires a good range of motion in your hips and your thoracic spine (your mid-back). If these areas are tight, your body will seek out the easiest path to complete the backswing, and that path is often to stand up. It creates "fake" rotation by lifting instead of turning. If you feel like you can't turn without standing up, it might be worth exploring some simple golf-specific stretches for your hips and back.
Your golf posture is an athletic position that requires stable muscle engagement. Your glutes and core muscles are the foundation of this stability. If they aren't engaged, your lower body becomes unstable. As you start the backswing, this instability causes your body to leave its intended posture and straighten up to find a more stable (but less powerful) position. Think of it like a building with a weak foundation, it can't support the turning forces above it, so the whole structure will wobble and buckle.
So you lift up a little... what's the big deal? It affects everything. It's one of the primary reasons for inconsistency among amateur golfers.
Alright, enough with the problems. Let's get to the solutions. These drills are designed to give you the feeling of a correct, rotational turn. Do them slowly at first, without a ball, to ingrain the new movement pattern.
This is a classic for a reason. It gives you instant, undeniable feedback on whether you're rising up.
This drill helps you see what a proper turn looks like and disconnects your brain from thinking about the club and ball.
This is another fantastic drill for feeling how your lower body should work and how to maintain depth in your hips.
Drills are great for practice, but on the course, you need simpler thoughts. Swap your old, destructive swing thoughts for ones that promote proper movement.
Old Thought: "Keep your head down."
New Thought: "Keep my chest over the ball."
This is far more effective. A lot of golfers rise up while trying to keep their head perfectly still, creating a weird reverse-pivot. Thinking about keeping your chest or sternum pointing generally down at the ball encourages your torso to stay tilted while still allowing your head to rotate naturally as part of the turn.
Old Thought: "Take the club back."
New Thought: "Feel a stretch in my trail side."
Instead of focusing on the club, focus on what your body is doing. A good backswing turn, done correctly in posture, will create a distinct stretch in your latissimus dorsi (lat) muscle and obliques on your trail side. If you're not feeling this stretch, there's a good chance you’re not turning correctly - you’re probably just lifting.
Ultimately, stopping the rise in your backswing is about learning the difference between lifting and turning. Your body needs to learn to rotate while maintaining the forward bend you established at address. Use the drills in this guide to make that correct feeling familiar, and then use the new swing thoughts to bring that feel to the course.
As you work on this, you'll find it can affect other parts of your game, and you might have new questions pop up. For instance, how does staying in your posture affect play from an uneven lie? That's where I've designed Caddie AI to be your 24/7 golf coach. If you're stuck on the course or practicing at home, you can get immediate, expert advice on any question you have. You can even snap a photo of a tricky lie and get a strategy in seconds. The goal is to take the guesswork out of your game so you can practice smarter, play with more confidence, and make swing changes like this one stick for good.
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