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.
The best AI golf app: Caddie is your personal AI golf coach. Get expert-level golf advice instantly, 24/7 to help you play like a pro. Try it free →
Understanding the 'Lift': Why Rising Up Happens
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.
1. An Incorrect Swing Concept
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."
2. Physical Limitations
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.
3. Lack of Glute and Core Engagement
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.
Get pro-level golf advice instantly, 24/7
Ask Caddie anything. From “what club should I use?” to “how do I play this shot?” and get instant answers.
The Steep Price of Standing Up: How It Hurts Your Game
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.
Epicenter of Inconsistent Contact: This is the number one issue. If you change your height in the backswing by standing up, you have to find a way to get back down to the original ball level on the downswing. This requires incredible timing and introduces a massive variable. Most of the time, this results in topped or thinned shots because you don't get all the way back down. Sometimes, you overcompensate and dip too much, resulting in a chunked shot.
Massive Power Leaks: A proper golf swing generates power by coiling and uncoiling like a spring. You create tension by turning your upper body against a stable lower body while maintaining your spine angle. When you stand up, you release this tension prematurely. All that stored energy just dissipates. You're effectively uncoiling the spring a little bit at the top instead of saving all that energy for the downswing.
A Wrecked Swing Plane: When you rise up, your arms and club are forced to lift too vertically or get pulled drastically inside your body. This throws the club completely off plane. From this position, the only way to get back to the ball is with major compensations, often leading to a steep, "over-the-top" swing that causes a slice, or a swing that gets stuck behind you, leading to hooks.
Step-by-Step Fixes: How to Stop Rising Up
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.
Find a wall and get into your normal golf posture, about six inches away from it.
Tilt forward until the front of your forehead is gently touching the wall.
Now, make a slow-motion backswing. The goal is simple: keep your forehead on the wall the entire time.
If you rise up, your head will immediately pull away from the wall. You need to focus on turning your hips and shoulders so that you feel a slight pressure shift in your head's contact point, but you should never lose contact completely. This forces you to rotate around your spine instead of lifting away from the ball.
Drill #2: The Shaft-Across-the-Shoulders Turn
This drill helps you see what a proper turn looks like and disconnects your brain from thinking about the club and ball.
Take a golf club and hold it across your chest, resting it on your collarbones and shoulders.
Get into your golf posture.
Now, "swing" back by rotating your torso. Watch the ends of the club shaft. In a good turn where you maintain your posture, the butt end of the club (the one by your lead shoulder) should point down at the ground, roughly where a ball would be.
If you rise up, you'll see the shaft level out and become almost parallel to the ground. That visual cue is instant feedback that you’ve lost your spine angle. Your goal is to keep that club pointed down.
Drill #3: The Rear-End-on-the-Wall Drill
This is another fantastic drill for feeling how your lower body should work and how to maintain depth in your hips.
Set up with your rear end just barely touching a wall or a sturdy golf bag.
As you make your backswing, your goal is to have your trail hip (your right hip for a righty) maintain contact and slide a little deeper along the wall.
If you stand up, your butt will pull away from the wall immediately. Your "swing thought" here is to feel your trail hip working back and a bit deeper, which helps you stay in your posture and properly load into that hip for a powerful downswing.
Plan every shot like a pro
Describe your situation and Caddie AI helps you pick your target, shot shape, and club with confidence.
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.
Play Golf like a Pro with Caddie
Learn and improve your golf game as you play. Get pro-level tips, strategy and guidance anytime.
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.
Spencer has been playing golf since he was a kid and has spent a lifetime chasing improvement. With over a decade of experience building successful tech products, he combined his love for golf and startups to create Caddie AI - the world's best AI golf app. Giving everyone an expert level coach in your pocket, available 24/7. Caddie's mission is simple: make world-class golf advice accessible to everyone, anytime.
Other posts you might like
How to Fix Loose Golf Bag Legs
A golf bag with wobbly, unreliable legs is one of the most frustrating little problems in golf. That slight wobble, the leg that won’t quite retract, or the unnerving feeling that your entire set of clubs might just topple over - it’s a distraction you simply don’t need. This guide will walk you through diagnosing the exact problem with your bag and provide clear, step-by-step instructions on how to fix it, so you can get back to focusing on your game, not your gear.
Your golf irons are the workhorses of your bag. They’re called on for everything from powerful approach shots to delicate finesse shots around the green, and they take a real beating every time you play. This guide gives you a simple, effective routine for cleaning and maintaining your irons to preserve their performance, extend their lifespan, and give you more confidence over every shot.
A weak or collapsing left arm in the golf swing is a surefire way to lose both power and consistency. If you feel like your lead arm turns into a wet noodle at the top of your backswing or through impact, leading to slices and frustratingly thin shots, you’ve come to the right place. This guide will walk you through understanding the role of your left arm (for a right-handed golfer), drills to train its proper movement, and specific exercises to build the supporting strength you need to maintain structure from takeaway to finish.
Your golf grips are the only connection you have to the club, a fact that’s incredibly easy to forget. But when they become slick with dirt and body oils, you instinctively squeeze harder, creating a ripple of tension that destroys an otherwise smooth, powerful swing. This guide will walk you through exactly how to maintain your grips, showing you the simple cleaning routine that restores tackiness and the clear signs that tell you when it’s finally time for a replacement.
Setting your wrists correctly unlocks one of the most significant sources of power in the golf swing, yet for many players, it remains a total mystery. It's often where speed is lost and where inconsistency begins. This guide will walk you through exactly what a proper wrist set is, when it should happen, and how you can ingrain it into your swing for effortless power and precision. We will cover why it matters, how to do it step-by-step, and simple drills to make this complex move feel second nature.
Organizing a great golf tournament comes down to methodical planning and a focus on the player experience. Whether it's a hundred-person charity fundraiser or a casual outing for your twenty best clients, the same core principles apply. This guide will walk you through a step-by-step process, from the initial idea to the final awards presentation, giving you a clear roadmap to create a memorable and successful event.
