Teaching yourself to achieve the perfect golf swing setup every single time — that is what "Five Minutes to the Perfect Setup" is all about.
This is a comprehensive review of material that has been covered previously in individual lessons. Now we are going to provide a complete sequence of exercises as a structured drill for you to practice repeatedly.
Once you have accumulated all the repetitions you need — 15 minutes a day for one month — you will not know any other way to set up to a golf ball, and that is exactly the goal.
Rock Forward, Rock Back
First things first. With your eyes open, you are going to sway forward onto your toes, then rock back onto your heels.
Perform this five times with your eyes open — rock forward, then rock back, five times.
After the fifth repetition, do the same exercise with your eyes closed. Rock forward, then rock back, keeping your eyes closed throughout.
You want to pay close attention to the sensations in your feet.
Feel your heels and feel your toes. Feel the distribution of weight shifting between them. Then, on the final repetition, allow yourself to settle into your natural balance point.
You should notice that you have settled in slightly over your ankles, and you should feel relaxed and centered at this point.
Shrug Shoulders, Depress Shoulders
Now that you are balanced, you need to connect to your core and get "in the box." This is a key step for establishing proper posture in your golf swing setup.
Shrug your shoulders up to your ears. Feel all the muscles in your neck tighten, then pull your shoulders straight down.
Once again, you will perform this five times with your eyes open.
With each repetition, try to feel and become aware of all those back and shoulder muscles that you may not have even realized you had.
You are trying to activate those muscles in your back so you will be able to recognize when your posture is wrong and when it is right.
Now repeat the same exercise with your eyes closed. Get your shoulder blades moving, feel your back muscles engage, and start to activate those core muscles.
Make sure your belly is pulled in.
By now you have completed 10 reps, so you should be starting to feel that your muscles are genuinely engaged.
Hinge from the Hip
For the third exercise, you are going to hinge forward from the hip. This is an essential step in achieving proper spine tilt in your golf setup.
Let your weight drop slightly back onto your heels, relax your knees, and let your arms hang down naturally.
Stay in the box as you bow forward.
Now repeat — bow forward and let your weight drop back. Pay attention to where your weight goes on your feet.
Again, relax your knees, stay in the box, and let your arms hang forward.
Repeat this exercise a total of five times with your eyes open. Concentrate on feeling every detail of the movement.
Now repeat the exercise with your eyes closed, paying close attention to where your weight is distributed.
You may need to move more slowly at first when your eyes are closed.
Hinge your body forward and let your hips drop back behind you so your weight settles over your ankles. Relax your knees and let your arms hang down.
As you go through the motions with your eyes closed, feel exactly where your weight is resting. Let your arms hang naturally and practice maintaining good balance. Make sure you can feel your muscles engaging throughout.
Lean Inside the Ankles, Rock Forward, Rock Back
In the fourth exercise, you are going to get yourself anchored to the ground. This is a critical step in achieving balance and stability in the golf swing setup.
Roll your ankles slightly to the inside. Do not move your knees — just roll your ankles slightly inward.
Once you are in good posture, rock forward onto your toes, and then rock back.
At address, many golfers tend to be out on their toes, simply as a result of ingrained bad habits. If this applies to you, as you go through this exercise you are going to discover a point where you feel significantly more relaxed, balanced, and athletic.
Again you will perform this five times with your eyes open, and five times with your eyes closed to allow your mind to activate its kinesthetic awareness — the physical awareness of your body's position and balance.
When you do the exercises with your eyes closed, you will find it very easy to detect when you are off balance in either direction.
Many golfers tend to drift out onto their toes, and this exercise will immediately highlight that tendency. To see how your balance and setup fundamentals compare to an elite benchmark, try a free AI swing analysis.
Hip Bump/Axis Tilt
Now you are in good posture, you are in the box, and everything is positioned well. The only thing remaining is your hands — you cannot quite reach the club.
It is time to add that small axis tilt hip bump to your setup.
This will slightly adjust the position of your hands, allowing you to get your trail hand on the club more naturally, and place you in a better overall address position.
Once again, repeat the movements — a small hip bump, a small amount of axis tilt — five times with your eyes open and five times with your eyes closed.
Just add a slight bump. You will notice a little more weight settling into your lead hip as you achieve proper setup posture.
Practice, Practice, Practice
This routine will allow you to achieve the perfect golf swing setup every single time. Simply repeat the drills as follows:
Each set consists of 5 reps eyes open, 5 reps eyes closed.
- Rock Forward, Rock Back
- Shrug Shoulders, Depress Shoulders
- Hinge from the Hip
- Lean Inside the Ankles, Rock Forward, Rock Back
- Hip Bump/Axis Tilt
Repeat 2 more times
Perform this sequence five days a week, and you will have accumulated 1,000 repetitions in one month. After that month of dedicated drills, you will set up this way by default — it will become your natural golf setup.
It should take you approximately 15 minutes to go through all the drills and repetitions.
If you commit to this for a month, your body and brain will develop the muscle memory and kinesthetic awareness needed to activate the correct muscles so you set up perfectly every single time. For real-time coaching on your setup and swing mechanics, try a free AI golf lesson that evaluates your form.
This will allow you to get into a great setup position every time, and give you a much better foundation for building a powerful, consistent golf swing.
Watch part 2 now to see how you're moving your body in the opposite direction of the pros!
Rock forward, then rock back
Shrug your shoulders, then depress your shoulders to "get in the box"
Bow forward, then hinge from the hip to get into your golf swing setup positon
Lean inside your ankles, rock forward, then rock back to get anchored and balanced in your golf setup
Final step: Add the hip bump and axis tilt. We call this the secret to the perfect golf setup
