One of the most common questions I receive is how to stop losing the tush line, or stop standing up and losing the spine angle through impact.
This common fault in most better players is caused by spinning the hips aggressively in the downswing in a futile effort to generate clubhead speed. This inefficient motion does not add as much speed as most golfers think and simply leads to a clubhead that is approaching the ball too far from the inside and typically casted, causing the golfer to lose significant lag.
To combat this, the drills in this video show you how to make a proper move in the downswing to get the club coming down on the proper plane and path.
If you have a RotaryConnect, you will want to have it handy to begin practicing your new, powerful downswing motion while watching the video. The RotaryConnect is particularly effective for training how to use your hips for stability and learning what it feels like to properly perform the "Tiger Squat" move.
If you have struggled with losing the tush line and spine angle in the downswing, as well as lag, read on...
In this video, I discuss the proper feeling and appearance of the "Tiger Squat" move that I covered in the "Tiger Squat Move" video. This squat move is critical for slowing the rotation of the hips and activating the glutes to use the ground for leverage.
But as you will see in this video, it is also the same motion that allows you to maintain — or even move behind — the tush line for the first time ever in your golf swing! This critical move helps you sequence the downswing properly so the arms come down on plane.
In higher-handicap players, the tendency is to come over the top in the downswing by aggressively unwinding the upper body rather than just the hips. This video will help golfers who want to eliminate that dreaded over-the-top move learn what it feels like to allow the arms to drop to the inside on the downswing, or the proverbial "slot." To see how your own tush line and downswing positions compare to elite standards, try a free AI swing analysis.
In the screen capture above, I am employing the muscular contraction I discuss in the video and using the RotaryConnect to help ingrain this feeling (learn more about the RotaryConnect here). A RotaryConnect is not necessary, but it does make it easier to achieve the proper feeling of squatting and stabilizing rather than spinning the hips.
Note in the screen capture below — you can see how my head drops during the transition and early stages of the downswing, which increases the knee flex and spine angle. This is the exact opposite of losing the tush line. In fact, my rear is actually further behind the line than where it was at the top of the swing. This move has allowed me to maintain my angles while providing time for my arms to "fall" back in front of my chest.
As I move into impact, you can see that my angles are nearly exactly what they were at address, and my tush line is exactly where it started. Achieving this has allowed my arms to catch back up in front of my chest, keeping my shoulders square at impact for maximum control.
Because I have done things correctly to this point, the club is allowed to release with great speed past the body while my lower body continues to provide stability for the release of the club. You will note that during the release I have begun to move away from the tush line. It is at this point that your body will begin to straighten up and the angles no longer need to be retained.
Now let us watch the video and add this powerful move into your golf swing!
Checkpoints for Practice
A lot of golfers move their hips forward, away from the "tush line" during the downswing - hip spinning is usually to blame
Fix the problem by squatting at the top of the downswing to increase angles & anchor you to the ground
A RotaryConnect can also help you learn not to bring the right knee in
Drill: Go to the top of the swing, squat into the left side, come down into impact & check alignment
Video Transcription: Losing the Tush Line
Losing the tush line on the downswing is a really common problem that many golfers struggle with. They do not understand why it happens, and they do not understand how to fix it. In reality, it is a very simple fix.
It takes practice to change, just like everything else, but it is very straightforward to understand what causes it. For 99 percent of golfers, it involves spinning their hips. Let us look at what that looks like when done incorrectly and we lose the tush line.
First, let us understand what the tush line is. If you imagine dropping a straight line — as you can see in the background, the black piece of wood represents a line drawn straight down from my hip or the back of my rear — as I go into my downswing, many golfers move away from it because they push off the trail side.
That pushes the hip under and toward the target line. Notice now my hip, instead of being back in position, has moved forward. I stand up and lose my spine angle. It tends to leave me coming too far from the inside, and it is also very hard on the back.
How do we fix this? The key is to do the exact opposite. Instead of rotating — which causes your body to try and create a straight-line condition (that is why you lose all your angles and stand up out of it, because your body, when you start twisting it, tries to straighten up and cannot maintain those angles) — what you need to feel is a squat move.
As we go to the top of the swing, I am actually going to increase my angle, and my hips are actually going to move further back as I leverage the ground, pushing my feet into the ground. As I pull my arms down to release, I have no problem keeping my tush line where I started at address. If I start spinning my hips, I am going to move away from it. For real-time coaching on your tush line and downswing sequencing, try a free AI golf lesson.
A simple fix for this: use a RotaryConnect. Simply place it above your knees. When you are working on this, what you want to feel is that as you squat down, you do not try to move your trail knee or lift the trail foot off the ground. It is going to feel somewhat awkward with this on, but now you have a really stable base to release the golf club without spinning your hips.
That is what this device is really helpful for with the lower body. As we go to the top, we are going to squat down, release the club, and now you can tell that I have not spun my hips because my trail knee is not moving in closer to the lead. My trail foot is still down on the ground, the inside of the trail foot.
This is keeping it from drifting inward toward the lead. Use this device to hit balls until you get comfortable with having your hips provide stability, and get comfortable with the squat move as you start down rather than spinning.
The simplest way to do this is to go to the top of the swing and just practice squatting into both feet — squatting into the lead side — and then start bringing the club down. Stop at impact and check your alignments.
You should find that if you are spinning, you will still lose your spine angle. But if you squat and then maintain and try to get into these impact alignments, you will maintain that tush line throughout the entire golf swing until you get into the follow-through.
The RotaryConnect makes it simple to feel the proper movement of the lower body in the downswing and helps teach you how to fully release the club through impact.
Losing the tush line
Squat to maintain angle
Use the RotaryConnect
Practice squatting into the left side
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The RotaryConnect makes it simple to feel the proper movement of the lower body in the downswing and helps teach you how to fully release the club through impact.
Losing the tush line
Squat to maintain angle
Use the RotaryConnect
Practice squatting into the left side
