Most golfers never realize this…
Your inconsistency off the tee? Your wild ball flights? That “something’s off” feeling mid-swing? It’s not just your grip or takeaway — it’s your SPINE ANGLE.
In this video, Mike Granato & Shaun Webb from Athletic Motion Golf break down what we call the “Cheat Code for Consistency” — the virtual spine angle. Using Gears 3D motion capture, we’ll show you what a true neutral spine looks like from both a 3D and 2D camera view, and why 90 degrees is the magic number at the top of your swing.
If you’re over-tilted and steep, or leaning too far away and shallow — you’re robbing yourself of rotation, efficiency, and long-term back health. We’ll walk you through exactly how to correct your spine tilt, control your rib cage motion, and visualize your swing using our “tennis ball pivot” method.
If you’ve ever felt stuck trying to “stay on plane,” hitting blocks, hooks, or just not striking the ball solidly — this video will show you why your spinal pivot is your swing’s foundation.
👉 Watch closely. Film your own swing. Then rewatch this video with that frame of reference. It’ll change your swing forever.
🎁 FREE Golf Drill Here: 🎁
Make your BEST swing your NORMAL swing with our #1 Consistency Drill: https://athleticmotiongolf.com/consistency
YouTube Chapters:
0:00 – Intro: The Cheat Code for Consistency
0:21 – What Is the Virtual Spine?
0:56 – 3D vs 2D Spine Angle: What You Need to Know
1:13 – Understanding Re-centering and Pelvic Motion
1:40 – Common Mistake: Leaning Toward Target
2:23 – Benefits of 90° Neutral Spine
3:11 – How It Looks on Video vs 3D
3:55 – What NOT to Do: Reverse Spine Angle
4:17 – Visualizing the Tennis Ball Pivot
5:19 – Left Shoulder Misconceptions
6:01 – The Back Breaker Swings
7:48 – Shoulders and Rib Cage Plane
8:36 – Setting the Correct Shoulder Trajectory
9:42 – Fixing Your Spine Angle at Home
10:15 – Final Thoughts: Make the Pivot, Build the Consistency
#golf #pga #athleticmotiongolf #amg #golftips #improvegolfswing
27 Comments
Isn't lateral bend an important consideration when measuring angles at setup, at the top, and at impact?
This is money!
2D distraction is a factor for old-school teachers.
The thing is, The stance gives you the required tilt and shoulder path, cause you are bent over towards the ball.
6:16 Poor example, Shaun Shawn, dunno, tilts towards the target as if he was Stack’n Tilt, which I think you are not very fond of.
Issue for me is that all the dry drills without hitting a ball I can do it perfectly. Club across chest and I can turn easily 90 degrees and overall this drill I look like Rory Mciroy 🙂 . But as Soon I have a club in the hand and need to hit a ball, everything is gone.
Do you ever teach for the position to get to on the backswing, stand tall, rotate 90 then forward bend into posture? Seem to me gets my lead shoulder a little further to my right than in my swing. I get a little short and hit slightest pull on my bad swings…
Great thanks….wish driver got mentioned because there is those key differences with the head and shoulders at the top and transition.
Also: May I please request that every time you show a wrong move you consistently put the ❌ on it and a right move gets the ✅ consistently…this makes it easier for young people to follow sans mom trolling that there is a lot of negative/wrong stuff shown that could confuse.
Integral to avoiding back problems is to setup with a “ normal spine “. This means setting up so that the lumbar spine ( lower) has a small amount of inward curvature( lordosis )
,the thoracic spine( middle) has some outward curvature and the cervical spine( neck ) has some inward curvature and that the three parts of the spine are ALIGNED
VERTICALLY. ( no scoliosis or side to side curvature of the spine
This posture will minimize stress on the discs and help to avoid or delay disc deterioration .
Some younger touring pros setup wWITHOUT these curves in their spine and have been successful for a period of time . But eventually after large numbers of rotation , they will develop back issues .
Jason DAY , Jack Nicklaus , Tiger woods and Retief Goosen are among many who developed back problems requiring serious medical intervention .
Stack and tilt doesn’t work!!! This is proof of that!!!!
I sound like an old broken record – great video!!!
I’ve had a lot of problems with reverse pivot, I have to feel like I exaggerate turning my upper body away from target to get more neutral… but that’s personal, different feels for everybody, not an easy game for sure 😊
Thanks so much for relating how 3D GEARS measurements equate to what we can see when reviewing our own swings on video. That is super helpful! Great stuff, guys!
🎁 FREE Golf Drill Here: 🎁
Make your BEST swing your NORMAL swing with our #1 Consistency Drill: https://athleticmotiongolf.com/consistency
Because i have a problem with moving off the ball i have definitely been down this route 🙃 nice video
Now show what the tennis ball is allowed to do on the recentering move.
Is this the same with driver
Great stuff guys. I was just watching some stuff about (Wild) Bill Mehlhorn who Hogan apparently said was the best tee to green that had ever seen. Unusual swing by today's standards but he was SO about the centered rotation of the spine and the up and down motion of the club and arms mixed with that rotation. I always notice that it seems that the more successful a ball striker is, the more the core of their swing manifests a free-flowing centered rotation of the upper body in the bottom half of their motion. Cheers.
This will make the golf swing easier on the back. Good stuff!
Love these videos with the live gears sessions!
excellent video
A few weeks ago you posted a video where you said that one of your favorite backswing thoughts is to move the center of the pelvis away from the left hip. If you then let the upper body "come along for the ride", meaning to keep it relaxed, does this naturally put you into the right upper body position without the reverse spine angle risk you describe here in this video? Or do you still need to actively rotate the upper body with the tennis ball logic applied? Thanks, great video as always!!!
Any chance the swing coach app is coming to android this winter or should I buy an Iphone?
How does this relate to wanting to increase moment arm? (via TPI)
Said it before and I’ll say it again…your spine is on your back! Read that again, y’all 😉 Man, the arguments I’ve been in over this with coaches that think drawing a line down the center of the torso is representative of the spine from face on 😤
So would I be correct in saying the tennis ball should stay in the middle throughout the backswing?
What vid is the follow on for this in the downswing? I've got a tendency for a reverse pivot and then crash down over the top with my spine tilted towards target at impact, what's the correct position
The tennis 🎾 visual is money. Been hitting it fat for ages and this visual (and hundreds of reps) has improved my ball striking dramatically. Thanks Shaun and Mike!