How to Correctly Use Your Hips in the Golf Swing

A good golf swing requires your entire body to work together as one unit. This will include correct posture, hands, and wrists positioning as well as hip placement. However, average golfers often overlook working on their hips.

Correctly using your hips generates energy in your golf swing. Being in your core area makes them useful when providing power to both the bottom and upper parts of your body. They are a source of power, precision, and direction.

Timing

The key is timing when to use them. Amateur golfers disregard this hence no gain is achieved. You should aim to create flexion by using your hips to drive towards the back. Maintaining this thrust without altering your aim during the backswing is paramount in realizing an efficient impact position.

Shift and Turn

When about to strike, your hips should be relatively still and stable. Your entire bottom body should only emphasize on reinforcing the upper body during the swing. During your downswing, get your hips forward as you turn. This swift motion shifts pressure forward hence better strike of the golf ball.

Create Dissociation

Dissociation is the ability of your lower body moving in one direction while the upper body remains still or moves in the other direction. When you get to the top of the backswing, on your transition to the downswing, you should not spin your hips and torso. The best golf players get to the top of their backswing then during the transition, the lower body starts to rotate while the upper body turn is delayed. Subsequently, the upper body comes in as a result of the lower body eventually pulling it through. The attack angle and club path are therefore improved. Maintaining a good angle and path leads to a sharper delivery.

Rotate Your Hips

Hip rotation is not a weight shift but rather a pivot that builds pressure in the right foot. A smooth rotation must be sustained when swinging your club without swaying. Swaying will cause a weird tilt in your spine angle thus restricts you from fully rotating during the downsizing.

When hips are shifted correctly towards the subject it creates a side bend on the body which helps the club get on the plane and work towards the subject.

Fixing your left heel (for right-handed golfers) firmly to the ground prevents early extension. This is the loss of posture as the hips thrust towards the target and upper body rises, resulting in the right foot and right hip-thrusting towards the target. As you start your downswing, refrain from thrusting towards the golf ball and shift the lower body towards the target. When done right the weight is shifted, and you can rotate smoothly and get a much stronger hit.

Through devoted practice, proper hip rotation and movement will be optimized resulting in more powerful strokes in a target direction.