True of False? The hips should slide laterally toward the
target during the downswing.
“True?”... “False?”…
Golfers fear “sliding” or “swaying their hips toward the
target to initiate the downswing… and rightfully so! Many golfers overdo the
lateral movement leading to problems! Such as:
LOWER ball flight (as in too low!)…
LOWER BALL flight that GOES RIGHT (for a right handed
golfer)…
TOPPED shots…
DIVOT that happens TOO FAR FORWARD of the ball…
POOR ball contact...
STEEP divots...
LITTLE or NO BODY PIVOT… translated: DISTANCE LOSS!
(ugh!)
As an instructor, I see this quite a bit in juniors and
long-ball hitters, often caused by the obsession with distance (none of us
adults obsess about distance… do we!?!?). In effort to get more distance they
slide their hips aggressively toward the target… sometimes overdoing it and
resulting in one or more of the shots mentioned above.
BUT…
The hips DO slide! Limiting forward hip movement limits a
key power move. Try throwing a ball by just rotating your hips with no forward
movement and you’ll see what I mean.
Check out this quick video by Jim McLean commenting on Ben
Hogan’s hip movement:
Check out the pictures below. The white lines indicate where
the hips were at Address…
 |
| Aaron Baddeley at Impact with Hybrid |
 |
| Freddy Couples at Impact with Driver |
 |
| Ted Eleftheriou at Address |
 |
| Ted Eleftheriou at Impact |
(For those of you who don’t know who Ted Eleftheriou is… sigh…)
Here’s another video this time of Luke Donald… you know… the World’s
Top Ranking Golfer! Check out the drill he’s performing. I’m guessing
he’s working on a bit of hip “bump.”
Wow! As in WOW!!
So…
Allow the hips to move laterally toward the target and
toward the left heel as you transition from the top of the swing to the
downswing.
Try this:
At address position, place a bag stand, umbrella, club
shaft, or something that’s about hip high… outside of your target-side hip
(left hip for right-handed golfers). The position should be right up against
and outside of the target-side foot. If placed correctly, you’ll have about
three to four inches of space between the object and your hip.
Now… without a ball… take the club to the top of your
backswing… and like Luke in the video above (maybe not as exaggerated… then
again… maybe so!), s-l-o-w-l-y start the downswing by laterally moving the hips
and “bump” the object before pivoting to impact position. Do this several time.
Now remove the object (so you don’t impale yourself and up
in the Emergency Room!), hit some half shots. Hold the finish position and
check to see that your hip is over the target-side leg and you can feel your
weight transferring to heel of your target-side foot.
Eventually work this move into your full swing.
When doing this drill… although the hips move laterally
toward the target… the head should remain back and over the ball at impact
position. Review Luke Donald’s video. Notice how his head doesn’t move forward?
If your head moves forward past the ball at impact… you’ll most likely
experience one or more of the miss-hits mentioned at the beginning of this
post.
If done correctly… you’re shots will start a bit lower but
then climb to a nice trajectory (known as “tour flight”). You’ll also probably
gain a few yards! Yay!
Let me know how it goes!!
Peace… Love… Golf!
Ted
BTW… the answer to the “True” or “False” questions is…
“TRUE!”
5 comments:
Thanks for the information. I learned quite a bit from your article.
Golfers
But how to intiate this hip slide? I have difficulty doing that. Is there any drill?
In any sport or game, there is always that most avoided move, you know, cause for sure it'll ruin the whole routine. It's, I think, a fact rather than a hearsay cause I also tried several shot without considering that it'll affect my overall golf experience but then, I learn how to coordinate and to somehow mix it up to better my shots. The same as playing some casino games, you need to have some techniques to keep yourself alive in the game.
this was awesome tip... i was driving the ball around 290 my first year golfing and this was just shear luck that i had this kind of power swing. i didnt realize what was causing my distance at the time until now. its been 4 yrs now and i am hitting it 250ish where as i use to lick my chops when i seen a 300yd par 4! But i read this article and went to the range and it all fell back into place. BAM the good ole days r back. thank you very much for this tip. i am 5'5 so you dont need to have a really wide arch to pound it 300yds although it does help make it easier. ;)
I'm quite not sure about the "should-be" stance they've got to make the right shot in golf. But whatever it is, the golfers just have to make sure that they not hurt themselves upon doing so, it's for their own sake and safety too.
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