How The Hips Work In The Golf Swing

Written by Todd in Online Golf Instruction

The hips are going to make a turning motion both on the backswing and downswing.  With a full opening on the backswing and then leading the swing through on the downswing.  They serve as a power source in the golf swing and provide the stability needed to swing at golf at the highest potential speed for each golfer.

The hips are the center driving force behind most quality pivots in the golf swing.

If you examine the best golfers of all time including Ben Hogan, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead, you will find powerful, rotating hips that driver through the swing, causing the club to speed through the hitting zone.

Much of their consistency in their game can be attributed to a rather impressive pivot where the arms and hands were able to work accordingly due to a quality pivot.

If you examine poor amateur swings, you will find the oppositive.  You will find golfers who keep their hips from moving, lack a full turn backwards and through and arms that are overactive.

They struggle to create any speed or consistency due to a poor pivot with the hips.

I have studied many of the top instructors in the world and have found slightly different approaches with the hips in the golf swing.  The instructors include the following:

  • Mike Malaska
  • George Gankas
  • Monte Scheinblum

While they slightly differ from the approach on how they teach the movement, they can all agree that getting a quality movement with the hips is essential to playing quality golf.  I encourage you to dive into the information below and find what instructors best matches your communication style, physical abilities and matches your understanding of the golf swing.

How The Hips Work In The Golf Swing

Update: Using the camera on your smartphone is a great way to see the movement of your hips. My one major tip is to train in your practice session to have a proper hip rotation, but when you get out on the course, you should focus on the target or a specific external intention and not on a body part movement like “rotate the hips”

Below, I will give a brief overview of each quality instructor with a video that they have put out on youtube to give you a better understanding of how they teach the hip movement in the golf swing.

I would recommend checking out each approach and the returning to the three basic elements of a good golf swing and assessing your game:

  1. The ability to control the low point of the swing
  2. The ability to control the start line of each shot as well as the curve of the ball
  3. The ability to swing the club with enough speed to play the course.
Fred Couples has some lateral movement with his hips, but ends up clearing out.

#1 How the Hips Work: Mike Malaska

One of my all time favorite instructors is Mike Malaska.  He is someone that felt misled by the teaching of the golf swing during his most important years.  He is on a mission to simplify the golf instructional process with one that makes sense.

He is a believer in directing the momentum.  He has a unique approach to teaching the hips and ensuring they don’t move closer to the ball and cause early extension.  He believes in keeping the hips away from the ball and the hips serving as the main force that is off setting the arms speeding through the hitting zone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eC71es9XT4

#2 How the Hips Work: George Gankas

If I was a young and up and coming golfer, I would seek the advice of George Gankas.  He is someone that teaches the pivot extremely well, often resulting in increased distance, constituency and overall performance.

He takes his golfers through and gets them to make a complete turn, squat and then clear out of the way.  His approach is freshening and his ability to help golfers create club face stability through the hitting zone as a result of a solid pivot with the hips that gets rid of any stalling is impressive.

If you check out any of his teachers or his work on Instagram you will find a coach that spends a decent amount of time talking about the turn and the movements of the hips and the legs in the downswing.  The upper body and arms stay behind and become more passive as the legs and hips get into the ground and turn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxEnqs4iMDI

#3: How the Hips Work: Monte Scheinblum

Another teacher that is rather good at simplifying the golf swing.  He has some quality videos filled with helpful information on his youtube channel.  He uses a phrase called the “zipper away” to help prevent early extension and to create a proper pivot in the golf swing.

His goal is to help golfers match up the movements of the body and the movements of the arms to create a swing that is synchronized and works together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXoW93m2HcY

Common Swing Fault

A common swing fault when talking about the hips in the golf swing is when the hips extend early.  In this early extension the hips will fire too early and move towards the golf ball, creating a lack of space and a stalling motion as the club exits.

A second common swing fault is over sliding in the swing.  While most swings will have an element of lateral movement, too much movement forward eventually leads to stalling the swing and the hands and arms taking over.  Teachers like Gankas and Milo Lines do a fantastic job of teaching the continuous movement through the shot, leading to greater club face stability.

Next Steps: How The Hips Work in the Golf Swing

  • Step 1: Take a video of your swing and draw some lines.  Take note of where your hips start and end.
  • Step 2: Dive into the video above and find which instructor can best help your game.
  • Step 3: Assess your ability to control your low point, control your start line and surve and have enough speed to play the course.
  • Step 4: If you have an issue with your hips and your pivot, find some drills that are helpful!
  • Step 5: Understand the key numbers in your golf swing including: Carry distance, ball speed, spin rate, spin axis and launch angle. I would highly recommend checking out a Skytrak Launch Monitor to add to your game.

Helpful Drills and Launch Monitors

Below are some helpful drills to build a more consistent golf swing:

Drill #1: Low Point Control Dril

  • Take some yard paint and paint a 1-2 yard long line.
  • Setup with 55% of your weight on your front side.
  • Try to hit the target side of the line and see how many times out of 10 you can do this successfully!
  • Repeat this drill every day for a month, tracking your progress and your ability to to this successfully in trials of ten.
  • You may need to start with half swing and progress to full swings.

Drill #2: Develop A Stock Shot

  • At the driving range, set up an alignment stick about 6-8 yards in front of you, straight down your target line.
  • If you have a second alignment stick, set the stick 3-4 yards right of the first stick (for a draw) or left of the first stick (for a fade).
  • Complete your initial assessment and see how many times out of 10 you can start the ball to the right or left of your target.  Pick one side and measure your game at this point.
  • The goal is to eventually get 7 out of 10 shots to start to the correct side and draw back towards the target.

Drill #3: Train for Speed

Check current price on SuperSpeed Golf here!

For years people would often say, “drive for show, putt for dough” when the reality is that distance is important not only to overall scoring, but to consistency in the scoring.  Those that have the greater distance have shorter shots into greens.  This means hitting it closer on average, which results in more putts made.

There is a big difference between someone that can swing a driver 85 miles per hour vs someone swinging at 105 miles per hour.  Even an increase in 5-8 miles per hour can mean 30 yards of extra distance.  The really neat part is that recently there have been research studies on the best way to increase swing speed.

What we have learned is that overspeed training with lighter clubs can help train the mind and body to be able to swing faster.  My example is that I used to swing between 98-101 miles per hour.  After training with the SuperSpeed program I am now between 105 and 108 miles per hour.  In order to swing faster, you have to train by swing faster.  With the lightest club in the protocol by SuperSpeed, I am swinging between 122 and 129 miles per hour.  This than coverts to between 105-108 miles per hour with my actual driver when playing golfer.

The difference of 20-30 yards is important and one of the fastest ways to get better at golf.  Would you rather be hitting a 7 iron from 155 or a PW from 125 after your drive?  If you give yourself the shorter shot over the course of 18 holes, you are going to hit more greens in regulation, hit the ball closer to the hole, which then gives you a better chance of making the putt.  The formula is simple.  The important part is to start training for speed using SuperSpeed Golf and improve your speed and gain 20-40 yards.  It will make a massive difference!

Here is the training drill at the first protocol level:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrDPd2-hFuI&t=31s

Drill #4: Target Focused Drill

  • Pick your target out on the range (A flagstick, tree, yardage marker, etc.)
  • Pick a target even well beyond that target like a tree or some marker out in the distance.
  • Draw a line in your mind back to where you can pick an intermediate target about 1-2 feet in front of the ball.
  • Determine your “fight plan” (Draw, Fade or Straight Shot).
  • Go ahead and set up over the ball.
  • Focus on what shot you want to hit and where your target is.
  • Keep the target in mind and get the ball started in the direction of the target.
  • Picking a “flight plan” ahead of time will give your mind clarity in combination with the target.
  • Hit the shot and measure how many times out of 20 you are within an acceptable range of your main target.

Take Your Game To The Next Level: Get Instant Feedback Through A Launch Monitor

Now that you have the step by step guide to the golf swing and 4 drills to get you headed in the right direction, it is time to consider adding a valuable device to give you instant feedback and the ability to practice at home with a net and your launch monitor.  Start working 12 months a year on your game and you will see quick improvement.

If you visit any PGA Tour stop you will see the majority of professionals use a launch monitor at some point throughout the week . Many are monitoring their clubface, swing path relationship as well as swing speed.  These are important numbers to monitor to make sure you are keeping your swing within a certain range.

Some of the key information that you will be able to received immediately after every swing includes:

  • Ball Speed
  • Club Speed
  • Launch Angle 
  • Spin Rate
  • Spin Axis

While many won’t have $16,000 to spend on a Trackman, there are some great affordable options that can be used at your local driving range, on the golf course or in your garage or house as part of a practice area of golf simulator setup.

Here are my top 3 recommend affordable golf launch monitors:

Over time, knowing where your numbers are when you are making quality swings will help you groove a swing and become more consistent.  When you are struggling, you can use your launch monitor to see where your numbers are at.  Is it a clubface or swing path issue?  When your spin axis number is really high either way, you know there is a major gap between the two.  In the ideal world, you have a 1-3 degree difference between clubface and swing path, unless you are trying to hit a hook or slice intentionally then a bigger gap is desired.

Take Action – What You Can Do Today to Get Better

What does this mean for you?  I believe in the following recipe to get better:

1 – Improve your motion in the golf swing by identifying a golf instructor.  Here are some options:

Here is a list of golf instructors that we have reviewed:

2 – Train to swing faster and improve your swing speed.  Here are some options:

Looking to gain more Speed and Distance in your swing. Two Options:

3 – Understand course strategy and work to break through your next barrier.  Here is a series on breaking through:

We have provided guides on how to break 100, 90, 80 and 70. Check out more below, if interested.

4 – Practice Frequently

Did you know that I build a golf simulator in my garage and have played over 500 rounds of golf on my SkyTrak system?  It has been a game changer and one worth checking out. Here are some of my other posts on golf simulators frequently asked questions:

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