The Importance of
Hip Rotation in the Golf Swing
by Rick
Hendershot
There are almost as many
theories about the golf swing as there are instructors. And one of the least
understood aspects of the swing is the rotation of the hips to an
"open" position just before impact.
"Clear
Your Hips"
Most contemporary golf instructors believe it is necessary to "clear your
hips just before the point of impact" in order to get your hips out of the
way of your hands. According to this theory, if you don't "clear your
hips" your hands and arms will be impeded and will not be able to attack
the ball with power.
This is sometimes used as an explanation for why an overly "vertical"
stance is not a good thing. According to this line of thinking, when you stand
too close to the ball your hands will not be able to make a clean pass in front
of your body because on the way down your hips will get in the way.
Flaws in
Current Thinking
But while hip rotation is very important to the effectiveness of the golf swing,
it is not because the hips are in the way of anything. In fact I can't see that
this idea of "clearing the hips" makes much sense. Your hips are not
in the way of your hands. In fact, rotating your hips towards the target pushes
your backside out further towards your hands and puts your hips more in the way
than if you did not rotate them.
Most of us -- whether we rotate a lot or not -- are not in the habit of hitting
our hips with our hands when we swing our golf clubs. The reason is simple: our
hips do not get in the way of our swing, and to suggest this as an explanation
of the importance of hip rotation is just plain misleading.
Rotating
Your Hips
In my own research, on the course and in my basement "lab", I have
found that hip rotation does indeed put the club on a more powerful, more direct
path to the ball coming into the point of impact. But as far as I can tell, this
has very little to do with getting your hips out of the way of your hands.
What happens when you rotate your hips is that this allows you to get your
shoulders and arms in the optimal power position. This happens because your
upper body and lower body move in a synchronized way. In the golf swing, as in
most other movements involving the human body, your upper body, including your
shoulders and arms, moves in harmony with and in response to the movement of
your lower body -- your hips and legs.
Think of a power hitter in baseball. Those classic photographs of Ted Williams,
Hank Aaron, Reggie Jackson or Barry Bonds making contact with the ball always
tell the same story. Their arms are fully extended, hips are rotated to an open
position, head is back, and they are perfectly balanced with most of their
weight now centered over their front leg and hip. In fact they have used their
front leg and hip as a pivot around which their upper body has rotated. Take
that pivot away -- swing with just your shoulders and arms -- and you're left
with a much less fluid, much less coordinated, and much less powerful swing.
Hip
Rotation in the Golf Swing
In the golf swing this connection of upper and lower body is less obvious
because the golf swing is a combination of vertical and horizontal. But the
principle is the same. The rotation of the hips pulls your upper torso around
and gets your lead shoulder into the correct position (the left shoulder in the
case of a right hander) at the point of impact. Ben Hogan described this hip
movement as a matter of throwing your lead hip around and back against the wall
-- one of the most useful images in all of golf instruction.
Simple
Exercise
Try it in slow motion. Place your club head along the swing path about
18"-24" behind the ball (on the inside/out arc). Make sure your lead
hand and arm are straightened as they should be in the impact position. Now
rotate your hips so the club head moves towards the ball (keeping your hands and
arms locked in the previous position).
Notice that when your club head reaches the ball, your hips will be
"cleared", and your lead shoulder will be rotated as well. Your lead
arm will be in the correct "power position" with the arm and club
shaft forming a more or less straight line down to the ball.
Now pick your club up and swing it more horizontally like a baseball bat. If you
have had any baseball training at all, your hips will just naturally lead the
swing and your shoulders, arms and "bat" will follow.
In fact trying to make an "all-arms" swing without hip rotation will
feel awkward and unsynchronized. Your arms will not be able to follow the
momentum that wants to carry them around to a natural finish. This is why
golfers who do not "finish" their swing by rotating their lower body
will often snap the club back to the starting position.
The basic principle here is one taught by golf teachers since teachers first
started analyzing the swing: upper body follows lower body. Coming to a better
appreciation of this principle can only have a positive impact on your golf
swing.
Rick Hendershot publishes InternetGolfReview.com
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