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Tyler Ferrell is the only person in the world named to Golf Digest's list of Best
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How To Use Your Hips In The Golf Swing
One of the most common questions I hear from my students is, "How do I use my hips in the golf swing?" While this is somewhat of a broad topic, it can be a trouble spot for many players given the variety of lower-body swing faults that exist; golfers may struggle with sway/slide patterns, early extension, a lack of rotation at impact, and so forth.
Thankfully, I have found this walkthrough useful for players looking to better understand how we interact with the ground AND how to train the proper lower-body patterns. To do this, we will use (1) key checkpoint in transition and a couple different "feels" related to the timing/rhythm of our pressure shift.
Overall, we want to increase the awareness for how we load the lower-body, so that we can use rotation to improve sequencing, timing, and our overall swing consistency.
One of the most common questions I hear from my students is, "How do I use my hips in the golf swing?" While this is somewhat of a broad topic, it can be a trouble spot for many players given the variety of lower-body swing faults that exist; golfers may struggle with sway/slide patterns, early extension, a lack of rotation at impact, and so forth.
Thankfully, I have found this walkthrough useful for players looking to better understand how we interact with the ground AND how to train the proper lower-body patterns. To do this, we will use (1) key checkpoint in transition and a couple different "feels" related to the timing/rhythm of our pressure shift.
Overall, we want to increase the awareness for how we load the lower-body, so that we can use rotation to improve sequencing, timing, and our overall swing consistency.
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Video Transcript
WEBVTT
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(upbeat music)
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In this video, we're gonna discuss
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how to use your hips in the golf swing.
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That's one of the common issues that a lot of golfers
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come into my lessons complaining about.
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My hips aren't open, I'm just swinging all arms.
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Well, in this video, I'm gonna give you
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a couple different ways to approach how to use your hips.
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One's gonna be a checkpoint.
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I always think it's helpful to have checkpoints
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so that you don't have to just rely on feels,
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but feels can be helpful.
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So in addition to the checkpoint,
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I'm gonna give you a couple different ways
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to feel your hips.
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So the first checkpoint I'm gonna give you,
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we're gonna use this down the line camera angle.
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So when golfers are using their lower body
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or using their hips,
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there's a couple different directions
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I could be applying forces into the ground.
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So I could either be twisting my body like this,
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or I could be pushing vertically,
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or I could be pushing side to side.
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We're gonna focus on two major ones,
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which is focusing on rotation and vertical.
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So some golfers do use their hips,
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but they do so just vertically.
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They tend to push more up just like so.
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Now that can be powerful.
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So these golfers don't always complain about,
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oh, I don't hit it anywhere.
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But what can happen is if I'm overly vertical,
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then I really have to use just my arms and shoulders
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to get the hands ahead and get solid contact.
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The other thing is when I tend to go more vertical,
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it's hard to get my chest open
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and create more of this flat spot at the bottom of the swing.
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So then what happens is the club passes my chest down
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at the bottom and the club face tends to close quickly.
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So I might struggle with more pull shots and pull hooks
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or in fearing that kind of have more of a scoop style release
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and hit big shots off to the right.
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So we wanna get a blend of some of this vertical motion,
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but we also wanna get some of this rotational movement.
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It's usually the rotational movement
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that messes up golfers.
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So I'm gonna give you two quick little prerequisites.
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If you're gonna try to get your lower body more open,
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then your arms have to work a little bit shallower.
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So they can't work straight up and down.
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They have to work a little bit more out in front
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of your body or more shallow.
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And the club face will have to be more closed
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in order to allow for the body getting open
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and not hit it way off to the right.
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But when we talk about using this lower body,
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let's start with this checkpoint.
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So as a quick checkpoint,
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I want you to go up to the top of your swing
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and while your chest is still facing towards the back camera
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or the down the line.
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So my back is still towards the target.
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I'm going to try to get my thighs
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so that they're back to parallel to the stick on the ground.
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So while the club is up here,
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I'm going to try to get my thighs parallel
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to where the stick is on the ground.
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Now my arms are gonna come down some,
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but they're gonna be led by my body.
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Instead of what some golfers or most golfers
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who struggle with using their lower body might feel
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is that when they try to get their lower body
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to turn open, the club is already getting way down here.
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So already getting down to shaft parallel.
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I wanna try to get my thighs back to parallel
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before this left arm breaks parallel to the ground.
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That's gonna be a challenge for some of you,
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but that's gonna give you a feeling
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of using your lower body
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or it's a checkpoint of using your lower body.
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To get the feeling, you notice when I describe this,
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I often talk about using the lower body,
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not just the hips.
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I find that a lot of golfers concepts
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is that they need to turn their hips just like so,
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but I want to engage the whole lower body.
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I wanna use my legs, I wanna use my knees,
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I wanna use my ankles as well as my hips.
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And so we're gonna do a little kind of rhythmic drill
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where I'm basically going to turn my hips
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so that my pelvis points to the right,
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my right leg straightens and my left leg bends.
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Now my right leg isn't getting fully straight
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and I'm not getting onto the outside of the heel.
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My right foot is staying flat against the ground
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or even rolled in on the inside a little bit,
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but my hip is working backward and up kind of like this.
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In order for my hip to work backward and up,
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my right leg's gonna straighten some.
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And in order for the left hip to match it,
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my left leg is going to bend some.
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But my left leg isn't gonna move too far laterally.
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It's gonna work more rotationally,
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which will bring it kind of out towards the golf ball,
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but not crossing way past it.
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So I'm gonna get this little rotation here
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on the backswing and then I'm gonna do
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the opposite in the downswing.
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So if I hold my arms out and try to keep my chest square
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to this stick, now I can let my knees, my hips, my ankles
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control some of this rotation.
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Now I have a feeling of not just turning my hips
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but doing so rhythmically with a little bit
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of a pressure shift just like this.
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So now I'm gonna tie that into that checkpoint drill
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we did at the beginning of the video.
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So now I'm gonna go up to the top of the swing.
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I'm going to load the right and then load the left.
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Load the right, load the left.
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So now I'm getting this feeling of not just turning my hips
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but shifting pressure into my left side
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and straightening that left leg to bring my weight
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more towards the heel as my lower body is rotating.
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So it has much more of this rhythmic feel to it
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instead of just kind of a positional feel.
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So oftentimes that's the place where I start golfers
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in trying to get their lower body a little bit more active
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or trying to get their hips more involved in the golf swing.
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If I get to that point, if I get to that checkpoint
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and then I just continue with my body
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I'm naturally gonna get my hips into an open position.
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A rough checkpoint would be at impact
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having your pelvis or your hips pointing more
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about 45 degrees out in front of the golf ball,
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30 to 45 degrees somewhere in that zone.
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But if I get my arms pulling down
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and my hips haven't gotten open early enough
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there's no way that I'm gonna quickly get my hips open
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as fast as the club is moving down to the bottom.
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So using your hips in the downswing,
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first let's take a look from my point of view.
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Let's take a look at that first checkpoint.
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So if I go up to the top of the swing
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by the, you'll see that the arms aren't even coming into view
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but you can maybe see by my left arm my thighs
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are quickly getting back to this parallel position.
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So first one, we're gonna try and pump that a couple times.
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So we're gonna go up to the top of swing, pump that one,
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pump that two and just kind of feel that movement.
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Now you can either do a nice easy swing after that.
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So basically get up there, pump, pump,
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nice easy little swing just kind of feeling
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the exaggerated sequencing and timing.
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Or what I like to do is once I have that feeling,
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I can do a little slow motion movement afterward.
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So I go up there, I pump, good.
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I've got that feeling of starting with the lower body.
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Now I'm gonna feel like I just kind of move
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through that space and work on that timing at 20, 30%.
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So a really slow, slow shot.
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I might be hitting this club half the distance
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that I would normally do.
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Okay, so then the second one is getting more of this rhythm
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of feeling the right leg straight and left leg straight
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and right leg straight and left leg straight.
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So now when I get set up, I'm going to feel
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like the club is getting swung by my legs
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and more my knees and my hips and my knees
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are working together.
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It's not just trying to turn my hips back and forth.
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Okay, so I've got this rhythm feel.
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Now I'm gonna set up in my head.
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I'm gonna do right leg, left leg.
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And sometimes I will have golfers even start
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with doing a little step, step, step to feel that timing
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and feel for that rhythm.
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So now I'm gonna get the feel of stepping without stepping.
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So my foot's not gonna come off the ground,
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but I'm gonna feel a little pressure shift, pressure shift.
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And it's the same rhythm of that step step.
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Now I'm going to take a little bigger swing,
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closer to a full swing, trying to feel the step,
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taking a little bit longer,
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both in the backswing and transition.
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One of the keys to getting your lower body involved
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is that the lower body should go early,
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but it's not gonna go really, really explosively
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until you get lower in the swing.
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I just think of it similar to if I was throwing a ball,
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I'm not going to just explode with my leg right off the bat.
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I'm going to push and it's not until I get that weight
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transferred that then I start to really kind of
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ratchet up the lower body use.
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Okay, so bigger swing.
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Now we've got step, step, slow, but early.
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So step, step.
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So there's a little pressure shift to let my leg straighten,
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to get my lower body involved.
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If you struggle with using your hips,
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you're probably missing out on using the whole leg,
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and you're trying to do it just from the hip socket.
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(upbeat music)
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(upbeat music)
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(upbeat music)
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In this video, we're gonna discuss
3
00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:08.560
how to use your hips in the golf swing.
4
00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:12.240
That's one of the common issues that a lot of golfers
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00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:14.400
come into my lessons complaining about.
6
00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:17.440
My hips aren't open, I'm just swinging all arms.
7
00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:19.360
Well, in this video, I'm gonna give you
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00:00:19.360 --> 00:00:22.160
a couple different ways to approach how to use your hips.
9
00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:23.940
One's gonna be a checkpoint.
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00:00:23.940 --> 00:00:25.640
I always think it's helpful to have checkpoints
11
00:00:25.640 --> 00:00:28.320
so that you don't have to just rely on feels,
12
00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:29.320
but feels can be helpful.
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00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:31.080
So in addition to the checkpoint,
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00:00:31.080 --> 00:00:33.240
I'm gonna give you a couple different ways
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to feel your hips.
16
00:00:34.800 --> 00:00:37.000
So the first checkpoint I'm gonna give you,
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we're gonna use this down the line camera angle.
18
00:00:39.320 --> 00:00:42.120
So when golfers are using their lower body
19
00:00:42.120 --> 00:00:43.280
or using their hips,
20
00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:44.620
there's a couple different directions
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00:00:44.620 --> 00:00:47.360
I could be applying forces into the ground.
22
00:00:47.360 --> 00:00:50.040
So I could either be twisting my body like this,
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00:00:50.040 --> 00:00:51.760
or I could be pushing vertically,
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00:00:51.760 --> 00:00:54.560
or I could be pushing side to side.
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We're gonna focus on two major ones,
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which is focusing on rotation and vertical.
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So some golfers do use their hips,
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but they do so just vertically.
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They tend to push more up just like so.
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Now that can be powerful.
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So these golfers don't always complain about,
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oh, I don't hit it anywhere.
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But what can happen is if I'm overly vertical,
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then I really have to use just my arms and shoulders
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to get the hands ahead and get solid contact.
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The other thing is when I tend to go more vertical,
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it's hard to get my chest open
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and create more of this flat spot at the bottom of the swing.
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So then what happens is the club passes my chest down
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at the bottom and the club face tends to close quickly.
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So I might struggle with more pull shots and pull hooks
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or in fearing that kind of have more of a scoop style release
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and hit big shots off to the right.
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So we wanna get a blend of some of this vertical motion,
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but we also wanna get some of this rotational movement.
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It's usually the rotational movement
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that messes up golfers.
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So I'm gonna give you two quick little prerequisites.
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If you're gonna try to get your lower body more open,
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then your arms have to work a little bit shallower.
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So they can't work straight up and down.
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They have to work a little bit more out in front
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of your body or more shallow.
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And the club face will have to be more closed
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in order to allow for the body getting open
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and not hit it way off to the right.
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But when we talk about using this lower body,
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let's start with this checkpoint.
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So as a quick checkpoint,
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I want you to go up to the top of your swing
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and while your chest is still facing towards the back camera
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or the down the line.
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So my back is still towards the target.
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I'm going to try to get my thighs
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so that they're back to parallel to the stick on the ground.
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So while the club is up here,
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I'm going to try to get my thighs parallel
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to where the stick is on the ground.
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Now my arms are gonna come down some,
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but they're gonna be led by my body.
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Instead of what some golfers or most golfers
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who struggle with using their lower body might feel
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is that when they try to get their lower body
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to turn open, the club is already getting way down here.
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So already getting down to shaft parallel.
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I wanna try to get my thighs back to parallel
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before this left arm breaks parallel to the ground.
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That's gonna be a challenge for some of you,
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but that's gonna give you a feeling
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of using your lower body
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or it's a checkpoint of using your lower body.
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To get the feeling, you notice when I describe this,
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I often talk about using the lower body,
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not just the hips.
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I find that a lot of golfers concepts
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is that they need to turn their hips just like so,
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but I want to engage the whole lower body.
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I wanna use my legs, I wanna use my knees,
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I wanna use my ankles as well as my hips.
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And so we're gonna do a little kind of rhythmic drill
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where I'm basically going to turn my hips
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so that my pelvis points to the right,
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my right leg straightens and my left leg bends.
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Now my right leg isn't getting fully straight
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and I'm not getting onto the outside of the heel.
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My right foot is staying flat against the ground
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or even rolled in on the inside a little bit,
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but my hip is working backward and up kind of like this.
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In order for my hip to work backward and up,
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my right leg's gonna straighten some.
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And in order for the left hip to match it,
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my left leg is going to bend some.
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But my left leg isn't gonna move too far laterally.
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It's gonna work more rotationally,
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which will bring it kind of out towards the golf ball,
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but not crossing way past it.
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So I'm gonna get this little rotation here
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on the backswing and then I'm gonna do
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the opposite in the downswing.
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So if I hold my arms out and try to keep my chest square
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to this stick, now I can let my knees, my hips, my ankles
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control some of this rotation.
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Now I have a feeling of not just turning my hips
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but doing so rhythmically with a little bit
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of a pressure shift just like this.
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So now I'm gonna tie that into that checkpoint drill
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we did at the beginning of the video.
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So now I'm gonna go up to the top of the swing.
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I'm going to load the right and then load the left.
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Load the right, load the left.
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So now I'm getting this feeling of not just turning my hips
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but shifting pressure into my left side
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and straightening that left leg to bring my weight
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more towards the heel as my lower body is rotating.
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So it has much more of this rhythmic feel to it
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instead of just kind of a positional feel.
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So oftentimes that's the place where I start golfers
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in trying to get their lower body a little bit more active
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or trying to get their hips more involved in the golf swing.
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If I get to that point, if I get to that checkpoint
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and then I just continue with my body
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I'm naturally gonna get my hips into an open position.
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A rough checkpoint would be at impact
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having your pelvis or your hips pointing more
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about 45 degrees out in front of the golf ball,
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30 to 45 degrees somewhere in that zone.
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But if I get my arms pulling down
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and my hips haven't gotten open early enough
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there's no way that I'm gonna quickly get my hips open
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as fast as the club is moving down to the bottom.
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So using your hips in the downswing,
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first let's take a look from my point of view.
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Let's take a look at that first checkpoint.
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So if I go up to the top of the swing
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by the, you'll see that the arms aren't even coming into view
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but you can maybe see by my left arm my thighs
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are quickly getting back to this parallel position.
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So first one, we're gonna try and pump that a couple times.
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So we're gonna go up to the top of swing, pump that one,
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pump that two and just kind of feel that movement.
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Now you can either do a nice easy swing after that.
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So basically get up there, pump, pump,
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nice easy little swing just kind of feeling
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the exaggerated sequencing and timing.
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Or what I like to do is once I have that feeling,
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I can do a little slow motion movement afterward.
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So I go up there, I pump, good.
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I've got that feeling of starting with the lower body.
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Now I'm gonna feel like I just kind of move
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through that space and work on that timing at 20, 30%.
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So a really slow, slow shot.
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I might be hitting this club half the distance
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that I would normally do.
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Okay, so then the second one is getting more of this rhythm
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of feeling the right leg straight and left leg straight
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and right leg straight and left leg straight.
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So now when I get set up, I'm going to feel
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like the club is getting swung by my legs
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and more my knees and my hips and my knees
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are working together.
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It's not just trying to turn my hips back and forth.
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Okay, so I've got this rhythm feel.
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Now I'm gonna set up in my head.
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I'm gonna do right leg, left leg.
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And sometimes I will have golfers even start
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with doing a little step, step, step to feel that timing
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and feel for that rhythm.
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So now I'm gonna get the feel of stepping without stepping.
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So my foot's not gonna come off the ground,
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but I'm gonna feel a little pressure shift, pressure shift.
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And it's the same rhythm of that step step.
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Now I'm going to take a little bigger swing,
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closer to a full swing, trying to feel the step,
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taking a little bit longer,
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both in the backswing and transition.
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One of the keys to getting your lower body involved
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is that the lower body should go early,
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but it's not gonna go really, really explosively
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until you get lower in the swing.
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I just think of it similar to if I was throwing a ball,
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I'm not going to just explode with my leg right off the bat.
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I'm going to push and it's not until I get that weight
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transferred that then I start to really kind of
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ratchet up the lower body use.
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Okay, so bigger swing.
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Now we've got step, step, slow, but early.
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So step, step.
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So there's a little pressure shift to let my leg straighten,
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to get my lower body involved.
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If you struggle with using your hips,
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you're probably missing out on using the whole leg,
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and you're trying to do it just from the hip socket.
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(upbeat music)
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(upbeat music)
Have questions?
Ask Mulligan for help
Tyler Ferrell is the only person in the world named to Golf Digest's list of
Best Young Teachers in America AND its list of Best Golf Fitness Professionals in America.
How To Use Your Hips In The Golf Swing
One of the most common questions I hear from my students is, "How do I use my hips in the golf swing?" While this is somewhat of a broad topic, it can be a trouble spot for many players given the variety of lower-body swing faults that exist; golfers may struggle with sway/slide patterns, early extension, a lack of rotation at impact, and so forth.
Thankfully, I have found this walkthrough useful for players looking to better understand how we interact with the ground AND how to train the proper lower-body patterns. To do this, we will use (1) key checkpoint in transition and a couple different "feels" related to the timing/rhythm of our pressure shift.
Overall, we want to increase the awareness for how we load the lower-body, so that we can use rotation to improve sequencing, timing, and our overall swing consistency.
One of the most common questions I hear from my students is, "How do I use my hips in the golf swing?" While this is somewhat of a broad topic, it can be a trouble spot for many players given the variety of lower-body swing faults that exist; golfers may struggle with sway/slide patterns, early extension, a lack of rotation at impact, and so forth.
Thankfully, I have found this walkthrough useful for players looking to better understand how we interact with the ground AND how to train the proper lower-body patterns. To do this, we will use (1) key checkpoint in transition and a couple different "feels" related to the timing/rhythm of our pressure shift.
Overall, we want to increase the awareness for how we load the lower-body, so that we can use rotation to improve sequencing, timing, and our overall swing consistency.
Hide
Video Transcript
WEBVTT
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(upbeat music)
2
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In this video, we're gonna discuss
3
00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:08.560
how to use your hips in the golf swing.
4
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That's one of the common issues that a lot of golfers
5
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come into my lessons complaining about.
6
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My hips aren't open, I'm just swinging all arms.
7
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Well, in this video, I'm gonna give you
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a couple different ways to approach how to use your hips.
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One's gonna be a checkpoint.
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I always think it's helpful to have checkpoints
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so that you don't have to just rely on feels,
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but feels can be helpful.
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So in addition to the checkpoint,
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I'm gonna give you a couple different ways
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to feel your hips.
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So the first checkpoint I'm gonna give you,
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we're gonna use this down the line camera angle.
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So when golfers are using their lower body
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or using their hips,
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there's a couple different directions
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I could be applying forces into the ground.
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So I could either be twisting my body like this,
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or I could be pushing vertically,
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or I could be pushing side to side.
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We're gonna focus on two major ones,
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which is focusing on rotation and vertical.
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So some golfers do use their hips,
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but they do so just vertically.
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They tend to push more up just like so.
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Now that can be powerful.
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So these golfers don't always complain about,
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oh, I don't hit it anywhere.
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But what can happen is if I'm overly vertical,
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then I really have to use just my arms and shoulders
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to get the hands ahead and get solid contact.
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The other thing is when I tend to go more vertical,
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it's hard to get my chest open
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and create more of this flat spot at the bottom of the swing.
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So then what happens is the club passes my chest down
40
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at the bottom and the club face tends to close quickly.
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So I might struggle with more pull shots and pull hooks
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or in fearing that kind of have more of a scoop style release
43
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and hit big shots off to the right.
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So we wanna get a blend of some of this vertical motion,
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but we also wanna get some of this rotational movement.
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It's usually the rotational movement
47
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that messes up golfers.
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So I'm gonna give you two quick little prerequisites.
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If you're gonna try to get your lower body more open,
50
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then your arms have to work a little bit shallower.
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So they can't work straight up and down.
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They have to work a little bit more out in front
53
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of your body or more shallow.
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And the club face will have to be more closed
55
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in order to allow for the body getting open
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and not hit it way off to the right.
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But when we talk about using this lower body,
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let's start with this checkpoint.
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So as a quick checkpoint,
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I want you to go up to the top of your swing
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and while your chest is still facing towards the back camera
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or the down the line.
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So my back is still towards the target.
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I'm going to try to get my thighs
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so that they're back to parallel to the stick on the ground.
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So while the club is up here,
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I'm going to try to get my thighs parallel
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to where the stick is on the ground.
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Now my arms are gonna come down some,
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but they're gonna be led by my body.
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Instead of what some golfers or most golfers
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who struggle with using their lower body might feel
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is that when they try to get their lower body
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to turn open, the club is already getting way down here.
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So already getting down to shaft parallel.
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I wanna try to get my thighs back to parallel
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before this left arm breaks parallel to the ground.
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That's gonna be a challenge for some of you,
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but that's gonna give you a feeling
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of using your lower body
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or it's a checkpoint of using your lower body.
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To get the feeling, you notice when I describe this,
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I often talk about using the lower body,
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not just the hips.
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I find that a lot of golfers concepts
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is that they need to turn their hips just like so,
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but I want to engage the whole lower body.
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I wanna use my legs, I wanna use my knees,
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I wanna use my ankles as well as my hips.
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And so we're gonna do a little kind of rhythmic drill
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where I'm basically going to turn my hips
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so that my pelvis points to the right,
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my right leg straightens and my left leg bends.
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Now my right leg isn't getting fully straight
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and I'm not getting onto the outside of the heel.
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My right foot is staying flat against the ground
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or even rolled in on the inside a little bit,
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but my hip is working backward and up kind of like this.
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In order for my hip to work backward and up,
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my right leg's gonna straighten some.
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And in order for the left hip to match it,
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my left leg is going to bend some.
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But my left leg isn't gonna move too far laterally.
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It's gonna work more rotationally,
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which will bring it kind of out towards the golf ball,
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but not crossing way past it.
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So I'm gonna get this little rotation here
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on the backswing and then I'm gonna do
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the opposite in the downswing.
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So if I hold my arms out and try to keep my chest square
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to this stick, now I can let my knees, my hips, my ankles
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control some of this rotation.
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Now I have a feeling of not just turning my hips
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but doing so rhythmically with a little bit
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of a pressure shift just like this.
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So now I'm gonna tie that into that checkpoint drill
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we did at the beginning of the video.
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So now I'm gonna go up to the top of the swing.
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I'm going to load the right and then load the left.
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Load the right, load the left.
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So now I'm getting this feeling of not just turning my hips
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but shifting pressure into my left side
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and straightening that left leg to bring my weight
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more towards the heel as my lower body is rotating.
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So it has much more of this rhythmic feel to it
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instead of just kind of a positional feel.
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So oftentimes that's the place where I start golfers
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in trying to get their lower body a little bit more active
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or trying to get their hips more involved in the golf swing.
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If I get to that point, if I get to that checkpoint
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and then I just continue with my body
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I'm naturally gonna get my hips into an open position.
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A rough checkpoint would be at impact
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having your pelvis or your hips pointing more
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about 45 degrees out in front of the golf ball,
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30 to 45 degrees somewhere in that zone.
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But if I get my arms pulling down
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and my hips haven't gotten open early enough
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there's no way that I'm gonna quickly get my hips open
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as fast as the club is moving down to the bottom.
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So using your hips in the downswing,
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first let's take a look from my point of view.
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Let's take a look at that first checkpoint.
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So if I go up to the top of the swing
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by the, you'll see that the arms aren't even coming into view
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but you can maybe see by my left arm my thighs
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are quickly getting back to this parallel position.
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So first one, we're gonna try and pump that a couple times.
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So we're gonna go up to the top of swing, pump that one,
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pump that two and just kind of feel that movement.
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Now you can either do a nice easy swing after that.
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So basically get up there, pump, pump,
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nice easy little swing just kind of feeling
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the exaggerated sequencing and timing.
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Or what I like to do is once I have that feeling,
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I can do a little slow motion movement afterward.
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So I go up there, I pump, good.
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I've got that feeling of starting with the lower body.
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Now I'm gonna feel like I just kind of move
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through that space and work on that timing at 20, 30%.
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So a really slow, slow shot.
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I might be hitting this club half the distance
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that I would normally do.
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Okay, so then the second one is getting more of this rhythm
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of feeling the right leg straight and left leg straight
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and right leg straight and left leg straight.
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So now when I get set up, I'm going to feel
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like the club is getting swung by my legs
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and more my knees and my hips and my knees
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are working together.
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It's not just trying to turn my hips back and forth.
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Okay, so I've got this rhythm feel.
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Now I'm gonna set up in my head.
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I'm gonna do right leg, left leg.
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And sometimes I will have golfers even start
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with doing a little step, step, step to feel that timing
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and feel for that rhythm.
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So now I'm gonna get the feel of stepping without stepping.
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So my foot's not gonna come off the ground,
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but I'm gonna feel a little pressure shift, pressure shift.
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And it's the same rhythm of that step step.
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Now I'm going to take a little bigger swing,
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closer to a full swing, trying to feel the step,
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taking a little bit longer,
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both in the backswing and transition.
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One of the keys to getting your lower body involved
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is that the lower body should go early,
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but it's not gonna go really, really explosively
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until you get lower in the swing.
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I just think of it similar to if I was throwing a ball,
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I'm not going to just explode with my leg right off the bat.
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I'm going to push and it's not until I get that weight
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transferred that then I start to really kind of
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ratchet up the lower body use.
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Okay, so bigger swing.
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Now we've got step, step, slow, but early.
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So step, step.
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So there's a little pressure shift to let my leg straighten,
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to get my lower body involved.
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If you struggle with using your hips,
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you're probably missing out on using the whole leg,
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and you're trying to do it just from the hip socket.
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(upbeat music)
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(upbeat music)
1
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(upbeat music)
2
00:00:02.580 --> 00:00:06.440
In this video, we're gonna discuss
3
00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:08.560
how to use your hips in the golf swing.
4
00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:12.240
That's one of the common issues that a lot of golfers
5
00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:14.400
come into my lessons complaining about.
6
00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:17.440
My hips aren't open, I'm just swinging all arms.
7
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Well, in this video, I'm gonna give you
8
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a couple different ways to approach how to use your hips.
9
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One's gonna be a checkpoint.
10
00:00:23.940 --> 00:00:25.640
I always think it's helpful to have checkpoints
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so that you don't have to just rely on feels,
12
00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:29.320
but feels can be helpful.
13
00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:31.080
So in addition to the checkpoint,
14
00:00:31.080 --> 00:00:33.240
I'm gonna give you a couple different ways
15
00:00:33.240 --> 00:00:34.800
to feel your hips.
16
00:00:34.800 --> 00:00:37.000
So the first checkpoint I'm gonna give you,
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00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:39.320
we're gonna use this down the line camera angle.
18
00:00:39.320 --> 00:00:42.120
So when golfers are using their lower body
19
00:00:42.120 --> 00:00:43.280
or using their hips,
20
00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:44.620
there's a couple different directions
21
00:00:44.620 --> 00:00:47.360
I could be applying forces into the ground.
22
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So I could either be twisting my body like this,
23
00:00:50.040 --> 00:00:51.760
or I could be pushing vertically,
24
00:00:51.760 --> 00:00:54.560
or I could be pushing side to side.
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00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:56.920
We're gonna focus on two major ones,
26
00:00:56.920 --> 00:01:01.080
which is focusing on rotation and vertical.
27
00:01:01.080 --> 00:01:04.240
So some golfers do use their hips,
28
00:01:04.240 --> 00:01:06.680
but they do so just vertically.
29
00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:09.920
They tend to push more up just like so.
30
00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:12.520
Now that can be powerful.
31
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So these golfers don't always complain about,
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oh, I don't hit it anywhere.
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But what can happen is if I'm overly vertical,
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00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:23.240
then I really have to use just my arms and shoulders
35
00:01:23.240 --> 00:01:25.920
to get the hands ahead and get solid contact.
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00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:28.400
The other thing is when I tend to go more vertical,
37
00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:29.680
it's hard to get my chest open
38
00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:32.400
and create more of this flat spot at the bottom of the swing.
39
00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:35.200
So then what happens is the club passes my chest down
40
00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:38.000
at the bottom and the club face tends to close quickly.
41
00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:41.800
So I might struggle with more pull shots and pull hooks
42
00:01:41.800 --> 00:01:46.040
or in fearing that kind of have more of a scoop style release
43
00:01:46.040 --> 00:01:47.800
and hit big shots off to the right.
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So we wanna get a blend of some of this vertical motion,
45
00:01:50.960 --> 00:01:54.160
but we also wanna get some of this rotational movement.
46
00:01:54.160 --> 00:01:56.480
It's usually the rotational movement
47
00:01:56.480 --> 00:01:58.720
that messes up golfers.
48
00:01:58.720 --> 00:02:03.720
So I'm gonna give you two quick little prerequisites.
49
00:02:03.720 --> 00:02:07.480
If you're gonna try to get your lower body more open,
50
00:02:07.480 --> 00:02:10.840
then your arms have to work a little bit shallower.
51
00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:12.760
So they can't work straight up and down.
52
00:02:12.760 --> 00:02:15.200
They have to work a little bit more out in front
53
00:02:15.200 --> 00:02:16.960
of your body or more shallow.
54
00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:20.600
And the club face will have to be more closed
55
00:02:20.600 --> 00:02:24.520
in order to allow for the body getting open
56
00:02:24.520 --> 00:02:26.520
and not hit it way off to the right.
57
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But when we talk about using this lower body,
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00:02:30.200 --> 00:02:32.240
let's start with this checkpoint.
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00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:35.000
So as a quick checkpoint,
60
00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:37.160
I want you to go up to the top of your swing
61
00:02:37.160 --> 00:02:41.720
and while your chest is still facing towards the back camera
62
00:02:41.720 --> 00:02:42.720
or the down the line.
63
00:02:42.720 --> 00:02:45.200
So my back is still towards the target.
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I'm going to try to get my thighs
65
00:02:47.720 --> 00:02:51.640
so that they're back to parallel to the stick on the ground.
66
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So while the club is up here,
67
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I'm going to try to get my thighs parallel
68
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to where the stick is on the ground.
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Now my arms are gonna come down some,
70
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but they're gonna be led by my body.
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Instead of what some golfers or most golfers
72
00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:10.160
who struggle with using their lower body might feel
73
00:03:10.160 --> 00:03:12.840
is that when they try to get their lower body
74
00:03:12.840 --> 00:03:16.640
to turn open, the club is already getting way down here.
75
00:03:16.640 --> 00:03:18.720
So already getting down to shaft parallel.
76
00:03:18.720 --> 00:03:21.480
I wanna try to get my thighs back to parallel
77
00:03:21.480 --> 00:03:24.720
before this left arm breaks parallel to the ground.
78
00:03:24.720 --> 00:03:26.920
That's gonna be a challenge for some of you,
79
00:03:26.920 --> 00:03:28.480
but that's gonna give you a feeling
80
00:03:28.480 --> 00:03:30.000
of using your lower body
81
00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:32.800
or it's a checkpoint of using your lower body.
82
00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:36.120
To get the feeling, you notice when I describe this,
83
00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:38.200
I often talk about using the lower body,
84
00:03:38.200 --> 00:03:40.240
not just the hips.
85
00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:42.320
I find that a lot of golfers concepts
86
00:03:42.320 --> 00:03:45.280
is that they need to turn their hips just like so,
87
00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:48.400
but I want to engage the whole lower body.
88
00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:50.480
I wanna use my legs, I wanna use my knees,
89
00:03:50.480 --> 00:03:52.800
I wanna use my ankles as well as my hips.
90
00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:57.000
And so we're gonna do a little kind of rhythmic drill
91
00:03:57.000 --> 00:03:59.720
where I'm basically going to turn my hips
92
00:03:59.720 --> 00:04:02.240
so that my pelvis points to the right,
93
00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:05.120
my right leg straightens and my left leg bends.
94
00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:07.120
Now my right leg isn't getting fully straight
95
00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:09.560
and I'm not getting onto the outside of the heel.
96
00:04:09.560 --> 00:04:12.880
My right foot is staying flat against the ground
97
00:04:12.880 --> 00:04:16.040
or even rolled in on the inside a little bit,
98
00:04:16.040 --> 00:04:19.920
but my hip is working backward and up kind of like this.
99
00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:22.080
In order for my hip to work backward and up,
100
00:04:22.080 --> 00:04:24.040
my right leg's gonna straighten some.
101
00:04:24.040 --> 00:04:27.040
And in order for the left hip to match it,
102
00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:29.240
my left leg is going to bend some.
103
00:04:29.240 --> 00:04:33.240
But my left leg isn't gonna move too far laterally.
104
00:04:33.240 --> 00:04:35.840
It's gonna work more rotationally,
105
00:04:35.840 --> 00:04:38.200
which will bring it kind of out towards the golf ball,
106
00:04:38.200 --> 00:04:40.280
but not crossing way past it.
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00:04:40.280 --> 00:04:42.040
So I'm gonna get this little rotation here
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00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:43.440
on the backswing and then I'm gonna do
109
00:04:43.440 --> 00:04:45.120
the opposite in the downswing.
110
00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:48.720
So if I hold my arms out and try to keep my chest square
111
00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:53.720
to this stick, now I can let my knees, my hips, my ankles
112
00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:56.000
control some of this rotation.
113
00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:59.720
Now I have a feeling of not just turning my hips
114
00:04:59.720 --> 00:05:01.960
but doing so rhythmically with a little bit
115
00:05:01.960 --> 00:05:05.000
of a pressure shift just like this.
116
00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:07.520
So now I'm gonna tie that into that checkpoint drill
117
00:05:07.520 --> 00:05:09.700
we did at the beginning of the video.
118
00:05:09.700 --> 00:05:12.260
So now I'm gonna go up to the top of the swing.
119
00:05:12.260 --> 00:05:14.620
I'm going to load the right and then load the left.
120
00:05:14.620 --> 00:05:16.420
Load the right, load the left.
121
00:05:16.420 --> 00:05:21.380
So now I'm getting this feeling of not just turning my hips
122
00:05:21.380 --> 00:05:23.980
but shifting pressure into my left side
123
00:05:23.980 --> 00:05:26.980
and straightening that left leg to bring my weight
124
00:05:26.980 --> 00:05:30.780
more towards the heel as my lower body is rotating.
125
00:05:30.780 --> 00:05:33.460
So it has much more of this rhythmic feel to it
126
00:05:33.460 --> 00:05:37.260
instead of just kind of a positional feel.
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So oftentimes that's the place where I start golfers
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in trying to get their lower body a little bit more active
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or trying to get their hips more involved in the golf swing.
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If I get to that point, if I get to that checkpoint
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and then I just continue with my body
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I'm naturally gonna get my hips into an open position.
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A rough checkpoint would be at impact
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having your pelvis or your hips pointing more
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about 45 degrees out in front of the golf ball,
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30 to 45 degrees somewhere in that zone.
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But if I get my arms pulling down
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and my hips haven't gotten open early enough
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there's no way that I'm gonna quickly get my hips open
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as fast as the club is moving down to the bottom.
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So using your hips in the downswing,
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first let's take a look from my point of view.
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Let's take a look at that first checkpoint.
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So if I go up to the top of the swing
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by the, you'll see that the arms aren't even coming into view
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but you can maybe see by my left arm my thighs
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00:06:32.940 --> 00:06:36.660
are quickly getting back to this parallel position.
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So first one, we're gonna try and pump that a couple times.
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So we're gonna go up to the top of swing, pump that one,
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00:06:43.540 --> 00:06:46.060
pump that two and just kind of feel that movement.
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Now you can either do a nice easy swing after that.
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So basically get up there, pump, pump,
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nice easy little swing just kind of feeling
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the exaggerated sequencing and timing.
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Or what I like to do is once I have that feeling,
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I can do a little slow motion movement afterward.
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So I go up there, I pump, good.
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I've got that feeling of starting with the lower body.
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Now I'm gonna feel like I just kind of move
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through that space and work on that timing at 20, 30%.
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00:07:21.060 --> 00:07:23.540
So a really slow, slow shot.
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I might be hitting this club half the distance
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that I would normally do.
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Okay, so then the second one is getting more of this rhythm
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of feeling the right leg straight and left leg straight
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and right leg straight and left leg straight.
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So now when I get set up, I'm going to feel
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like the club is getting swung by my legs
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and more my knees and my hips and my knees
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are working together.
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It's not just trying to turn my hips back and forth.
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Okay, so I've got this rhythm feel.
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Now I'm gonna set up in my head.
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I'm gonna do right leg, left leg.
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And sometimes I will have golfers even start
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with doing a little step, step, step to feel that timing
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and feel for that rhythm.
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So now I'm gonna get the feel of stepping without stepping.
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So my foot's not gonna come off the ground,
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but I'm gonna feel a little pressure shift, pressure shift.
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And it's the same rhythm of that step step.
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Now I'm going to take a little bigger swing,
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closer to a full swing, trying to feel the step,
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taking a little bit longer,
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both in the backswing and transition.
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One of the keys to getting your lower body involved
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is that the lower body should go early,
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but it's not gonna go really, really explosively
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until you get lower in the swing.
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I just think of it similar to if I was throwing a ball,
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I'm not going to just explode with my leg right off the bat.
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I'm going to push and it's not until I get that weight
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transferred that then I start to really kind of
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ratchet up the lower body use.
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Okay, so bigger swing.
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Now we've got step, step, slow, but early.
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So step, step.
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So there's a little pressure shift to let my leg straighten,
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to get my lower body involved.
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If you struggle with using your hips,
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you're probably missing out on using the whole leg,
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and you're trying to do it just from the hip socket.
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(upbeat music)
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(upbeat music)
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