Overcome Sway by Keeping Your Right Hip Closed

The right hip closed drill helps you clean up one of the most common backswing faults: sway. When you sway, your pelvis slides into the trail side instead of turning, and pressure often moves to the outside of your trail foot. That makes it harder to stay centered, load efficiently, and return the club to the ball with consistency. This drill gives you a simple visual for what your trail hip should do in a proper backswing: stay closed and rotate, rather than drifting open and away from the target line.

How the Drill Works

To understand this drill, focus on the space between your trail hip, your spine, and your trail leg when you are in golf posture. At address, there is a certain amount of room in that area. If you sway in the backswing, that space tends to widen outward because your pelvis shifts laterally. It can look as if your right hip is being pushed out behind you and “shown” to someone standing off to your trail side.

In a better backswing, your pelvis does not simply slide. Instead, you pivot around the trail hip. As you turn, the trail hip stays more closed rather than opening out toward the side. The shape of that space may change slightly, but the important point is that the hip is not being thrown outward by a sway.

This is primarily a visual and awareness drill. You are training yourself to recognize the difference between a backswing that shifts and a backswing that turns. If your sway pattern is being driven by poor trail-hip action, this drill can be especially useful.

You can also pair it with other drills that help you sense pressure in the feet or better pelvic rotation. But even on its own, it gives you an immediate checkpoint: is your right hip staying closed, or is it drifting open as your pelvis slides?

Step-by-Step

1. Set up in your normal golf posture without a club at first. Bend from the hips, let your arms hang naturally, and feel balanced through your feet.

2. Bring your attention to the area between your trail hip and your spine/upper leg. Create a clear mental picture of that space at address.

3. Make a slow practice backswing where you intentionally sway. Let your pelvis slide toward the trail leg. Notice how the trail hip pushes outward and how the space appears to open up.

4. Reset to your address position. Now make another slow backswing, but this time feel your pelvis turn instead of slide. Let your trail hip stay more closed as you pivot into the backswing.

5. Compare the two motions. In the better version, your trail hip should feel more contained, and pressure should not run to the outside edge of your trail foot.

6. Repeat this contrast several times: one sway, one proper pivot. The goal is to sharpen your awareness of the difference.

7. Once you can feel it clearly, make half-speed backswings with a club. Keep your focus on the trail hip remaining closed while your torso and pelvis turn together.

8. Progress to short shots, then fuller swings, maintaining the same trail-hip feel without forcing it.

What You Should Feel

Done correctly, this drill should give you the sensation that your backswing is built around a turn into the trail hip, not a slide away from the target. You are not trying to lock the hip in place. You are simply preventing it from drifting outward and opening up as your pelvis sways.

Key sensations

• Pressure moving into the trail side without rolling to the outside of the trail foot
• A sense that your pelvis is rotating rather than shifting laterally
• The trail hip staying more contained and closed in the backswing
• A more centered upper body instead of your whole body moving off the ball

Useful checkpoints

• Your trail hip should not appear to “stick out” excessively behind you in the backswing
• Your trail foot should stay grounded without excessive pressure on its outside edge
• Your chest and pelvis should look like they are turning together
• You should feel more stable at the top, with less need to recover on the way down

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Confusing closed with frozen: the trail hip should not be rigid. It still moves, but it moves as part of a turn rather than a slide.
• Letting pressure run to the outside of the trail foot: that is a strong sign you are still swaying.
• Overdoing the feeling: if you try too hard to keep the hip closed, you may restrict your turn and create tension.
• Only thinking about the hip: the hip works with the pelvis and torso. A good backswing is a coordinated pivot, not an isolated body-part move.
• Rushing into full speed: this drill is about awareness first. If you go too fast, you may miss the difference between sway and rotation.
• Standing up out of posture: if you lose your posture while trying to turn, the drill becomes much less effective.

How This Fits Your Swing

Your trail hip has a major influence on whether your backswing is centered and athletic or whether it drifts off the ball. If the right hip opens outward and the pelvis slides, you create a sway pattern that can disrupt low point control, sequencing, and contact. You then have to make compensations in the downswing just to get back to the ball.

By learning to keep the right hip closed, you improve the quality of your pivot. That gives you a more stable base at the top and makes it easier to transition without a big recovery move. In practical terms, you are training your body to load into the trail side with rotation instead of lateral motion.

This drill is especially helpful if video shows your pelvis moving too far off the ball in the backswing or if you feel pressure spilling into the outside of your trail foot. It can be used as a standalone checkpoint during practice, or combined with drills that train proper foot pressure and centered turn. The bigger goal is simple: build a backswing that turns efficiently, stays organized, and sets up a cleaner downswing.