Getting Your Hips Set For Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
Getting Your Hips Set For Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

So we know how important it is to efficiently use the hips in the down swing. You know we’ve loaded up; we’re going to drive the hips towards the target to create loads of power. But it’s really important; those hips are set in a good position before we actually start the swing. So two key areas that we’re going to look making sure the hips are correct. First one is straight on here; we want to make sure the hips are relatively level, maybe with the driver; we’d have a slight tilt to the spine and a slight tilt with the hips. But generally the most of the golf shots, the hips want remain the largely leveled. We want to avoid any sort of excessive knee bend that drops one hip in relation to another or having one leg straighter than the other. Both knees are going to be lightly flexed and the hips are going to be level. That position, generally most golfers get right because it’s how we naturally stand, but one area where a lot of golfers make a small mistake is actually from down the line. So looking down the line, we’re trying to pick out the target, let’s just use is that red flag right in front.

And then in this position, for a lot of golfers we see them make an incorrect position with their hips, where their hips either open, or close in relation to target. Now the problem here is there's either going to be not enough hip rotation or too much hip rotation during the back swing as the hips try to level themselves out. So one good way that you could check this is using a golf club or actually just using alignment stick and holding it across your belt buckle and across your front of the hip bones in your address position. So I take my address position here, and then I take this across the front of my hips and I look down my target line or I can check its level to my toes, level to my hips. If its level to my toes but then not level to my hips, I would appreciate there is a small problem with the way I'm addressing it. So here are things lined up, the level to my toes, level to my hips. But if I was level to my toes, not level to my hips I would start to appreciate I’ve got a problem to my hip position, I have to address. And that is going to cause me an incorrect loading my hips during the back swing. So make sure if you want to load these hips correctly, they should be level at set up and parallel to your target line in the set up position without any twist or without any tilt. And that should encourage you to load your hips better during the back swing. 2015-11-05

So we know how important it is to efficiently use the hips in the down swing. You know we’ve loaded up; we’re going to drive the hips towards the target to create loads of power. But it’s really important; those hips are set in a good position before we actually start the swing. So two key areas that we’re going to look making sure the hips are correct. First one is straight on here; we want to make sure the hips are relatively level, maybe with the driver; we’d have a slight tilt to the spine and a slight tilt with the hips. But generally the most of the golf shots, the hips want remain the largely leveled. We want to avoid any sort of excessive knee bend that drops one hip in relation to another or having one leg straighter than the other. Both knees are going to be lightly flexed and the hips are going to be level. That position, generally most golfers get right because it’s how we naturally stand, but one area where a lot of golfers make a small mistake is actually from down the line. So looking down the line, we’re trying to pick out the target, let’s just use is that red flag right in front.

And then in this position, for a lot of golfers we see them make an incorrect position with their hips, where their hips either open, or close in relation to target. Now the problem here is there's either going to be not enough hip rotation or too much hip rotation during the back swing as the hips try to level themselves out. So one good way that you could check this is using a golf club or actually just using alignment stick and holding it across your belt buckle and across your front of the hip bones in your address position. So I take my address position here, and then I take this across the front of my hips and I look down my target line or I can check its level to my toes, level to my hips. If its level to my toes but then not level to my hips, I would appreciate there is a small problem with the way I'm addressing it. So here are things lined up, the level to my toes, level to my hips. But if I was level to my toes, not level to my hips I would start to appreciate I’ve got a problem to my hip position, I have to address. And that is going to cause me an incorrect loading my hips during the back swing. So make sure if you want to load these hips correctly, they should be level at set up and parallel to your target line in the set up position without any twist or without any tilt. And that should encourage you to load your hips better during the back swing.