The Perfect Timing For Your Hip Turn In Your Golf Downswing (Video) - by Pete Styles
The Perfect Timing For Your Hip Turn In Your Golf Downswing (Video) - by Pete Styles

If you've worked hard on building a good hip rotation and good position at the top of your backswing, it’s now all about how we deliver that stored-up power into the golf ball. And really what we need to establish here is the timing of the downswing. Because we've worked on the fact that, yes we've wound up nicely. We've got ourselves in a position at the top. Now everything moves coming down into the golf ball. The hips are going to move. The shoulders are going to move. The hands and arms are going to move. The weight is going to move.

And it’s important that all of that happens at the right time, but also consistently. If different bits of the body go first or second, then the swing is never going to be consistent and therefore ball flight is not going to be consistent. Also if you hang around too long at the top and move different bits too late, you are going to lack a lot of power. For example if I get the top of my backswing, move my arms, then move my hips. My hips simply weren’t involved in that downswing. They weren’t able to generate any power. What we would like to establish is that from the top of the swing, the hips should actually lead the way. The hips should start the downswing particularly this left hip with a slight lateral rotational action as the right hip comes around, as the belt buckle opens to target. And we generate all the power we can by turning the engine in the middle of our swing. So a great way of establishing when that downswing should happen is actually to start it just before your club is actually finished going backwards. Your hips should start going forwards. It’s one way of stopping the club from getting too long and over swinging. So as I swing up to the top, I wind up, wind up, wind up. And then at this position, my hips actually start moving into my downswing as the club is still loading backwards. So the hips start moving down towards the ball. The club is still going up. I get massive tension here and then I release through, and I get loads of power. That for me would work better than swinging up, stopping, and then trying to start everything again. So you feel like you're still going up as your hips move down and through the ball. Try that the next time you're at the driving range. Try starting your hips. Start the downswing with your hips as the club reaches the top of the backswing. And see whether you can hit longer, straighter golf shots with your hips doing more work. 2016-07-15

If you've worked hard on building a good hip rotation and good position at the top of your backswing, it’s now all about how we deliver that stored-up power into the golf ball. And really what we need to establish here is the timing of the downswing. Because we've worked on the fact that, yes we've wound up nicely. We've got ourselves in a position at the top. Now everything moves coming down into the golf ball. The hips are going to move. The shoulders are going to move. The hands and arms are going to move. The weight is going to move.

And it’s important that all of that happens at the right time, but also consistently. If different bits of the body go first or second, then the swing is never going to be consistent and therefore ball flight is not going to be consistent. Also if you hang around too long at the top and move different bits too late, you are going to lack a lot of power. For example if I get the top of my backswing, move my arms, then move my hips. My hips simply weren’t involved in that downswing. They weren’t able to generate any power.

What we would like to establish is that from the top of the swing, the hips should actually lead the way. The hips should start the downswing particularly this left hip with a slight lateral rotational action as the right hip comes around, as the belt buckle opens to target. And we generate all the power we can by turning the engine in the middle of our swing. So a great way of establishing when that downswing should happen is actually to start it just before your club is actually finished going backwards. Your hips should start going forwards. It’s one way of stopping the club from getting too long and over swinging.

So as I swing up to the top, I wind up, wind up, wind up. And then at this position, my hips actually start moving into my downswing as the club is still loading backwards. So the hips start moving down towards the ball. The club is still going up. I get massive tension here and then I release through, and I get loads of power. That for me would work better than swinging up, stopping, and then trying to start everything again. So you feel like you're still going up as your hips move down and through the ball. Try that the next time you're at the driving range.

Try starting your hips. Start the downswing with your hips as the club reaches the top of the backswing. And see whether you can hit longer, straighter golf shots with your hips doing more work.