There is a lot of lingo in golf.

For an experienced player, it is easy to forget that many new golfers might not know what some of the words and expressions used in this game mean. One good example is the saying ‘fire the right side’. You may hear another golfer, or a golf teacher, use this phrase in relation to the golf swing – but do you know what it means? What do you do to ‘fire the right side’, and why is that a good thing? We are going to work through these questions in this article.

Sometimes, when you receive a golf tip, it is very specific with regard to what you should be doing. For instance, if someone tells you that you need to keep your head down through impact, there isn’t much mystery as to what you should be doing. You should be keeping your head in position as the club strikes the ball, rather than lifting it up early to see where the shot is going to go. These kinds of golf tips are clear, and even a beginning golfer should have little trouble determining what to do.

With something like ‘fire your right side’, it’s not so clear how you will want to proceed. Your right side makes up half of your body, so how can you use it all in an effort to hit better shots? When does it get involved? It is easy to see how there are more questions than answers with this type of tip. Don’t worry – it isn’t as confusing as it might seem at first, and we’ll help you work through it in the content that follows.

All of the content below is based on a right-handed golfer. If you play left-handed, please reverse the directions as necessary.

Timing is Everything

A little later in the article, we will get into the specifics of what it means to fire your right side in terms of how you make that happen. To start, however, we want to talk about the timing of this move. It might be a little bit of a cliché, but timing really is everything in golf. Making all the right moves during your swing won’t do you any good at all if you don’t manage to time those moves properly in reference to one another. The golf swing is nothing more than an organized sequence of events, and you need to make sure your sequencing is just right if you are going to produce quality shots.

Fortunately, the timing that you should use to fire your right side is actually pretty simple. The idea is this – your right side should begin to fire as soon as the backswing is finished. Of course, it won’t be as easy to execute this move as you might like, but you shouldn’t have any trouble understanding the concept. When the backswing is finished, the right side goes to work on firing through the ball and into the finish. When done correctly, it’s a beautifully simple move that results in powerful shots time after time.

If you are going to succeed with your timing in this part of the golf swing, there are a few keys we think you should keep in mind.

• Give the backswing time. The right side is only going to fire once the backswing is completed, and you shouldn’t be in a hurry to get to that point. Give your backswing all the time it needs to get up to the top of the swing and fight any urge you might have to rush the early phases of your swinging motion. If you rush through the backswing to get the downswing started as soon as possible, you are only asking for trouble. A rushed backswing is likely to come up short of its potential, meaning you won’t be able to create as much speed in the downswing as you could have with a fuller turn. Also, a rushed backswing is likely to lead to a rushed downswing where the club is forced down to the ball before the body has turned through. No matter how you look at it, rushing in this game is not going to lead to positive outcomes. Take your time on the way back, waiting to fire your right side until the backswing has been completed properly.
• It’s gradual from the top. Yes, you want to start firing your right side as soon as your backswing is finished. No, you do not need to rush into the downswing phase wildly, forcing the club down to impact as soon as possible. Remember, the only point during the swing where your club head speed matters is at the point of contact. Swinging fast earlier in the downswing isn’t going to do you any good, because that speed might be gone by the time you reach the ball. Think about starting to fire your right side with a gradual build of speed, rather than trying to do it all at once. If you’ve made a good turn going back, you should have plenty of space between your club and the ball to accelerate before impact arrives. Take advantage of that space and gradually ramp up your speed until you are able to slam the club into the back of the ball with maximum force.
• A steady tempo. This last tip we would like to mention is not specifically related to firing your right side, but rather to your golf swing as a whole. However, it deserves a spot here because it is so important to the success of your swing. While swinging back and through, make sure to keep your tempo and steady and consistent as possible from start to finish. You don’t want to be speeding up and slowing down at various parts of your swing, as doing so is going to make it harder to achieve clean contact when all is said and done. The overall pace of your rotation and swing should be nice and even, with the club gradually picking up speed from the top of the backswing all the way down to impact. Whether you play with a quick tempo or a slow tempo is up to you, but do your best to keep it as even as possible in order to optimize your results.

It’s amazing how quickly a golf swing can come together when the timing of that swing is in place. Sure, there are other things to get in order before you can hit good shots, but timing is a huge piece of the puzzle. Learn how to time up your swing just right – including when to fire your right side – and you’ll almost certainly take a step forward with your level of play.

A Coordinated Effort

At this point, we are going to get down to the business of explaining how the right side should fire in the downswing. We have already learned that you will want to fire your right side once the backswing is complete, but how do you get started, and what parts of your right side are going to be involved? Let’s take a closer look.

As your backswing comes to an end, you are going to be ready to put your right side into action to hit the shot. So, which part of your right side do your move first? Your left hip! That’s right – the action of firing your right side actually doesn’t involve your right side at all. You will want to use your left hip to get things started, as this is the easiest way to initiate the movement that will eventually lead to your right side taking over the swing.

Why wouldn’t you just start by using your right side directly? The problem is that trying to fire your right side from the top of the swing would likely lead to casting the club over the top – an error which is commonly associated with the slice. Your hands will push the club up and away from your body, and you will wind up pulling it back closer to you while swinging through impact. This is a nasty pattern, and one which will almost certainly result in you hitting shots that curve badly from left to right. By starting with your left hip, you can get away from this pattern. Turning your left hip toward the target is going to cause your hands to drop a bit, meaning they will be in excellent position and ready to attack the ball as the downswing continues on.

Although we are talking about starting your downswing with the left hip, this is still all related to firing your right side through the shot. Your left hip opening up toward the target is obviously going to bring your right side with it, so the wheels will be in motion immediately upon making that first move. As the early part of the downswing progresses, your main job is to keep turning your lower body through the target while letting your upper body hang back and wait for its turn. It is the lower body that is really going to produce the potential for power, and your upper body will simply need to ‘cash in’ that power once impact arrives.

After your lower body has turned through the ball, it will be time to make your move and strike the shot. This is when the firing of your right side is really going to feel like an aggressive, confident move. Your hips will already be through the shot while your eyes should still be looking down at the ball. There is no sense in holding back at this point, so give the shot everything you have as the club whips through and into the finish.

To summarize, you are actually going to start the motion of firing your right side by using your left hip to begin turning toward the target. From there, you’ll keep turning your lower body through the shot until it is time for your right hand/arm/shoulder to fire the club through the ball and send it off into the distance. If you can manage to get the sequencing of those moves right time after time, you’ll be amazed at what is possible in your game.

A Practice Swing Drill

As is always the case in golf, it can be hard to pick up new skills after reading a tip on a website, or even after getting a suggestion from a golf pro. It’s one thing to understand what you are supposed to be doing, but it is another thing entirely to actually make it happen. That’s where drills come into the picture. A drill is a great way to bridge the gap between what you know you should be doing and what is actually happening in your swing. Using drills is a good idea anytime you want to make a technical change in your golf swing, as long as you have the right drill for the job at hand.

In this section, we are going to walk you through a step-by-step process for how you can perform a drill that will help you fire your right side more effectively. You are not going to be hitting any golf balls with this drill, so you don’t even need to be at the driving range to put it to use. Sure, you can use this drill at the range before hitting some shots, but you can also perform it anywhere you have room to safely swing a golf club.

• While you can do this drill with any of the clubs in your bag, we would like to recommend that you choose a seven iron for the job. The seven iron is just long enough to let you feel the swing of the club back and through nicely, without being so long that it makes it difficult to bring your timing together. Start with the seven iron and feel free to work your way into longer clubs once you get the hang of it.
• Since you aren’t going to be hitting the ball with this drill, you don’t need anything else to get started. As long as you have a safe place to make swings, you are all set.
• Take your stance with your seven iron in hand and settle into an address position just as if you were hitting a shot out on the course. Don’t rush through the step of building a good stance, because it is always important to get your address position right no matter what kind of swings you are making. Only when you are in a comfortable and solid stance should you be willing to start the swing.
• As your practice swing gets started, it should look and feel like any other swing you would make during the course of a round. You will want to start with a smooth, controlled takeaway, keeping your hands and wrists out of the action until later in the backswing. Remember, never feel like you have to rush through the early stages of the backswing just to get it over with – take your time, let the swing develop at a comfortable pace, and maintain your rhythm throughout.
• As you get to the top of the backswing, you are going to deviate from your traditional swing technique. Specifically, you are going to stop your swing and hold yourself in the top-of-backswing position for a moment. This will feel weird, of course, but it is a great way to learn how to fire your right side through the downswing. As soon as your shoulders are finished turning, simply stop and hold your body (and the club) as still as possible.
• After you’ve held for a moment, go ahead and start your downswing by turning your left hip open to the target (as discussed in the previous section). Continue on with the rest of the downswing as usual, letting your right side fire through the hitting area after your lower body has cleared the way. Feel free to repeat this drill as many times as you would like.

So, what’s the point of stopping and holding at the top of your backswing? Simple – we are trying to separate the backswing from the downswing, so you can focus on how it feels to fire your right side on the way down. When everything runs together, as it does in a regular golf swing, it is hard to have enough time to feel and understand how your right side is working. Breaking the swing up will give you more time to notice the individual movements of your swing, and it will also make it easier to correct errors that you may find. If you find this drill helpful, add it to your regular practice routine to make sure your right side keeps working nicely well into the future.

Dealing with Struggles

It would be great if we didn’t even need to write this last section, but we do, because struggles are an inevitable part of the process in golf. In fact, that is one of the things that makes golf appealing to so many people – it’s a difficult game, and any progress you make it worth celebrating. To help you along the way, we’d like to present three points which may allow you to work through the inevitable struggles a little more effectively.

• Rushing from the top. Without a doubt, this is the problem that you are most likely to face when working on firing your right side properly. You’ll be so excited about using your right side to send the club racing into the back of the ball, you may not be able to give your left hip the time it needs to get things started. There is nothing to do here except to focus on slowing things down and trusting the swing to develop naturally. You might find it helpful to hit shorter shots at the start, such as only using a wedge for your first couple of practice sessions while working on this technique. It’s easier to stay in rhythm when only hitting short shots as compared to when you are making big swings with the driver.
• Poor ball striking quality. It is important to note that many golfers struggle with the quality of their ball striking for a while after making any kind of swing change. This comes down to nothing more than simply getting comfortable with your new technique. You were already familiar and comfortable with your old technique, even if there were some problems with the mechanics. It will take time and repetition to learn how to strike the ball cleanly with your new swing technique. Don’t assume that you are doing something wrong just because you are struggling to find the sweet spot at first. That’s natural, and it should get better.
• Changes in ball flight. Something else you’ll have to deal with as part of this process is a change to your usual ball flight pattern. For instance, if you have long hit a fade/slice with most of your swings, you might now find that you are turning the ball over for a bit of a draw. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but it will take some time to learn how to aim properly for the new pattern that you have developed.

Firing your right side through the golf ball is a great way to improve the power of your swing, and it can help you to make better contact, as well. Of course, you’ll have to work for any progress you make on this point, so we hope that the instruction we have provided will help you move in the right direction. As long as you are patient and willing to consistently work on your swing, better results should appear sooner rather than later. Good luck!

This is another piece of the jargon that we often use as golf coach, as in golf commentator on the TV talk about it and to the uninitiated; they don’t understand it they don’t understand what it means. What it really means to, it means about 25 miles an hour of club head speed if you are and aren’t firing your right side. So when you get to the top of the golf swing you should feel like you are nicely loaded up, you’ve created loads of power and if y just drop the club on the back of the ball, you’ll chip it forward and it will go about 100 yards maximum, there’s no more power in your golf swing that much, unless you fire the right side. So firing the right side as I would describe it is; from the top of the swing, learning to push down on your right leg to throw your right hip forward, to pull down with your right arm all simultaneously.

There is a lot going on here, this is like Reuben you had him punch your stomach at the same time and there is a lot of different things to do, so from here, we push with the right leg, we turn with the right hip, we pull down with the right arm and then we get into this impact position. Now, this is a strong impact position, the right leg is pushing down on the floor, the right hip is turning, the right arm is coming from bend to extend it very, very quickly, all through that important hitting zone and that I think can get you 25 miles an hour more club head speed, which you as a golfer just cannot not afford to miss out on. So if you are not thinking about hitting from your right side and firing your right side, here is a great drill to start you doing that.

If you are right handed, and you are playing golf right handed and you throw with your right hand, this is that simple, it is a simple throwing action or skimming of stone. If you imagine, you are skimming a stone, you take the golf ball in your right hand, you set yourself into the position and then you don’t – you throw with your arm, you throw with a turn of the body and you would fire the right side. So you go to the side of the beach or the lake and you skim a stone and your fire the right side here and you generate quite a lot of power. Often we see people don’t fire the right side, this is because when I actually asked tem, they are left handed and they are not used to a throwing or skimming action from that side of the body. So just consider it, if you are any good at throwing a stone across the pond, you should be pretty good at firing the right side on a golf swing and if you are struggling to fire your right side, just take a stone to the beach or even a tennis ball in the right garden and you throw it as hard as you can up against the wall quite a few times and you will get that feeling of turning your right side, firing your right leg and increasing your club head sped by up to 25 miles an hour.