hip turn problem

my swing is (more or less) in the style of sam snead's one-piece swing where the hips and shoulders turn back together then come back through together. also like sam, i tend to aim off to the right and play a draw, but i've been battling consistency since day one, and today it suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks what the problem is. i dont know how i failed to notice such a major flaw before now, but when my hips get square to the ball again in the downswing/through impact, they just suddenly STOP for a split second (which, by reaction, also stops my shoulders). my arms and hands, however, do not, and as soon as they pass through the impact zone, my hips and shoulders resume turning due to the club pulling them around. as such, my finished pose is usually my hips aiming slightly right of target, and my upper body facing either slightly left of target or straight at it. my two most common bad shots are not-quite-hooks and push shots, depending on my release i guess.

i tried and tried and tried today to figure out what is causing this. i don't make any kind of conscious effort to stop my hips, obviously... it's what feels like should naturally be happening, like that's just simply where their turn ends, and the only reason they start up again is because the arms/hands pull them around once they pass impact. first i tried changing my stance to a more straight-down-the-line setup, thinking maybe my closed stance was somehow interfering with the hip turn, but i hit the hip-stop in that setup, too. i tried consciously spinning the crap out of my hips through impact, forcing them to keep on turning, but that did Not feel right, and the results weren't exactly encouraging. if anyone can make any suggestions on correcting this mess, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Don't feel too badly -- I think this is the number one hip clearing problem people have. They finish all turned through and look semi-normal after the swing, so they think things are OK, but the "coasting through impact" problem is the major swing flaw in many that have what appears to be an otherwise serviceable swing. Video evidence of the moment of impact is the best way to test if this is happening. From directly behind, if the left hip pocket is not clearly visible, then the turned hip finish really does not mean much. "Coasters" have to be amazingly good with their hands to be consistent and that is beyond most of us.

So, how to fix this problem? I've written about a drill I used to change the problem in my own swing -- it is here somewhere on the Sand Trap. The key is to have your left hip turning and it feels like (but really is not quite true) that the hands arrive at impact beside your right pocket, as you "two cheek it.") You can get the feel hitting a short 3/4 swing 80 yards with a teed up eight iron. Do this while not allowing any hip turn to happen at all on the backswing. Then work this into your full swing. A word of warning... you will need a good backswing where the club does not get inside the hands to do this. Take the club away so that it feels like you are keeping it close to a wall just outside your ball and parallel to your line. The toe turns up, and you still are swing inside the wall, but the club does not get away from the wall as soon as your hands. This will help you avoid feeling trapped so that you can just turn the left hip and around the left leg while swinging down the line. Try it on the little short shots first, and make sure you are teed up. This will flatten out your bottom arc and it takes a while to remeasure to the ball so you may top a lot of shots learning this feeling.

I have no idea if this will help you, but I know it has worked for many who tell me they gain both distance and directional control retraining their body to turn through the shot to control their clubface.

One thing that will not work -- if you turn your hips and shoulders the same amount on the backswing you cannot make a downswing with a good hip clear unless you are a super athlete who can time things perfectly. I think of people that do that as having fake backswings because they create coil only on the downswing and that is very difficult to control with consistency. You would need to have totally passive arms and shoulders while the hips fire around first, then you have to turn-on the upper body after you are well into the downswing. If you can do that, apply for membership at the ballet theater cause you have amazing body control. (Just kidding... I know I cannot do it.)

N.B: I've seen guys over 60 years old gain 20-30 yards distance with a driver learning how to keep the hip drive going with this approach.

If you are willing to give up the "Sam Sneed Swing":

In your backswing, allow your hips to turn only when your shoulders pull them around.

In your downswing, use your left shoulder to pull your arms, hands, and club down and through impact, while keeping your head and shoulders back, as taught in "The Golf Swing and Its Master Key Explained". This should trigger the correct body movements, including making your hips lead.

Learn this with a smooth, deliberate 3/4 swing. Use a slight pause at the top, and time the downswing and release to work with the centrifugal force and momentum.

Something that has worked for me is to make a normal backswing, then start the downswing with my upper body, holding the hips still until the upper body catches up to them and carries them along. (Credit goes to my teacher, who says he got it from Demaret.) To get the feel, I let the hips be passive. I thought this would be a dinky swing, but it's got an easy power to it. I'm working up to learning to fire the hips at the right time, in the right way. I can't wait to get out and hit some balls with the "two cheek it" key. I think that may help me a lot.