initiating the down swing

Do you initiate the swing with hips or your arms? I'm pretty much a newbie at this so don't get to technical. Here is what I'm doing. When I'm at the top of my backswing I try to start my swing with my arms, keeping my back to the target and then letting my arms pull my lower body through the shot. I'm just not sure if this is correct though. It would seem that you need to turn the hips to clear them out of the way first so you would want to initiate down swing with your hips first. This is my first day as a member here and just read some reviews on one of Ben Hogans books and I'm going to be buying one so I can better understand the golf swing. This looks to be a great place to get some good info- thanks - Steve

Ben Hogan video

Bottom up, never initiate with arms.

Legs and weight shift start the downswing. Any game where you're hitting a ball with a stick (golf, baseball, tennis, etc...) the first move requires a weight shift forward followed by a rotation of the hips. This pulls your arms through. Welcome and good luck!

Thank so much, I don't know how I got this bassacwards. I was watching the " golf fix" on the golf channel and I thought he said the arms will pull you body through the shot. Perhaps this is true, but not on initiating the swing. So the shifting of your weight and your hip turn first and then let the arms pull you around through towards the target maybe. Thanks- Steve

Heh, yeah, just a little backwards. The arms and hands are the last thing around the whole way. And when you get that Ben Hogan book there's some pretty good imagery in there that will set your mind right. It's a must read.

Hips. I find that when I initiate the downswing with my arms that it turns in kind of a baseball swing and the ball goes right.

Welcome to the forum and don't worry about it, its a learning game. I just recently figured that out myself.

The golf fix on golf channel is a great show from what I've seen. I like it and learned a lot from it. Study study study, that's all you can do. Good luck and stick with it!

I'm really only struggling with the driver right now, but when I do my arms first with it I'm getting a big draw that is bordering on a hook. I was looking at my club face and I really had it in a closed position at the top so I readjusted my grip and hit it great finally(18th hole). I'll be working on the lower body starting out the swing now though. I just ordered a used Hogan book ,2$ plus 4 bucks shipping. thanks for the input everyone.- Steve

Biomechanics of the golfswing can get tricky, dont think that your hips actually start first. You can get thrown off very easily and block everything out to the right(if your right handed). A better way to put it is everything from your knees to your chest move first, keeping your head still, and letting your upperbody natually close the clubface, dont ever steer it.

Would be nice if people put their real hcp in the profile. I always use the hcp index when reading posts to see if the text corresponds with the index. In this matter, it did not. 10 hcp and asking how to start the downswing.

Anyways, hips first.

Your right Zeph. In my case I've never established a hcp. Here in Alaska we just got on regular greens this week. Heck even the ranges only opened up a few weeks ago. So my hcp is in my mine but incorrectly is what I shoot once I get the rust knocked off. I'm usually shooting anywhere from 80-84(shot a 76 once) on average by the end of June. I've taken up golf seriosly 6yrs ago and I love the game but my score has never been a big deal for me, I just like golfing. I know it was what appeared to be a novice type question but I've never got into the mechanics of the swing, the lesson I took was mostly being instructed in hitting on the inside path. When I thought I understood and probably incorrectly on a golf channel was to let the arms initiate the swing. My brother who is a really good golfer always tells me on the phone that I should keep my back to the target as long as possible, so made me question what I knew..I'm just trying to put all this together in my mind. Actually I do pretty well and probably better when I'm not thinking of all the mechanical stuff, but I hoping that it will make me a better golfer. - Steve

The brain is a funny thing. For some people, and for some people at a particular level, they can actually be thinking about dropping their arms and pulling the handle of the club, and the body reacts by turning the hips, because that is what has to happen.

When I throw a baseball, I don't think about my left foot or my hips, I think about the target and the feeling of the ball in my fingers. The fact that my left foot has to move toward the target and my right elbow at some point has to point toward the target are unconscious movements.

When you push a child in a swing, you don't sit there and think about turning your hips, you think about applying a force from your hand to the back of the child, and the feet and then legs and then hips do what they need to do to support the force of the hand on the back of the child.

Year's ago someone noticed that Jack N's first move was that his left knee shifted toward the target, so some people started teaching to think about that, until they asked Jack and he did not even know what they were talking about. It was not a conscious move to him.

So, you may be moving your hips correctly, while thinking about your hands.

As I watch video frame by frame of golf swings, it appears to me that lots of men start their downswing as one move. One frame they will be moving back, the next frame the club will be motionless, the next frame the club will be in the same position, but the hips will have flexed and the arms will have flexed in a starting move that looks together. And it looks to me like lots of the women start the downswing a little earlier. They look to me to be staring their hip turn before the club stops its backswing. Do you guys see that? Does Sergio do this? Is that a Hogan thing? It looks like it takes more timing and talent than starting down together at the point of the club stopping.

Keeping it strictly non-technical, I prefer the feeling of skipping a stone across a lake or throwing a ball side arm.

Both actions are athletic motions and both are very similar to the motion of the golf swing.

You'll also notice that a lot of the things we obsess over in the golf swing (hip bump, weight shift, lag, and release) happen automatically with those actions. With practice, it really can be that easy.

My hips start turning before my shoulders do. Sometimes my hips get way in front of my shoulders and starts causing problems, but I can usually compensate by speeding up my arms.

For a 100% full swing, to initiate my downturn, I would shift my left knee toward the target slightly when the back swing is almost 95% loaded(3 more inches before parallel at the top). That will drive more lower body mass.
Learn that from Shark.

-Kin.

My lower body leads my downswing perfectly, but I never think about my lower body. All of my body movements are triggered by my lead shoulder control. It's called subconscious anticipation, and that's what timtim is talking about.

My arms, hands, and club are pulled down and through by the pivot of my body around my spine.

So, there are different ways to do it, but your body movements must lead your arms and hands.