Swing Advice

[JFlyers..]

I have only been golfing for about a year and struggle to golf under 100 on local courses. Last year I had a problem with hitting with power and I kinda know the problem. Its something to do with my hips.

Last year i involved absolutely no hip movement in my swing and was able to hit the ball perfectly fine. Straight eighty percent of the time with the occasional hook or draw. I just had no power at all. I would be lucky to drive it 180 yds. So this year i decided to involve the hips in my swing and it all went well on the driving range. It took about 150 balls to get it right and hitting it fine with my drives going about 225. Last week was my first time out this year and i tried to do the same thing that i did at the driving range and had no luck, I probably shot my worst round of golf ever and resorted back to how i hit the ball last year for the last 5 holes.

I dont know if I am missing something or if someone can give me some advice. I have been watching the videos by steve bishop to see if they will help but I wont know until i get a chance to go out on the driving range next week. I am also 17 years old if that helps.

Thanks for the help in advance

[Richie3Jack]

You've got the right idea. Hip flexibility and proper rotation of the hips on throughout the swing generates power. Look at the swings of any golfer who hits the ball a long way, regardless of how long they've played, type of swing, and size, they all have good, proper hip rotation throughout the swing.

John Daly is a perfect example. There are plenty of bigger golfers who workout a lot that can't come close to hitting the ball as far as he does. The guy hasn't lifted a dumbbell in his life. Yet he hits the ball a mile because of his fabulous hip rotation. The same could be said for Fred Couples.

Anyway, we'd have to see a video of your swing to find out what's really going on. But as far as hip rotation goes, that's the key to power and ideally you want your hips rotated 45-60 degrees at the top of your swing and 45-60 degrees at impact (the belt buckle should be pointing at the target at impact). You also want to start rotating the hips from the beginning of the downswing. A lot of people theorize that you should "bump the hips" or slide them forward THEN rotate them. But in reality you don't have time to bump or slide the hips and need to just rotate them from the beginning of the downswing and keep rotating them.

If you can get that proper rotation, and you may have to do hip stretching exercises to accomplish that, you will hit the ball a long, long way.




3JACK

[JFlyers..]

Ill see if I can get a video. Do you know which excercises are the better as I think that would help? And do you mean that your hip rotation is 45-60 degrees the other way at impact? I think it is most likely my timing of the rotation and possibly my knees somewhat collapsing. Ill look at other videos to see what is done with knee bending throughout the swing.