The Biggest Secret? Slide Your Hips

[Stretch]

This is a pretty long thread and I'm not sure if this video has been posted in here before. But it's new to me, anyway, and I think it's quite good.

[Chas]

Thank you for that excellent bit of video - and I don't care if it's been posted already or not :).

I'm working to reinforce the early hip bump followed by the hip turn. It is transforming my driving (it needed it .....), we'll see what it does to my iron play where the need is less apparent. But I'm sure it's there.

Wish I'd thought about this 10 years ago.

[mvmac]

Thanks for sharing the clip! Nick Starchuk has some great swings of tour players on his youtube page.

[inthecup]

Should this be a sticky? The topic is my winter practice goal. Not easy to do off a mat.

[walk18]

Originally Posted by inthecup

Should this be a sticky? The topic is my winter practice goal. Not easy to do off a mat.

Why wouldn't it be easy off a mat? You could practice the motion in your living room without a club even.

[1puttit]

EPIC thread. Lots of great info. Not sure why this isn't a sticky.

I was having all sorts of problems with my swing - hitting the ball fat, flipping, etc.. After reading this I realized I wasn't sliding my hips enough. Went to the range today and just worked on sliding my hips. What a huge difference!!! Flipping and fat shots are gone. Nice penetrating ball flight. THANK YOU!!

[Stretch]

Even the best golfers sometimes have to grotesquely exaggerate the feel they're looking for to get it to stick. What do you think our current #1 was working on here?

[bunkerputt]

I'm looking forward to going back and re-reading this thread.  I took a lesson and went from an extremely flat, push-draw kind of swing to a hands-high kind of swing.  My rotation action was geared for the overly flat downswing, which was necessary to keep the ball from duck-hooking.  The problem I've found now is with my hands in a better position, my turn tends to release the club very very quickly once the club gets parallel to the ground on the downswing with the hands in front of the right thigh.  The result is a shot that tends to be towards the toe with an extremely high trajectory.  I don't just mean high, I mean freakishly high, like hitting a wedge from 250+ when it stops.  I played with a long-drive competitor today and he was impressed at my height and hang-time (averaging 200+ feet @ 8.3 seconds).  I say impressed....really he was just shocked by it. The distance isn't much to shake a stick at as there is absolutely zero roll. The only conclusion I can come to is that the toe contact is a result of the left shoulder being pulled open by the hips and the height is from early release caused by rotation.  The shots go straight, just incredibly high.  I think I need to work on my sliding now

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Even the best golfers sometimes have to grotesquely exaggerate the feel they're looking for to get it to stick. What do you think our current #1 was working on here?

He'd get it more easily if he let his left knee go forward too!

[slabm7]

I've been having a problem with hitting the ball fat lately and started playing with a hip slide to start my swing to get my hands more forward at impact. So far its working great. My ball striking has improved greatly.

[nevets88]

I was working on hips forward today and I got to talking to the pro, who was hitting next to me. Nice guy but he said to me I was sliding my hips too much and recommended I rotate more aggressively. What a game. :-)

[iacas]

Originally Posted by nevets88

I was working on hips forward today and I got to talking to the pro, who was hitting next to me. Nice guy but he said to me I was sliding my hips too much and recommended I rotate more aggressively. What a game.

Of course he'd say that. He'd love it for you to start topping, fatting, and slicing. Then you might have to take a lesson from him.

[bunkerputt]

Originally Posted by iacas

The funniest thing about that video is that Tiger goes from 9 to 24 degrees - a 267% increase.

Arnold Palmer goes from 3 to 12 degrees. Now... I don't have a math degree (just degrees in medicinal chemistry and computer science), but that's more than 267%.

Anyway, the thing is bunk and is not why Tiger's inaccurate. You can't compare a simple rotary machine to the way a golfer hits a golf ball. Watch Fred Funk - he'll do a similar move. All (good) golfers do this.

You guys are missing the point.  The model students driver was smoking.  Smoking!  Not to mention that the robot fell apart when it tried to swing like Tiger.  If that doesn't prove a point better than logic and reason, I need to go back and study marketing some more.

[bunkerputt]

By the way, would someone mind addressing my concern about early and quick hip rotation in my swing in this thread here?  I'm hitting shots very high and straight, but slightly towards the toe.  I'm thinking this is caused by too early and aggressive hip rotation from the start of the downswing.  I'm doing a fall-in rotate hard kind of move instead of the slide, rotate move advocated here.

[saevel25]

I remember hearing the announcers talking about this one guy working on hitting a fade more often. The key move that the golfer said he worked on was to straighten his left leg at impact more. For a draw he would keep his left leg flexed more at impact. So is it easier to attack the ball from the inside if your left leg is a bit more flexed at impact? You were talking about it would be easier if his left knee would move forward as well, that only seems easier if the left knee has a bit of flex in it.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by bunkerputt

By the way, would someone mind addressing my concern about early and quick hip rotation in my swing in this thread here?

Too much rotation, not enough linear. Yep.

Originally Posted by saevel25

I remember hearing the announcers talking about this one guy working on hitting a fade more often. The key move that the golfer said he worked on was to straighten his left leg at impact more. For a draw he would keep his left leg flexed more at impact. So is it easier to attack the ball from the inside if your left leg is a bit more flexed at impact? You were talking about it would be easier if his left knee would move forward as well, that only seems easier if the left knee has a bit of flex in it.

Left knee flexed longer lets the hips (and left knee) go forward longer, yes. When the left knee straightens the forward stops and it's almost purely rotation.

[bunkerputt]

Originally Posted by iacas

Too much rotation, not enough linear. Yep.

Thanks.  I'm working on it.  Went to the range today and had a decent, albeit frustrating practice session with this.  I think when I do the pure-left to the target slide, it's hard for me to avoid standing up.  I have to kind of push forward and left some towards my left heel to keep my butt back and consequently my spine angle consistent on the downswing.  I also have a tendency to move my upper center too far forward which gets me into a position where it feels like I can't really apply any "hit" to the ball with the right side.  Face contact was somewhat scattered, but definitely more centered than on the toe.  Distance was about the same, but the trajectory was a completely different story.  My 8-iron was flying about as high as my 6 or 5 was flying before.  Divots were gigantic.  Haven't seen it on camera, so no clue if I'm getting the leg action right....

[bunkerputt]

Forgot to mention that I hit exactly one that really felt "compressed".  The ground is getting in the way right now, since that's mostly what I'm feeling, but if I can stay back enough to shallow out the attack and take the right kind of divot, I'm sure that shot would have felt perfect.  3/4 8-irons were travelling in the 170 downhill downwind area, so maybe 135-140 or so until I can get it and take a full swing.  I'll post video in a few days...