Hips

[greenail]

I was at the range today and have been having tons of problem with my irons lately, specificaly my short wedges. i used to hit my irons good and couldn't hit my driver ever, now i have the opposite problem. Oddly toward the end of my last bucket I decided to try to straighten my back out a bit because it was feeling a bit sore. What I actually did was rotate my hips a few degrees forward. amazingly all my shots started to look great, with a nice high trajectory and nice and straight, vs shanks and low slices. I'm wondering if anyone knows of any info on the relation of the hips to the spine and what the optimal angle is. It seemed to allow me to move my whole body much easier, and I guess since i sit in a chair all day long my hips are not used to being in that position.

Thoughts?

[georgep]

I don't know exactly what the optimum angle is, but it makes a huge difference when you bend at the waist with a straight back. You give yourself a lot more room to swing. I've seen pros demonstrate proper posture by 1) taking their stance, 2) standing straight, 3) putting a slight bend in the knees, and 4) bending forward at the waist while keeping the back straight. Then your arms can hang naturally at address and you can swing through to a full finish. If you keep this posture through your swing, it makes it much easier to make good contact. No chunks (unless you dip) or sculls (unless you straighten you knees or pull up)!

[iacas]

I was at the range today and have been having tons of problem with my irons lately, specificaly my short wedges. i used to hit my irons good and couldn't hit my driver ever, now i have the opposite problem. Oddly toward the end of my last bucket I decided to try to straighten my back out a bit because it was feeling a bit sore. What I actually did was rotate my hips a few degrees forward. amazingly all my shots started to look great, with a nice high trajectory and nice and straight, vs shanks and low slices. I'm wondering if anyone knows of any info on the relation of the hips to the spine and what the optimal angle is. It seemed to allow me to move my whole body much easier, and I guess since i sit in a chair all day long my hips are not used to being in that position.

I don't know what angle you're talking about either, but I would assume something close to perpendicular is good... your spine tilts away from the target a little bit and your left hip is a little higher at address than your right. If it's not 90 degrees, it's close. I think it's physically impossible to be off more than a few degrees...

And square to the target line or just a tiny bit open, but I don't think that's what you were asking. In fact, I still have no idea what angle you're really talking about.

[Chas]

All of that is good advice, georgep, but I would add that there is the other dimension to think about as well, namely that of the target line. I recently discovered that I had developed a pronounced sideways lean of the upper body in the backswing in the direction of the target, with my hips moving in the opposite direction. Of course this tilting had to be reversed on the downswing, with unpredictable results (too-frequent fat or thin shots). I now focus on minimizing lateral hip movement and maintaining a constant spine angle in the target line as well as forwards, and the results have been very gratifying. I am now much less likely to hit a shot fat or thin, and my carry distance is much more consistent as a result. A guy hitting next to me on the range pointed out my problem, bless him. I owe him a bucket of balls at least.

[rembrandt]

I'd rather not talk about the hips (one of mine is made of Titanium) but what I do with my irons is open my stance some resulting in a shorter back swing and better wrist breaking at impact. Works for me and has for many years. I do get a straight or faded shot however and thats the only negative I can come up with. Jack did it that way, just wish I could putt like him!