Should you stall the hips on purpose?

[tomallinder]

I started using Golf MTRX. I am actually flabbergasted at my own swing sequence. My hips rotate 40 degrees on the back swing and then alternate accelerating and decelerating all the way through to the finish at 110 degrees. I am 55, been playing for 48 years and my driver swing speed is around 103-105. I really don't understand how I can decelerate the hips and release with arms and hands. My swing makes no mathematical or physical sense. I play a pretty good game of golf with it though. Thoughts?

[tomallinder]

LOL I completely agree with you. Try "stalling" your hips on the downswing... the golf swing happens too fast. Just like the old advice of "delaying the hit"; it can't be done.

[Hardballs]

Here's mark crossfield trying to explain it... . I think [VIDEO]http://youtu.be/B5EkYFp8ZPI[/VIDEO]

[DevinFitz]

Tom,

I think if you are swinging 103 with driver I would not consider messing with your hip action.  The deceleration you see tends to happen when the upper body and arms fire.  So far I have not seen anyone capable of physically trying to decelerate their hips. The drills in Golf MTRx for deceleration tend to have to do with engaging the upper body sooner and stabilizing the low body.

You seem to have good numbers and speed.  There are great golfers that don't have perfect deceleration with their hips and still manage to be great ball strikers.  I would be willing to guess most players that strike the ball well and have trouble with stability and deceleration would possibly have some strength and mobility issues in regard to the lower body and hip joints.  Golf MTRx was designed to measure hip rotation and to experiment with feel...

Next time you are at the range try a few things before you give up on MTRx.

1. Hit a few shots trying to manipulate your backswing rotation  number.  You mentioned you were at 40 so try 30 or 50, you might find a few degrees will completely change your shot shape. You may also find what you feel doesn't match your numbers.

2. Try firing your upper body a bit sooner you might see a change in deceleration...

3.  Don't give up solid contact for good data....

Feel vs. Real will always be an issues and identifying what actually works for you will take focus and creativity!  I can tell you in words what I feel and its a definition only I can relate to. In my opinion this is how we also can create myths and misinformation when it comes to helping each other improve.   So Golf MTRx will give you data based on "delay the hit" and if your ball striking improves save that data and return to it later  if the swing thought  "delay the hit"  turns into a straight block.

Golf MTRx measures the base or bottom link of the sequence of your swing and will show if the sequence is a little off.  Use it to discover new possibilities and what works for you.  I have been using it for hitting high soft short irons and find when my deceleration numbers are poor but I hit it the best and that is what matters to me the most.  So I use the app to keep me in check and take measurements I relate to.

I hope this helps in some way.

Devin

GOLF MTRx

[MrDC]

Kind of sounds like the Mike Bender piece Snap Speed in this month GD, where he says to brake the hips on the downswing to create snap speed with the arms, and then brake again with the shoulders to do it again, like snapping a towel, seems like a lot to think about in a fluid swing, but maybe there's something there.

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/2014-08/mike-bender-power-at-impact-with-zach-johnson

[Hardballs]

Yup, it makes sense but I thinks it all happens naturally to the better golfer, (not me) the sequence of hips..shoulder.. arms.. club head .. arms.. hips.. shoulder. If a regular golfer was to start thinking of this sequence while on the course he might end up break dancing!

[tomallinder]

Devin, I think the Golf MTRX is a great tool. I have learned much from it. For example, My hip turn on the backswing was 50-55 degrees which is a bit much and my hip turn at impact was only 10-12 degrees. What I have done is anchor my right leg better and decreased the backswing hip turn to 40 degrees and now can get open 20-25 degrees at impact which is much better numbers.

I am not really paying too much attention to the score but am trying to get consistent with the range of hip turn.

My statement regarding my swing making no physical or mathematical sense had nothing to do with the Golf MTRX. Its my swing which was self taught from an early age. What I mean is that: How do I generate the speed I do without any decel (my decel number is always 0; I have never, ever gotten better than 0)? What happens is my shoulders and arms release the club from a moving platform. I must have amazing hand-eye coordination to be able to pull that off.

It is my desire to keep working with the Golf MTRX to get better numbers and obtain a better release which will enable me to generate more speed and get solid contact consistently. I play a good game of golf but like everyone else, I can get better, much better.

Thanks for a great tool!

[tomallinder]

I am going to give that a try... Thanks for the link!

[GeoffDickson]

I never thought it was possible for this to be  conscious movement but was aware of the arguments that it needed to be happen….So I asked a sport biomechanist just the other day whether it could be done on purpose...after he stopped giggling, he said that there was no chance a golfer could consciously slow down there hips with any sort of consistency or accuracy. It does happen, but is an unconcious consequence/reaction of OTHER things happening in the golf swing.