Importance of the Hips in the Golf Swing

[mvmac]

14 hours ago, Single Length Irons Guy said:

Would it make sense for instructors to work on hips first when starting to work with a new student?

Depends on what the student's priority is.

11 hours ago, Single Length Irons Guy said:

Straighten the right knee, but not completely, right?

Right.

 

[Jack Watson]

I was taught to maintain a stable right shin/knee on the bs.  It's supposed to work with the left knee breaking in and down in that method.  So the tilt is from the low left knee/hip. I was wondering what the result of that was for me a couple years later.  I ingrained the move on the range and my right knee does move but not much. 

I have not thought about much for the last couple years except hands/club.

So I was looking at some video taken looking at my backside.  

(Opposite of face on).   My right hip doesn't elevate going back but it does slide forward some as the left knee breaks in.  So my right femur moved but the right knee stayed pretty much.

This is all by top of bs.  So without thinking about it over time my tailbone slides some in the bs as the left knee breaks in.  This is all totally unconscious to me-I had to look at video to see what was happening.  So for me I don't have to make an effort from the top to get left it's just there or happens or whatever.  To me it's like the swing itself moves me more than I make a move.  Interestingly by impact my left hip is not way way forward of its address position.  It's forward but I dunno not excessively.  Early ds it's like my right hip is moving back where it came from at address but slightly down.

From dtl line view I have a touch of ee but it's not bad.  Impact position face on looks quite nice.  Dtl view of impact shows I could get more open ideally.

So I have a slight I think it's called reverse hip slide as a result of being taught to maintain the right shin angle on the bs.

Its not causing me noticeable problems.  It's not a model movement but it works for me I haven't had injury troubles.

Its interesting what the body will do if left alone.  

So I agree,  if you study a lot of great golfers many extend the right leg on the bs.  Doing so will create a more model movement/centered hip turn.  

I don't think for myself though that being taught to maintain the right shin angle was a bad thing.  I think I worked on that and breaking in the left knee on bs quite a bit when I was taking instruction.

I never was taught to slide forward that all just happened at some point.  If you think about it if you feel pressure in the right foot in the bs and the knee stays stable and the left knee kicks in and down you will slide a bit depending on how much you are putting into the swing.  Physics is happening.  I don't know if that was my teachers intent but that's been the result.  I just like not focusing down there anymore.  I hit terrible when I was first working on this couldn't even play on course.

So call me weird but I don't mind what happened to me with being taught what I was.  It is absolutely not however the modern model

It can't work without that left knee doing its job.  It's more of an old school anachronism anymore in relation to modern golf.

When you get an idea how it works and then look at some old video you realize what great athletes they were.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2017 by Jack Watson

[Jack Watson]

The more I consider this the more I place the importance on the left knee breaking in more than I place importance on extending the right leg.  Just my opinion here... 

Its interesting because you have people who hip sway going back and I am in agreement that's very bad.  That's basically opposite of what good golfers do.

I think if you maintain the right shin angle as a righty going back everything else can drop,slide,fire or what have you and you can still be in good balance.

Edited May 14, 2017 by Jack Watson

[mvmac]

44 minutes ago, Jack Watson said:

The more I consider this the more I place the importance on the left knee breaking in more than I place importance on extending the right leg.  Just my opinion here...

Yes those moves go together. What you may have to feel to get it done can be a very individual thing.

3 hours ago, Jack Watson said:

When you get an idea how it works and then look at some old video you realize what great athletes they were.

Yes the old-school guys had a lot more "freedom" with their lower body movements.

[Antneye]

In my swing thread Iacas posted the following (bottom set of pictures): 

This has me looking into the hips and I seem to be getting the proper angles, but I have the hips finishing much closer to the ball than at address.  As I try to work on getting my weight forward and the hips in the right position I am feeling an enormous strain on my left hip joint.  I cannot find anything on here about what the hips should look like in the finish position DTL and whether this should feel as stressful as it does.  Everything I can find all seems to be focused on the backswing.positions.  

I'm hoping this is the right place to ask what the hip finish position should look like relative to address position.

TIA!

[Vinsk]

I use the V1 golf app. It has a library of tour pro swings both DTL and FO. It's worth the price as you can put your own swings on there with great analyzing tools as well. The swings are in hi-def slow mo so easy to analyze. Really can help with being able to see the movements at every second of the swing.

[Jack Watson]

I like this visual face on view of the kinda rocking hip look showing the tilt from face on.  This view simplifies the tilts in my brain.

 

[iacas]

Not a fan of this look at A4:

[mvmac]

On 11/24/2017 at 1:16 PM, iacas said:

Not a fan of this look at A4:

Yes, I've noticed that with a lot of their avatars. Greg Norman had a similar look when they measured him. They call it the "virtual spine". What also looks odd to me is the way the left thigh/femur is positioned.

Here's another example that is a bit more normal looking. Almost like the "camera" angle is off. I can see the outside of the right heel in both pics.

 

[iacas]

5 minutes ago, mvmac said:

Yes, I've noticed that with a lot of their avatars.

Right. The camera angle seems a bit off, but that seems to be what you get when you click their face-on view, for some reason.

The hip slants are illustrated pretty well there, yes.