How to Make a Centered Hip Turn

[mvmac]

Can be a common mistake for golfers to slide their hips back and/or not turn them enough on the backswing. The rear hip has to keep "cranking" back, helps sequence the arms with the torso turn and sets up a lot of good pieces to achieve Key#2 (weight forward at impact).

 

 

To do this the lead knee has to increase in flex and rotate inwards a bit as the rear leg decreases in flex. Note that due to this "knee linkage" each player's hips are level at A1 (address) and their rear hip is higher than their lead hip at A4 (top of the backswing). You'll also notice that each player has their rear hip pocket reach the center line.

If you wanted to check these alignments for yourself but it's a pain in the butt (pun intended) to film a posterior view, you can check it like this.

At A1 the rear hip joint is over the rear foot and at A4 it will be inside the rear heel (half a ball to a ball).

 

 

[Abu3baid]

Great visual! A very good check point indeed! Thanks

[billchao]

This is great stuff, @mvmac !

[14ledo81]

Good stuff.  Something I am working on right now.

@mvmac , should I be taking some posterior view video to track my progress on this?

[Ernest Jones]

That is a great video and that posterior view really makes it easy to see whats going on. You should do one with Michelle Wie.

[mvmac]

Cool pic of Lexi's hip turn from A1-4

Video here

Good stuff.  Something I am working on right now.

@mvmac , should I be taking some posterior view video to track my progress on this?

Good question, I added this bit to the first post.

If you wanted to check these alignments for yourself but it's a pain in the butt (pun intended) to film a posterior view, you can check it like this.

At A1 the rear hip joint is over the rear foot and at A4 it will be inside the rear heel (half a ball to a ball).

[14ledo81]

Cool pic of Lexi's hip turn from A1-4

Video here

Quote:

Originally Posted by 14ledo81

Good stuff.  Something I am working on right now.

@mvmac , should I be taking some posterior view video to track my progress on this?

Good question, I added this bit to the first post.

If you wanted to check these alignments for yourself but it's a pain in the butt (pun intended) to film a posterior view, you can check it like this.

At A1 the rear hip joint is over the rear foot and at A4 it will be inside the rear heel (half a ball to a ball).

Ahh..  Thanks.  That makes it easier.

[isukgolf]

You had mentioned this issue in my swing thread ... While I tired to correct it, this really helps to see what I need to try and achieve ... I have a golf trip in 48 hrs ... Need to go to the range tonight and try this out!

[tye203]

Very helpful now I want my coworker to tape my swing for me tomorrow when we play. Lol I was sliding my hips at first. Then I started to flex my front knee but dipping and it was causing my to top the ball. I think I get what I'm suppose to do now. I'm going to head to the course tomorrow early and practice my swing and see how well it works.

[isukgolf]

Update: Went to the range to practice the above video ... wow I am impressed ... while a bit awkward at first, but I was amazed at how straight the ball went (driver that is) and the distance ...  like @tye203 to be tops with my irons...

It also felt as if I was "turning farther than I ever have ... flex the right knee toward the ball and explode into the ball .. it felt good.

[mvmac]

To anyone trying to implement this. The centered hip information ties into Key #1 and the point of the thread is just to observe what good players do. So if you're trying to work on a centered hip turn and you hit a bad shot, there is something else that is off, the piece isn't being implemented properly and/or it's not your priority piece.

[taxgolf]

Really nice clip! Thanks for sharing.

[mpb1472]

Great stuff! I tend to think of my right rear shoulder turning behind head but I think it leaves hips not turning enough. Does focusing on right rear pocket only make it work better?

[BENtSwing]

I was watching an old "Playing Lessons" w/ Streelman and he gave a backswing tip, to feel like you "get your back to point at the target." I though it was a good "feeling" to achieve what this thread is about.

Couple things that happened when I was practicing this...1) I felt I was over-swinging, and 2) my right elbow was all over the place.

Looking at the pics below, I see Tiger's right elbow is in nice and tight, but the guy below him is pretty "disconnected." Should I be trying to get the picture to look more like Tiger, or just kind of "whatever works?" Also, is the result meant to be a faster swing/more distance? Only asking because it seems like the only reason for having the right elbow float like the other guy would be to get a little more leverage/power.

Quote:

[Gboroman]

Good stuff.  Curses to Jim McLean and his X-Factor for teaching me to restrict my hip turn on the backswing.  Curses to Jim Flick and Bob Toski for teaching me to slide my hips and finish in a reverse C.  Curses to my back for the pain it is now in.  One question, though: Is my hip over rotation affecting my clubhead speed?

[mvmac]

Depends on the player and their issues. If the right arm lifting causes problems on the downswing, then that's something that would need to be addressed. For Fred Couples, the "flying" elbow doesn't negatively effect him so it's all good.  In general adopting a centered hip turn will help keep the rear arm "in check", stop it from sliding behind the short seam and/or flexing past 90 degrees.

This thread is here to identify a commonality of many of the game's best player and a centered hip turn fits into Key#1 by adding to the detail and knowledge of how to make a full turn with a steady head. I think a thread like this is cool because it can show examples of players with a variety of backswing "styles" but Key #1 is always there.

Good stuff.  Curses to Jim McLean and his X-Factor for teaching me to restrict my hip turn on the backswing.  Curses to Jim Flick and Bob Toski for teaching me to slide my hips and finish in a reverse C.  Curses to my back for the pain it is now in.  One question, though: Is my hip over rotation affecting my clubhead speed?

Little off topic but I don't think Jim McLean ever wanted players to "restrict" their hips. Restrict in the sense that the golfer would want to turn them as little as possible to create maximum "coil". McLean's says the hips should turn between 40-65 degrees, those are his model numbers. At least that's what he says here.

I think the X-Factor was more about identifying the "gap" good players have between their hip and shoulder turn, mostly just a function of anatomy.

[Gboroman]

mvmac,

I don't mean to hijack this thread with a discussion about X Factor, but the article you reference is about McLean's New X Factor.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Original X Factor written by McLean in the early 90's measured the gap at the top of the back swing and taught to restrict hip turn while turning shoulders to maximize the X gap.  However, Nicklaus talked about not thinking about restricting hip turn, but his bent right knee served to do so.  That doesn't really make sense to me, but anyway, McLean came out with the New X Factor, which measures the gap at the point of impact and promotes maximizing hip turn to the front.

Either way, I believe your information regarding a centered hip turn is critical and something I really need to work on.  Thanks.

[late347]

mvmac, I don't mean to hijack this thread with a discussion about X Factor, but the article you reference is about McLean's New X Factor.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Original X Factor written by McLean in the early 90's measured the gap at the top of the back swing and taught to restrict hip turn while turning shoulders to maximize the X gap.  However, Nicklaus talked about not thinking about restricting hip turn, but his bent right knee served to do so.  That doesn't really make sense to me, but anyway, McLean came out with the New X Factor, which measures the gap at the point of impact and promotes maximizing hip turn to the front.  Either way, I believe your information regarding a centered hip turn is critical and something I really need to work on.  Thanks.

Nicklaus obviously turned his hips a good amount. Hip joint is just a ball-socket joint which connects thigjbone into the pelvis. Turning the pelvis througj the knee and feet action, is also turning the entire upper body into the same way the pelvis in the backswing. This swinging effect caused by the pelvis allows comfortable shoulder turn at about 90deg or more. Sam snead and nicklaus were both classic swing users. I think the difference was that snead was more upright with his legs at the end of backswing and also at impact. Snead also had maybe narrower driver foot stance. Nicklaus didnt quite straighten his backleg same as snead in backswing. At impact it looked to my eye that snead also had more straight front leg than nicklaus. Bubba also does same kind of backswing on pga tour.