Some help please

[Bobirdie]

Hows it going guys,just looking for some advice on my hip rotation during my golf swing.

I have great set up,my backswing is great,great swing plane,good position at top.

On down swing i have a tendancy to slide my hips towards target instead of rotating them causing me to drop the club inside resulting in a pull hook or a high push.

Any drills to try help me solve this demon lol

 

[RGuk]

Hi Bobirdie! Welcome to the forum.

What do you play off?

Pull Hook or Push......not the same problem, I suspect.

a "real" Hook and a Push, well, sure!

I'm taking it that your divots aim right of target?

Sadly, despite playing half decent golf, I have no insight into the role of the hips or how to train them to do something else. I would rather sheepishly suggest you look at what's going on with your arms in the downswing....I bet you are just getting the club way inside ("Jammed", as David Leadbetter would say) and fixing this will in turn change the way you unwind (or not) your bottom half.

If you simply slide towards the target and don't unwind nicely, then a push is the most common result.

 

[birdieman]

Bobirdie I have exactly the same issue.

One thing to do is point your left foot about 30-40 degrees open toward target, by doing this encourages hip rotation rather than hip slide as your leg is effectively part rotated already.

Best couple of swing thoughts are the old Ben Hogan ones that many teachers still use -
1. imagine a wall behind you at address running parallel to target, you have a bungee cord from your left hip attached to the wall directly behind you. When you make the backswing you have tensioned the cord and when you make the downswing imagine that cord pulling your left hip towards the wall - that encourages rotation.
2. At address imagine a fence post where the left side of your left foot is pressed against it. When you make the downswing you physically can't slide hips far as the post would stop you.

That's all I can offer on this but it did come from a respected PGA pro's mouth this year.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I have to agree with birdieman. Since my pro got me to open my stance by turning my left foot out I am hitting through it much better and not fighting to get the club back to the ball. I am making a fuller turn with both my shoulders and hips and when I transfer back onto the downswing my left hip clears giving me more room for the arms to come back down and through the ball. It has given me a more solid strike and I can even get the odd one to draw now

 

[Cernunnos]

A combination of pull hooks & pushed shots can be caused by players with overactive hands & a few other faults to do with trying to produce a draw shot & yet getting trapped in the downswing. Do check that you've not crept a little too close to the ball at address & that your posture is good. A slight slough at address can have the same effect, all part of getting lazy at address. I know, as I've been there & been guilty of all the above to produce a combination of pulled & pushed shots.

As for the hip slide into the ball, this could be all part of trying to bring the club down on an inside to out path combined with an incorrect feeling of weight transfer through the shot. Tray & feel more compact & centred in your swing, until you can feel a proper weight transfer, which should litterally be a feeling of more weight on one foot then the other, try lifting the front foot slightly on the backswing bringing it down but with a braced left leg on the down/through swing to finish. This used temporarily might work to promote the correct feeling. Seeing a pro to veiw your swing is really the best course of action as he, or she will be able to spot anything that needs addressing.

Now my advice, though some pro's might disagree with it, is that if you naturally have a gentle fade shot as your shot, don't fight it as a soft landing ball can be seen as an advantage when trying to score around the & into the green. Get your stance & address right, combined with good posture & straight & faded shots will follow.

Dispertion will get better too. I really think too much emphasis is laid on getting length off the tee, & on the course, when good tempo & timing combined with using the correct ball & good quality equipment will handle length issue without needing to promote draw shots. A slice will certainly rob any player of many yards, but a gentle slight fade, will mean only the loss of a few yards at most in carry distance. But of course this is a seperate subject but very much related to what I think may actually be going on.

 

[Tommo21]

Best drill of all, go see the pro.

 

[Bobirdie]

just back from a 5 day golf academy course.

to be honest they were good at what they do but they struggled to cure my hip problem.

Although they pointed it out to me,have improved many aspects of my game,this hip problem just gives me too much inconsistency.

play off 12 atm mate.

the reason i get a pull hook too is when i think about rotating my hips i end up coming over the top on my down swing lol.need a bit of in between lol.

cheers guys i will try the above drills

 

[Dave3498]

Birdieman's solution of opening your leading foot is a good one, and a pretty standard fix, but don't do it until you have lined up squarely to your target line. This is what Tom Lehman does. He stands squarely to the ball in the conventional manner and then opens his stance before making his swing, being careful not to alter the position of the rest of his body. If you open your stance before you address the ball you're heading for a slice.

 

[Cernunnos]

the reason i get a pull hook too is when i think about rotating my hips i end up coming over the top on my down swing lol.need a bit of in between lol.

Ouch that is a bad problem. & I think you've answered your own question. Don't do it.

Did you say you've tried getting your golf pro's advice on the above problem?

Really sounds as if you are getting a big cast & cut swing going on there somehow (scratches head)

My only other addition I can come up with is don't try too hard & work on a firm rooted base to braise yourself. Perhaps feeling the right knee is coming more up to the left.

Actually, best advice & drill as Tomo says, go see your pro, get him to sort it & if your current pro can't solve your problems chances are you need a different pro.