Golf Tips - Hip Movement During the Swing

The hips play a very important role in the golf swing. The problem is that most people do not understand the correct motion that they must make. The correct move is NOT a simple turn of the hips from the top of the swing, as many would believe.

In fact, the correct move is a slight lateral shift, or "bump", and then a turn. If you look at players like Tiger Woods and Nick Faldo, you will see a perfect example of this. These guys don't just turn their hips away from the top. Instead, their weight shifts laterally to the left side, which drops everything (arms and shoulders) into the slot. From there, they can just turn and fire through the ball as hard as they want.

Most over the top slicers do just the opposite of what Tiger and Nick do. They turn, instead of shifting, then turning. When they turn, their right arm and shoulder throw over the top of the plane.

Here is a checklist for you to develop the correct hip movement:

1. From the top, feel that you "bump" your hips laterally and slightly out to the right (out to right field). This will drop your arms into the inside slot, from where you can attack the ball.
2. Once you achieve that nice inside position, you are home free! It's now just a matter of turning your hips and firing through the ball aggressively.

Keep in mind not to shift your upper body along with your hips. It's simply a lower body shift.