GOLFDIGEST.CO.ZA / JANUARY 2018 / 53◀ ◀ HIP SWAY AT THE TOP
T
he term “sway” is one of those general-purpose instruction
words every golfer has heard, but it can be confusing.
Are we talking about the hips? The upper body? Let’s
simplify it: The best players shift pressure over the back foot but
without swaying the whole body off the ball. Less-skilled players
exaggerate that pressure shift with a big body movement away from
the target. To do it right, feel like you’re moving your tailbone closer
to the target than it was at address (far left, top), but without letting
your head shift towards the target or over your back foot. The
SwingTRU study shows pros’ hips on average move 10cm towards
the target on the backswing, and high-handicaps’ hips move 6.5cm.
But it looks like the high-handicap is shifting away from the target
here (far left, bottom) – so what gives? We measure hip movement
using the tailbone as the reference point, and anytime you turn
your hips, your tailbone will move closer to the target. The key is, it
should move several centimetres closer, not six.
◀ ◀ SHOULDER TILT AT THE TOP
W
hen it comes to amateur players trying to hit the ball longer,
the advice that steals most of the attention is “Get more
turn.” But all turn is not created equal. If you focus only on
turning the shoulders and not how they turn, you’re missing
one of the key elements that separates you from the players on tour.
For many golfers, the tendency is to turn the shoulders relatively
level, as if you were turning to look behind you to talk to someone
(near left, bottom). But tour players tilt their shoulders in addition to
turning them. SwingTRU recorded the pros at 36 degrees of
downward shoulder tilt at the top of the backswing and high-
handicaps at 29.6 degrees. What does that mean for you? Feel like
your front shoulder moves directly towards the ground on your
backswing (near left, top). At first, this might seem like you’re only
tilting, but trust me, you’ll be turning, too.
◀ ◀ HIP TURN AT IMPACT
M
any of the swing mistakes amateurs make – like cutting
across the ball and hitting a slice – happen because the upper
body gets too active or active at the wrong time. Improving
how you use your arms and chest is useful, but changing how you use
your lower body also clears up some of those upper-body problems.
Hip turn at impact is a prime example. Beginners tend to stall the
hip rotation on the downswing and try to control the swing with
their hands and arms (right, bottom). Tour players have their hips turned
towards the target at impact almost twice as much (right, top). The
arms and club come through at the end of the chain reaction, not
the beginning. In SwingTRU, the pros average 36 degrees open
with the hips at impact; high-handicaps average 19.5 degrees open.
Try these feels to increase hip turn: Get your belt buckle facing
more towards the target than the ball at impact, and both knees
pointed at the target a split second later.
T
HIP TURN:
PROS ROTATE
THE HIPS
OPEN FASTER
THAN HIGH-
HANDICAPS.»BIG »D ATA»