# hip turn



## gtballer (Apr 9, 2007)

I am 15 years old flexible and have strong hips but I tend to overturn them. I tried slowing my hips down but I feel like I am loosing power so how do I get just as much power by slowing my hips down because when I overturn my hips just everything goes wrong.

Thanks


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## 300Yards (Jan 23, 2007)

Overturning them on the backswing, or the forward swing? If it's the latter, I don't see how you can have too much hip turn.


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## gtballer (Apr 9, 2007)

its on the downsing. My hips are almost facing the target but my shoulders just don't keep up and they don't get back on target


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## stevel1017 (Apr 30, 2007)

result is a slice?


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## gtballer (Apr 9, 2007)

yes it is a slice not a very extreme one but one enough to get me into the woods and loose some distance


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## stevel1017 (Apr 30, 2007)

Had the same problem when I was young (oh so many years ago). I could bomb it when it went straight (very rarely). For me the problem was not in my hips, but in my release. Never got the club face square. Ball would start out on line, but curve to the right. I was leaving the club face open at impact


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## cbwheeler (Apr 9, 2007)

Think tempo. By slowing your tempo down, you'll effectively reduce the speed at which you turn your hips. You'll also have a much more repeatable swing. By controlling the tempo of your swing, you stay balanced better as well, which results in less wasted energy, better contact, more control, and in a lot of cases, more distance.

This is something I work on with a lot of students. They're amazed when they hit the ball the same distance or further with a slower tempo golf swing.

Throttle it back a notch and see what happens. Just don't forget to finish your swing.

It's also something I've been working on a lot lately. Today I hit 12/14 fairways, both of my misses being about 5 yards off. I also make a lot better contact with my irons than I used to with a faster tempo.


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## 300Yards (Jan 23, 2007)

Like CB said, slow the tempo down. You need to time the turn better, so that you can get a full release, and turn that unattractive slice, into a draw. Hard to say, without seeing your swing, but it could also be that you are releasing your wrists a bit to soon, and leaving the face open.


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## mstram (Jul 11, 2007)

gtballer said:


> its on the downsing. My hips are almost facing the target but my shoulders just don't keep up and they don't get back on target


While your hips / torso .. "core" has to defintely "kick" at the bottom of your swing, timing that motion with your arm swing is one of the fundamentals of the swing.

As you've found out, having your hips completely turned out of the way before your shoulders and arms have caught up, doesn't work. Neither will the opposite, i.e. excessively slowing down the hips while effectively speeding up the arms, ..hooks and snap hooks are sure to appear.

A great drill that I reccomend is Fred ShoeMaker's "Throw the club" drill from his book "Extraordinary Golf". The idea is to forget "golf swing" and just make a motion like you were trying to throw the club sidearmm as far as possible. If you have an old club and an empty range you can actually throw the club to feel and see the effects. If you "time" that throw properly the club will go straight down the range. Overdo the arm swing or hip clear and the club will be thrown way off line.

Even if you don't actually throw the club, if you make a few energetic "fake throws", you should feel how your body motion and arm swing interact to produce the most coordinated result.

Mike


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## Foster4 (May 2, 2007)

hips and shoulders should be around a 45* turn when you make contact


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## Foster4 (May 2, 2007)

Fast hips is a good thing....now you have to teach your shoulders/arms how to keep up. Should have a slight pause at the top of the swing and since you have trouble keeping up with your hips, start the shoulder turn and arms on the downswing resisting the hip turn as long as possible...if you have fast hips they'll catch back up...it'll make for a powerful swing.


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## RingerPro (Apr 5, 2007)

gtballer said:


> I am 15 years old flexible and have strong hips but I tend to overturn them. I tried slowing my hips down but I feel like I am loosing power so how do I get just as much power by slowing my hips down because when I overturn my hips just everything goes wrong.
> 
> Thanks


This is a common misconception that the hips either go too fast or too far.

In fact it's DIRECTION that's the problem. We REQUIRE speed to hit the ball so there is no reason to fear it. 

Study this diagram carefully. Left hip is active in the backswing, then the right hip is active on the forward swing. Too many folks think it's the reverse.










I also recommend my walk through drill...
YouTube - www.golfinstruction.biz - Walk Through Drill


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## golfmonke (Jul 16, 2007)

I wouldnt worry about or think about rotating your hips fast on the downswing. I see a lot of jerky motions ruining a lot of amateurs swings. I also wouldn't worry about restricting your hip turn on the backswing against your shoulder turn, this ruins many amateurs swings as well.


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## indiginit (Jun 13, 2007)

nice thread... i can relate all too well.

in my limited experience with my own homemade swing, the hips cant do anything by themselves. if they are off, fast, slow, whatever, its because they are trying to make up for an inappropriate torso movement. i open up my target side too fast and either hit a high slice or low, toed, hook... both because the clubface does not re-square on impact.

i think the tempo advice is spot-on. my mid-round fix (sometimes-hehe) is to slow down my tempo if i'm going left or shift my weigh slightly forward(target-side) at address if i'm going right (the attention to pre-shot weight distribution makes me concentrate on my weight shift and resulting shoulder timing. DISCLAIMER: APPROACH THIS LAST IDEA WITH EXTREME CAUTION IF YOU BATTLE THE HATED REVERSE-WEIGHT-SHIFT) 

someone mentoned lagging wrists? does anyone care to expound on that? how would one tell? 

MSTRAM!!!- what a great image for me! i played for years as a power-sidearmer in disc golf. i can hardly wait to throw that old putter. hehe

also, a swing thought keeps my lower body quiet with shorter clubs. ---"fire the knee"--- you have to wait for a late release to pull off the 'knee-fire' feeling (backside knee)... a real neat feeling once you can pull it off. seems to generate more spin too.. (why?). i had to learn the contact, then the alignment on this one... make sure you try this one at the range first. 

for the original poster... this may be too simple, but... have you tried moving the ball forward an inch or so? sometimes that magically cures my 'slice' if i'm making good swings but still moving it a bit to much left-to-right off the tee. for some reason, my ball position seems to move back as the round wears on, and i typically hit more shots right. i would still bet your answer lies in tempo, but sometimes it really is something simple.

hope there was a nugget of good info in there somewhere for you guys and gals.



i'd like to hear more about that wrist comment if possible, cant see the poster from this screen.


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## Richy Young (Oct 15, 2006)

like has been said i dont think you can have to much hip turn its about building up the muscle control to do it in a smooth rythmic motion, the weight shift and solid strike will give you more power if thats what your after

45* hip turn, 90* shoulder turn, good knee bend, take a look at the posistion and plain while holding the pose if your happy with what you see let the hips start the downswing, keep your eye on the ball and unwind..


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