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Golf Hip Turn: Why You’re Probably Doing It Wrong

Mike Malaska has been putting out some great videos on his YouTube channel recently. This one with Eric Cogorno, in which he breaks down what should actually be happening with the hips in the golf swing was particularly illuminating.

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To summarise, Malaska contends that:

  1. The instruction to “turn” your hips is confusing golfers, particularly in the backswing.
  2. The instruction (and motion) for the backswing should instead be to move your right hip back in a straight line away from the ball (as if you were stepping backwards).
  3. As the downswing progresses your right hip should stay back while your left hip (or butt cheek if you prefer) goes back to meet it.
  4. As you reach impact your left hip should then pull back as your left leg straightens (without the knee locking)

The goal here is to keep your pelvis away from the ball. When we’re instructed to rotate we end up moving our pelvis towards the ball, resulting in early extension.

I’ve tried it, and moving the hips in this way undoubtedly cures early extension. On camera at least my hip movement certainly looks more in-line with the way the pros move and the touche line is maintained. Of course, for this to work in anger, the arms will now need to sync up with the new body positions and lower handle at impact.

At the moment, I’m sticking with the Manuel De La Torre method. But this video from Malaska, and this one from Monte Scheinblum have certainly given me food for thought on hip turn.

Discussion and plenty more thoughts in this thread over at GolfWRX.

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About David McSweeney

David is one of the founders of Golfer Logic, and on a mission to improve his swing, while sharing advice, tips and "eureka!" moments with the GL community.

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