Hips open at impact--why?

[tommyj]

Hi everyone,


First time posting here. As per subject, can anyone explain its benefit in terms of power and consistancy? My hips are just slightly open at impact with almost sqaure shoulders. I can hit the ball far and straight but the contact is not consistant (fat/thin/toe). I have been working on opening hips more at impact recently with the hope of better consistancy and ball contacts. So far the results are less powerful shorts, inconsistancy in direction and ball contacts. Just want to find out if I am working on something beneficial to my problems. I know most of the pros have hips open at impact. But I don't know if it is related to the power or consistancy or ball contact or what. So please explain the reason behind it instead of just quoting that's what pros do.

Merry Christmas to you all.

Happy golfing.

[GregJWillis]

Re: Hips open at impact--why?

I'll address the consistency first: If the shoulders and hips are square at impact (where they were at setup), your hands would have had to also returned to that exact position at setup. During a swing there are forces that you put on the club as it's rotated around your body. The hands are going to have a hard time holding off that force and apply the proper timing to get the face returned back to it's perfect square position. By allowing the hips to rotate fully prior to impact, this causes the chest and shoulders to also begin to face the target. If your going to have a square face in this position, the trailing hand will need to be in a cupped (bent back) position. This position is as strong as it can be. This position can hold many more times the force of a position that is straight. To prove it, take your palm face up and hold a gallon of milk in you fingers. See how stable your wrist is if you let it bend all the way back verses trying to keep it straight?

As for power: Acceleration through rotation is a good source of power By allowing your hips and shoulders to fully rotate, you have maximized your potential and range of motion for those rotating parts. If you try to have your acceleration timed to meet at that one point (impact) and there are further positions that that rotation can go to, you will have to be extremely good at timing each part. This causes errors, that contribute to losses of power. If you are only worrying about making a full rotation with each part, then there is no "timing" to think about, only just "get there" position.

As for your trying to incorporate one aspect of the swing (just the hips rotating more), can cause you to get out of sequence. This is a critical part of a powerful swing...I use a bullwhip as an example. Thick handle and a thin tip. Throw the handle hard, and the rest takes care of it's self. The legs/hips are the handle, and the hands are the tip of the whip. Everything else in the middle has to go in sequence causing the other to start it's whip effect. This is easy to feel once you get in a relaxed state. Any items that is tense will fight the affect of the preceding action. So shoulders that have tension will not benefit from the action that your torso just put on them. Arms that are rigid and trying to hit the ball hard alone do not get the benefit of the full rotation of the shoulders whipping them around. All this simple bottom to top (big to small) whipping acceleration becomes such a wonderful synchronized motion that is easy to repeat once you relax.

[Simon Woo]

Re: Hips open at impact--why?

Hi Greg, what advice would you give to someone who is always pushing (mainly) and slicing (sometimes) the ball while trying to train for this impact position?

[GregJWillis]

Re: Hips open at impact--why?

...pushing (mainly) and slicing (sometimes) the ball while trying to train for this impact position?

Your lower body is outracing your upper body (shoulders/arms and hands). Start slow. Get your 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 shots going straight. Increase only to the next level when you are consistent at the lowest level. Go back 1 level if you have to. You will start to get the feel and when you get to 100%, you might be surprised at where you only need to be to get a full shot in. Most will over do just about everything about every aspect about the swing, thinking that more is always better. Seeing the massive cuts that the pro's take at the ball cause this. "I have to get to that full swing position first, then the rest will take care of it's self." When the opposite is true. Get to "your" maximum first. What you can control. What you body is able to handle, then slowly increase you flexibility and full swing arch/position. And you will see your results increase.

[Simon Woo]

Re: Hips open at impact--why?

You are so right, Greg. I can get about 90yds with my 7i half swing. A full swing (or whatever else I can muster) adds at most another 20yds to that. I've been practising for months and I'm still stuck there.

I might have misunderstood some things here. I thought the purpose of starting the downswing with the legs then hips then shoulders then arms was precisely to have the lower body outrace the upper body so that there is a lot of uncoiling power for impact. I've been trying to rotate the hips and then body and lastly let the arms catch up for that extra power. Is that wrong?

[GregJWillis]

Re: Hips open at impact--why?

You're not wrong, but what I meant about "Outracing" is that the lower body is getting out too far before the rest can catch up.

[Simon Woo]

Re: Hips open at impact--why?

Thanks Greg. I never thought I could be overdoing it.

I came across this drill where we are supposed to go through the swing right to impact position, then maintain that position and just swing to hit the ball (all the while maintaining this impact position). Any thoughts on this drill?

Thanks!