A proper golf swing starts long before you take the club back, beginning with how you stand over the ball. Bending correctly from your hips is the absolute foundation of a powerful, consistent, and athletic golf swing. This article will show you exactly what a proper hip hinge feels like, provide a step-by-step guide to get into the right position, and offer simple drills to make it second nature.
You’ve probably heard coaches talk about "athletic posture" a hundred times, but what does it really mean? It all comes down to the hip hinge. When you set up to the ball correctly by bending from your hips, you accomplish several incredibly important things that set your swing up for success.
First and foremost, it creates space. A good hip hinge pushes your backside out and away, giving your arms and the club a clear path to swing freely around your body. Without this space, your arms get jammed, and you're forced to make awkward compensations like lifting up or swaying, which are both consistency killers. A proper hip hinge allows for the smooth, rotational movement that powers the modern golf swing.
Second, it establishes and maintains your spine angle. Your spine angle is the tilt of your upper body towards the ball. By hinging correctly at your hips, you set this angle at address. The goal is then to rotate around that stable spine angle throughout your backswing and downswing. If you bend from your waist or slouch your shoulders, that angle is weak and likely to change during the swing, leading to topped shots, fat shots, and a general lack of solid contact. But a hinge from the hips - the strongest joint for this movement - creates a stable axis for your body to rotate around.
Finally, it engages the right muscles. A proper hip hinge loads your glutes and hamstrings - the big, powerful muscles in your posterior chain. This is where effortless power comes from. A swing powered by just the arms and hands is weak and unreliable. A swing powered by the rotation of your hips and torso, supported by your glutes and legs, is how you generate clubhead speed without feeling like you're swinging out of your shoes.
This is probably the single biggest point of confusion for golfers trying to improve their posture. Many players hear "get into an athletic position" and immediately drop into a squat, flexing their knees deeply. While your knees should have a slight flex, the primary movement is a hinge at the hip, not a bend at the knees.
Imagine the difference between two simple movements:
In a golf setup, your rear end should move back, not down. This movement is what tilts your chest over the ball and allows your arms to hang naturally beneath your shoulders. If you find yourself squatting, your weight will be too in your heels or you'll be too upright, both of which restrict your ability to rotate properly.
To feel the difference right now, stand up straight. Place one hand on your lower stomach and the other on your lower back. Now, drop into a squat. You'll feel your torso stay upright. Now, reset. This time, push your hips backward as if someone is pulling on a belt loop behind you. Feel how your torso naturally tilts forward while your lower back stays flat? That’s hinging.
Let's put this all together into a repeatable routine you can use every time you approach the ball. Don't worry if it feels strange or exaggerated at first. Like the provided golf philosophy mentions, a correct golf setup feels unlike any other stance in daily life, but it looks perfectly athletic on camera.
Give yourself a final check. Your weight should feel balanced, maybe slightly more towards the balls of your feet, and you should feel tension in your hamstrings and glutes, not your lower back. This feeling tells you that your body’s true power sources are engaged and ready.
Mastering the hip hinge helps you avoid some of the most common and destructive setup flaws in golf.
This is where a golfer slouches over the ball, rounding their upper back and shoulders. It's a very weak and restrictive position. Hinging from the hips encourages a flatter back, pulling your shoulder blades back and down and engaging your core, setting a much more stable foundation for the turn.
This is the opposite extreme, where a golfer tries so hard to keep their back straight that they excessively arch their lower back. This puts a tremendous amount of strain on the lumbar spine and actually disengages the abdominal muscles. The feeling of a proper hip hinge is a neutral or flat back, not an arched one.
Caused by squatting instead of hinging, this posture leaves no room for the arms to swing. Players from this position often have to "stand up" during their downswing to create space, a move that destroys consistency and leads to thin shots or even shanks.
_p>You don't need to be at the range to work on your posture. In fact, practicing these motions at home without a ball is the quickest way to build new muscle memory._p>
This is the gold standard for learning the hinge feeling. Stand with your heels about 4-6 inches away from a wall. With your feet shoulder-width apart and knees soft, push your hips back until your butt taps the wall. Your upper body will tilt forward. This is a perfect hip hinge. If you have to bend your knees a lot to get there, you're squatting. If you feel it pinching in your lower back, you're arching. Focus on a flat back and the feeling of stretching your hamstrings as your backside touches the wall.
To check for a neutral spine, place a golf shaft or a dowel along your back. It should make contact in three places: the back of your head, between your shoulder blades, and your tailbone. Now, perform your hip hinge. If the club stays in contact with all three points, you are maintaining a perfect neutral spine. If the club comes off your lower back, you’re rounding (C-Posture). If the gap in your lower back increases, you’re arching (S-Posture).
This is a classic gym exercise that directly trains the hinge. Place a golf club across your shoulders, behind your neck. Standing with soft knees, perform the hinging motion by pushing your hips back and letting your chest lower toward the ground. Keep your back straight. Go as far as your hamstring flexibility allows, then squeeze your glutes to return to the standing position. Repeating this motion builds strength and awareness in the exact muscles you need for your golf posture.
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Building a powerful, repeatable golf swing starts with a foundation of good posture, and the hip hinge is the cornerstone of that foundation. Learning to bend from your hips creates space, maintains your spine angle, and engages the right muscles, preparing your body for a fluid and athletic rotation. Practice the feel, run through the setup steps, and you'll put yourself in the best possible position to hit quality golf shots.
It can be tough to know if you're getting your posture right without seeing yourself or having a coach. Getting that objective view is one of the ways we designed Caddie AI to simplify your practice. You can snap a quick photo of your setup, and our tools can analyze your posture, giving you instant, personalized feedback on key positions like your hip bend and spine angle. This helps you get it right from the start, building the confidence that you're working on the right things.
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