How to Coil in a Golf Backswing

Generating serious power in your golf swing comes from creating a big, powerful coil, yet it remains one of the most misunderstood parts of the game. It’s not about just swinging harder or turning as far as you can. Today, we’re going to walk through exactly what a proper coil is, why it matters so much, and give you some simple, actionable steps to build one for more distance and consistency in your own game.

What Even Is a “Coil,” and Why Should You Care?

Let's clear this up right away: a golf coil is not just a big shoulder turn. If it were that simple, everyone would hit it 300 yards. A true coil is about creating separation and tension between your upper body and your lower body. Think of it like a spring. As you turn your shoulders away from the target in the backswing, your hips should turn as well, but significantly less. This difference in rotation between your torso and your hips literally twists your midsection, storing massive amounts of energy.

A great analogy is wringing out a wet towel. You twist one end one way and hold the other end relatively still. The more you twist, the more tension builds in the middle. In your golf swing, your upper body is one end of the towel, and your stable lower body is the other. That stored energy is what you unleash in the downswing to create effortless clubhead speed. It’s the difference between throwing a ball with just your arm versus using your whole body. One is weak and inconsistent, the other is powerful and athletic.

This coiling action is the engine of a powerful swing. It's how players who aren’t big and bulky can still generate incredible speed. They have learned how to use their body as an efficient, powerful spring.

You Can't Coil Properly Without the Right Setup

You could have the best intentions in the world, but if your setup is off, a good coil is almost impossible. Your address position is the foundation that either allows your body to rotate correctly or completely prevents it. Before you even think about the turn, you have to get your starting position right.

1. Posture: The Athletic Starting Point

Many amateur golfers stand too upright or slump over the ball. A powerful setup starts by tilting forward from your hips, not your waist. Push your bottom back as if you were about to sit on a tall barstool, allowing your chest to come forward over the ball. Your back should remain relatively straight, not rounded. This posture gets you in an athletic position and gives your torso the space it needs to rotate freely. From here, your arms should hang straight down naturally from your shoulders without reaching or being jammed into your body.

2. Stance Width and Balance

To create a stable base, your feet should be about shoulder-width apart for a mid-iron shot. If your stance is too narrow, you’ll be wobbly and unable to create much turn. If it’s too wide, you’ll restrict your hip rotation entirely. Think about creating a sturdy platform that supports your aggressive turn. Your weight should be balanced 50/50 between your feet, centered over the balls of your feet, ready to move.

3. A Touch of Flair: Flared Feet

Here's a small adjustment that makes a big difference. Try flaring your trail foot (right foot for a right-handed golfer) out just a little, maybe 15-20 degrees. This simple move makes it anatomically easier for your trail hip to turn during the backswing, allowing you to create that vital separation against your upper body without straining. Similarly, flaring your lead foot slightly will help you clear your hips on the downswing.

Building the Coil: A Step-by-Step Guide

With a solid setup established, we can now build the coil. Remember, the theme here is rotation powered by the torso, not an up-and-down lifting motion with the arms.

Step 1: The Takeaway - A “One-Piece” Start

The first few feet of the backswing set the tone for everything else. You want to initiate the swing by moving the club, hands, arms, and chest away from the ball together as one unit. A common mistake is to snatch the club away with just the hands and wrists. Instead, feel like your chest or triangle formed by your arms and shoulders is doing the turning. This keeps the club on a good path and engages the big muscles of your body right from the start.

Step 2: Resisting with the Lower Body

This is where the magic of the coil truly happens. As your upper body continues to turn away from the target, your lower body needs to resist this turn. This doesn’t mean your hips don't turn at all - they do - but they must turn less than your shoulders. The key feeling is maintaining the flex in your trail knee (right knee for righties). Imagine that leg is a stable post screwed into the ground. While your shoulders are turning back, you're loading weight and pressure into the inside of that trail leg and foot. If your knee straightens or your hip sways laterally away from the target, you've lost the tension, and your coil has collapsed.

Step 3: Turning Your Back to the Target

For most golfers, a great checkpoint at the top of the backswing is to feel like the logo or number on your back is facing the target. This indicates a full shoulder turn. Don't worry about getting the club perfectly "parallel" at the top, that's dependent on your flexibility. The goal is to maximize your personal trunk rotation within your range of motion. Forcing it beyond what’s comfortable for you will only lead to a loss of balance and control.

Step 4: Putting it all Together - The Power of Separation

When you've done this correctly, you will have achieved what many coaches call the "X-Factor." At the top of your swing, your shoulders will have rotated roughly 90 degrees while your hips have only rotated about 45 degrees. This 45-degree difference is the separation - the stretched rubber band - holding all that potential power. From this loaded position, you are ready to unwind sequentially, an action that will produce impressive clubhead speed through the ball.

Two Common Coil Killers (and How to Fix Them)

Understanding the theory is one thing, executing it is another. Here are two of the most common faults thatdestroy a golfer's coil and some drills to fix them.

Mistake #1: The Sway

What it is: Instead of rotating around their spine an axis, many golfers shift their entire body weight laterally, away from the target, during the backswing. Their hips and upper body slide rather than turn.
Why it’s bad: A sway disconnects you from the ground, killing your power source. It also makes it incredibly difficult to get back to the ball consistently, leading to both fat and thin shots.
The Fix: The "Right Pocket Back" Drill. Place an alignment stick in the ground just outside your trail foot. As you make your backswing, focus on turning your hips so that your trail back pocket moves straight behind you, away from the ball, not sideways into the alignment stick. This forces a pure rotation instead of a lateral slide.

Mistake #2: The Reverse Pivot

What it is: This happens when a golfer's weight moves onto their front foot during the backswing, causing their spine to tilt *towards* the target.
Why it’s bad: A reverse pivot puts you in a terribly weak position at the top. From here, the only way down is a steep, "over-the-top" swing with the arms, which is a classic recipe for a slice and a severe lack of power.
The Fix: The Head-Against-a-Wall Drill. Set up in your golf posture with the top of your head lightly touching a wall. Perform your backswing motion without a club. Your goal is to keep your head in contact with the wall throughout the entire turn. If you are reverse pivoting, your head will press hard into the wall or move away from it. This provides instant feedback on whether you are staying centered as you rotate.

Drills to Ingrain the Feeling of a Coil

Here are a few drills you can do at home or on the range to really ingrain that feeling of separation and tension.

Drill 1: The 'Club Across Shoulders' Turn

The simplest drill out there. Get into your golf posture and lay a golf club across your shoulders, hugging it with your arms. Now, simply make your backswing motion. Your goal is to see a big difference between where the handle of the club points (representing your shoulder turn) and where your belt buckle points (representing your hip turn). This is a fantastic visual for understanding and feeling separation.

Drill 2: The Split-Stance Drill

Take your normal setup, then step your trail foot straight back about two feet, keeping just the ball of that foot on the ground for balance. From this position, try to make a normal backswing. You’ll find it’s very difficult for your hips to over-rotate. This stance physically restricts your hip turn, forcing you to feel what it's like for your upper body to turn and coil against a very stable lower half.

Drill 3: The Kneeling Drill

This one really isolates your upper body. Kneel on a soft towel or pad with your knees about shoulder-width apart. Grab a mid-iron and make some half-swings, hitting a ball off a tee. Since your lower body is completely neutralized, you have no choice but to learn how to generate rotational speed with your core and shoulders alone. It will immediately teach you the importance of a proper torso turn to create any power at all.

Final Thoughts

Building a powerful coil isn't about brute strength, it's about proper sequencing and creating tension between your upper and lower body. By focusing on a solid, athletic setup and feeling the separation on the way back, you unlock a massive (and often untapped) source of power and consistency. Instead of trying to smash the ball with your arms, you'll learn to use your body as a powerful spring.

Of course, translating these concepts from a practice range to the golf course is what it's all about. That's why we built Caddie AI. If you're ever on the course and feel your timing is off or your power has vanished, you can get instant guidance. Even better, you can snap a photo of a tricky lie or ask clarifying questions about swing mechanics - like how to *feel* that separation - and get a simple, personalized answer right when you need it, helping you turn practice thoughts into better real-world shots.