How to Practice the Hip Turn in Golf

The hip turn is your swing’s engine, yet most golfers treat it like a passenger. They sway, stall, or spin out, losing the effortless power they see better players generate. If you want a more powerful and consistent golf swing, learning to use your hips correctly is non-negotiable. This guide will provide simple, actionable steps and drills to help you practice and perfect this fundamental movement.

Why Your Hip Turn is the Secret to a Better Swing

Forget trying to generate power just with your arms. The true source of force in the golf swing comes from the ground up, starting with your feet and gets amplified by the powerful rotational muscles in your hips and core. Think about it like winding up and then releasing a giant spring. The deeper you can rotate your hips in the backswing and the faster you can unwind them in the right sequence on the downswing, the more speed you deliver to the golf club without a lot of extra effort.

The golf swing is a rotational action. As we learned in our complete guide to the golf swing, the club moves in a circle around the body, powered mainly by the turning of your hips and shoulders. A proper hip turn does two critical things:

• It Creates Depth and Space: On the backswing, turning your hips allows your upper body to coil behind the ball. This creates the necessary space for your arms to swing down freely on the correct path without getting stuck.
• It Dictates the Correct Sequence: The downswing starts from the ground up. Before your shoulders or arms even think about moving, your hips should start to unwind toward the target. This sequence is what creates "lag" and multiplies clubhead speed through impact.

When you neglect the hip turn, you end up lifting the club with your arms, leading to a weak, disconnected, "over-the-top" swing. Mastering the hip turn brings everything together for a swing that feels both powerful and fluid.

Understanding the Correct Motion: The Backswing and Downswing

The hip turn isn't one single movement, it's a tale of two distinct parts - the backswing and the downswing. Confusing the two is a common mistake that leads many golfers down a frustrating path. Let's break down each one. All instructions are for right-handed golfers, lefties, please reverse.

The Backswing: Winding the Spring

The goal of the backswing hip turn is to create a powerful coil by rotating while maintaining your posture. The feeling you want is your right back pocket turning back and away from the target line, not sideways away from the target.

A great moment for many players is understanding that the hips shouldn’t turn quite as much as your shoulders. This dissociation - where your shoulders have turned, say, 90 degrees and your hips have only turned around 45 degrees - is what creates tension and stored-up energy in your core. You should feel a stretch across your lead lat and your trail glute.

Imagine you're in a tight hallway and can't shift a great deal side-to-side. Your only option is to turn your body inside that space. That's the feeling of true rotation. A bit of lateral motion is natural, but for most players, thinking about 'no sway' and 'turn only' is the best mental image.

The Downswing: Unwinding and Unleashing

Here comes the part that separates the average ball striker from the great ones. The downswing is not a reversal of the backswing. It's a re-sequencing. The very first movement from the top of your backswing should be a slight shift of pressure onto your lead foot (left foot for right-handed golfers). This is a lateral movement. The feel is your left hip moving towards the target before it begins to turn open.

Three Common Hip Turn Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)

Knowing what to do is half the battle. Knowing what not to do is the other half. Here are the three most common mistakes golfers make with their hip turn.

1. The Sway: Sliding Instead of Turning

2. The Stall: When an Early Extension Kills Your Power

3. The Spin Out: Getting Too Fast Too Soon

Drills to Master Your Hip Turn

Drill 1: The Alignment Stick Belt Loop Drill

• What you'll need: One alignment stick.
• Steps:
  • Get into your normal golf setup position.
  • From there, perform a slow backswing and make sure to maintain alignment of the stick along the target line without swaying.

Drill 2: The Step-Through Swing

• What you'll need: A golf club and a ball.
• Steps:
  • Set up to the ball about chest-height in your stance.
  • Take a normal backswing, but before you begin your downswing, step your trail foot towards the target, feeling your weight shift and leading with your hips.

Drill 3: The Wall Drill

• What you'll need: A wall.
• Steps:
  • Stand with your back against the wall. Your feet should be about shoulder-width apart.
  • As you make your backswing, keep your body close to the wall to avoid swaying.

This drill is fantastic at teaching and maintaining proper posture and avoiding unnecessary extension.

Turning your hips correctly isn't about creating a new movement. It's about learning to utilize what you already possess. Focus on true rotation instead of swaying to improve consistency and power.