How to Start the Hip Turn in a Golf Swing

The secret to unlocking effortless power and consistency in your golf swing isn’t found in your arms - it’s in your hips. While many golfers focus on moving the club as fast as possible with their hands and arms, they're missing out on the swing's true engine. This article will break down exactly how to properly start the hip turn on your downswing, giving you a clear, repeatable motion that generates more clubhead speed with significantly less effort.

Why Your Hips are the Engine of Your Golf Swing

Think about any powerful athletic motion. A baseball player hitting a home run, a boxer throwing a knockout punch, or a tennis player smashing a forehand. Where does their power originate? It comes from the ground up, starting with a powerful rotation of their hips and core. The arms and the implement (the bat, fist, or racquet) are the last things to fire - they simply transmit the energy created by the body.

The golf swing is no different. Your lower body and core are the powerful engine, and your arms and the golf club are the transmission. When you try to create speed by forcefully pulling the club down with your arms, you're essentially trying to power a car with its windshield wipers. It’s an inefficient, weak, and highly inconsistent way to swing.

An arms-dominated swing leads to common problems like:

• Slices and hooks due to an "over the top" move.
• Loss of distance and poor contact.
• Lack of consistency from shot to shot.
• General feeling of "hitting at" the ball instead of swinging through it.

By learning to initiate your downswing with your hips, you tap into your body's largest and strongest muscles. This creates a powerful, flowing motion that pulls the club into the perfect position, allowing you to deliver a square clubface to the ball with remarkable consistency.

Understanding Your Swing's Power Source: The Kinematic Sequence

To really get this, it helps to understand a concept that pros and elite coaches obsess over: the kinematic sequence. It sounds technical, but the idea is simple. It’s the proper order of operations for your downswing, the most efficient chain of events to create maximum speed. For a right-handed golfer, that sequence is:

1. Your lead hip (left hip) starts the downswing.
2. Your torso (shoulders) follows the hips.
3. Your arms follow the torso.
4. The club follows your arms, whipping through the ball.

Most amateur golfers get this order completely backward. They start the downswing by firing their arms and shoulders first, which completely breaks the chain of power. The club gets thrown outside the proper swing path (the "over the top" move), and they are forced to make last-second compensations with their hands just to try and make contact.

The "magic move" you see in a pro's swing is this beautiful separation. As they reach the top of their backswing, their hips actually start turning toward the target before their shoulders and arms have finished going back. This creates a powerful stretch across the core, like winding up a rubber band. When the hips unwind, they pull the torso, which pulls the arms, and finally, the club, creating a massive wave of speed that gets released right at the golf ball.

Step-by-Step: Initiating the Downswing Hip Turn

Re-wiring your swing can feel awkward at first, but remembering the sequence and focusing on an initial move makes all the difference. The entire motion can be broken down into a simple, two-part action: a shift, followed by a turn.

Step 1: The Transition and the "Bump"

The hip turn begins during the transition - that moment when your backswing blends into your downswing. It’s not a hard stop-and-start, it’s a fluid handoff.

As your arms and club are reaching the very top of their backswing, your first thought for the downswing should be to shift your weight toward the target. This is accomplished with a subtle lateral "bump" of your hips. Imagine your whole pelvis shifting about an inch or two toward the target.

What it feels like: You should feel the pressure in your feet transfer from the instep of your trail foot (right foot for right-handers) to the instep of your lead foot (left foot). It's a small but distinct move. If you had a pressure plate, you'd see the weight move from about 80% on the trail foot at the top of the backswing to about 60% on the lead foot as the downswing begins. This shift is what sets the stage for the powerful rotation that follows.

A common mistake: Be careful not to slide too far. This isn't a massive lunge toward the target. A huge lateral slide (a sway) makes it very difficult to rotate. The bump is just the trigger - a small shift that gets your weight moving into the correct position to support the rotation.

Step 2: Firing the Lead Hip

Once you’ve made that initial weight shift, the very next move is to rotate. This is where the power gets generated.

With your weight now firmly planted on your lead leg, you need to feel like you are pulling your lead hip back and away from the golf ball.

Actionable Queues to Try:

• Imagine someone has a rope tied to your front belt loop and is pulling it directly behind you.
• Think about "clearing the lead hip" so your body has room for your arms to swing through.
- For golfers who get stuck, a great thought is to make your back pocket on your trail-leg pants point towards the target a split second after impact.

This powerful "clearing" action causes your pelvis to rotate open. This rotation then pulls your torso and shoulders into the swing, which in turn drops your arms and the club into the "slot," the perfect inside path to the golf ball. You’re no longer fighting the club, you’re letting your lower body lead it directly to a powerful impact.

Three Drills to Master the Hip Turn

Reading about the move is one thing, but feeling it is everything. Use these drills to train your body to start the downswing correctly.

1. The Step-Through Drill

This is one of the best drills for learning to sequence your swing and transfer your weight properly.

• How to do it: Set up to the ball as you normally would. Make your backswing, and as you swing through impact, allow your trail foot to release and step forward, "walking" toward the target. You should finish with your trail foot ahead of where your lead foot started, standing and facing your target.
• Why it works: You physically cannot perform this drill without correctly shifting your weight and rotating your body through the shot. It forces your lower body to lead the way and prevents you from hanging back on your trail leg, a common habit for those with an "armsy" swing.

2. The Pump Drill

This drill helps isolate and rehearse that crucial initial move in the transition.

• How to do it: Take the club to the top of your backswing and hold it there. From that position, perform the first part of the downswing - the "bump" and initial hip turn - feeling the club drop slightly. Then return to the top. Do this "pump" two or three times, just rehearsing the feeling. On the final pump, continue the motion and swing all the way through to a full finish.
• Why it works: It breaks the swing down into manageable pieces. The repetition ingrains the feel of the lower body starting the downswing and letting the arms just fall into place, without the pressure of having to hit a perfect shot every time.

3. The Wall Drill

This drill is exceptional for golfers who struggle with "early extension" - the term for moving your hips toward the ball in the downswing instead of rotating them out of the way.

• How to do it: Set up in your golf posture with your backside just touching a wall or your golf bag. As you make your backswing, your trail (right) hip/glute should remain in contact with the wall. The key here is the downswing: as you start down, your lead (left) hip/glute should rotate and move back to take the place of the right one against the wall.
• Why it works: If you lunge toward the ball (early extend), both of your glutes will come off the wall. The wall provides instant feedback, teaching you to maintain your posture and rotate your hips correctly through the impact zone, creating space for your arms.

Final Thoughts

Learning to initiate the downswing with your hips is a game-changer. By focusing on a simple sequence of a weight shift followed by a powerful rotation, you can stop "hitting" the golf ball and start swinging the club with the efficiency and power of your body's true engine. It will take practice to overwrite old habits, but the payoff in distance, consistency, and a far more satisfying feel at impact is absolutely worth it.

We know that translating these feelings from words on a screen to the driving range can be tough. That's why Caddie AI is designed to be your on-demand coach. You can ask for different drills or explanations on sequencing anytime, right on your phone. If you're ever on the course and feel your timing is off, you can get instant guidance to help you re-sync your swing and get your hips firing correctly again.