A powerful golf swing that feels effortless starts from the ground up, and your hips are the engine that makes it all happen. When you learn how to turn your hips correctly, you stop trying to muscle the ball with your arms and start tapping into a source of speed and consistency you might not have known you had. This guide will break down exactly how your hips should work in the backswing and downswing, with simple feels and practical drills to finally master this game-changing move.
Think of your golf swing as a chain reaction. The power doesn't start with your arms, it’s transferred from your feet, through your legs up to your hips, then into your torso and shoulders, and finally out to the arms and club. This sequence, often called the kinetic chain, is everything. Your hips are the critical transfer station in this chain - they connect the powerful motion of your lower body to your upper body.
When your hips turn correctly, they create separation between your lower and upper body. This is like coiling a spring. In the backswing, your hips rotate away from the target, loading up energy. In the downswing, they lead the way by rotating back toward the target, uncoiling that stored energy and whipping the club through impact with incredible speed. This creates what golfers call “effortless power."
Without a proper hip turn, golfers are forced to generate speed with just their arms and hands. This leads to inconsistency, a loss of distance, and common swing faults like coming "over the top." A good hip rotation not only adds power but also helps the club travel on the correct path, giving you better accuracy.
The goal of the backswing isn't just to get the club to the top, it's to load your body for a powerful downswing. Your hips are central to this loading process. What you're looking for is a feeling of rotation and coiling, not a lateral slide or sway.
Imagine your pelvis is in a barrel. As you make your backswing, you want to turn inside that barrel, not bump into the sides of it. Your trail hip (the right hip for a right-handed golfer) should feel like it's rotating back and slightly up, moving deeper behind you rather than just sliding away from the target.
A good checkpoint is to look at your belt buckle at the top of your swing. It should be pointing somewhere between your back foot and a few feet behind the ball. If it’s still facing the ball, you haven’t turned enough. If it has slid far outside your back foot, you’ve swayed instead of turned.
This is where the magic happens. A great downswing is all about sequencing, and it starts with the hips. Many amateur golfers mistakenly start the downswing with their arms or shoulders, which throws the club over the top and leads to slices and weak contact. The correct first move is from the lower body.
Once you’ve coiled into your trail hip at the top of the swing, the very first move to start down is a slight bump of your hips toward the target. Think about shifting your pressure from your trail foot to your lead foot. Immediately following that small bump, your hips need to rotate - hard.
This is what tour players refer to as "clearing the hips." As your weight shifts forward, your left hip (for a righty) needs to rotate up and behind you, pulling out of the way to make a clear path for your arms and the club to swing down from the inside. This is the move that drops the club into the "slot" and unleashes all that energy you stored in the backswing.
As you are at the top of your swing, imagine there's a wall just behind you. On the downswing, your goal is to get your front pocket (your left one, if you're right-handed) to touch that wall as quickly as possible. This encourages both the initial bump forward and the immediate rotation required for a powerful, in-to-out swing path.
Knowing what to do is half the battle, knowing what *not* to do is just as important. Here are the three most common hip-turn mistakes golfers make.
The Mistake: This is a big one. Instead of rotating around their spine in the backswing, many golfers simply slide their hips away from the target. This shifts their body weight to the outside of their back foot, making a proper downswing impossible. A sway eliminates power and leads to both fat and thin shots.
The Fix: The "Wall Drill"
Stand a few inches away from a wall or a golf bag, with your trail hip just touching it. As you make your backswing, your goal is to keep your glute on that wall while it rotates. If you sway, you will create a gap between you and the wall. This drill gives you instant feedback that you’re turning, not sliding.
The Mistake: It’s possible to have too much of a good thing. A "spin-out" happens when the hips rotate too quickly and aggressively at the start of the downswing, without a proper weight shift first. They get way ahead of the upper body, leaving the arms and club far behind. This often leads to pushed shots or big hooks as the hands try to catch up.
The Fix: The Feet-Together Drill
Hit some half-swing shots with your feet completely together. This forces your body to rotate as a single, connected unit. You can't spin your hips out of control without losing your balance, so it teaches you the proper body-arm sequence and improves your timing.
The Mistake: This happens at the most important moment: through impact. A "stall" occurs when the hips stop rotating as the club meets the ball. When the body stops, the arms and hands have to take over and flip at the ball to generate speed. This leads to a loss of power and makes it nearly impossible to control the clubface, leading to both hooks and slices.
The Fix: Finishing the turn
Focus on your finish position. A good swing doesn’t stop at impact. As you swing through, feel like your hips and your chest continue to rotate until they are both facing the target. Your belt buckle and shirt buttons should point where you want the ball to go. This makes it a habit to keep the body turning, preventing the stall and promoting a powerful release through the ball.
Feeling the correct hip motion can be tricky. Drills are perfect for taking the guesswork out of it and training your body to move correctly. Here are two fantastic drills.
This is one of the best drills for visualizing your hip movement.
This drill is exceptional for promoting a full, committed rotation through the ball and eliminating the stall.
Mastering your hip turn fundamentally changes your swing, it moves the power source from your inconsistent arms to your powerful core and lower body. By focusing on loading into your back hip, leading the downswing with a hip rotation, and practicing drills that promote these feelings, you’ll unlock a more powerful, consistent, and confident golf game.
Getting the feel for a proper hip turn can be confusing, especially when you're on the range without a coach. This is exactly why we built Caddie AI. When you have a question about a specific move or need a new 'swing thought' that clicks, we're here to give you that expert-level guidance, instantly. If you feel that old 'sway' or 'stall' creeping back in on the course, you can ask for a quick drill or a simple tip to get you back on track, helping you play every shot with more knowledge and confidence.
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