What Moves First in the Golf Downswing?

What moves first in the golf downswing? Get this right, and you unlock the source of effortless power and consistency. Get it wrong, and you're probably stuck with weak, inconsistent shots, often wondering why your swing feels so disconnected. This guide is going to break down the correct downswing sequence in a simple, step-by-step way, so you can stop guessing and finally build a more powerful and reliable golf swing.

The Age-Old Debate: Is It the Hips or the Arms?

If you ask a group of amateur golfers what starts the downswing, you'll likely get a storm of conflicting advice. "You gotta fire the hips!" one will say. "No, you just drop your arms into the slot!" another will insist. This is precisely where most swing problems begin. So many golfers have a mental image of a lightning-fast hip turn or a violent pulling down of the arms, but both ideas, when taken too literally, can lead you down a path of frustration.

Trying to consciously "fire" your hips aggressively from the top will often cause you to spin your body out of sequence. This is a classic "over the top" move, where the club is thrown outside the ideal swing path, leading to slices or pulls. On the other hand, focusing only on the arms causes you to lose all the power your body has stored in the backswing. You essentially disconnect your arms from your "engine" - your core and lower body - resulting in shots that have no pop.

The truth is, the downswing is not a single, isolated movement of one body part. It’s a beautifully efficient chain reaction, a sequence where each part hands off energy to the next. The start of it all is much more subtle than you think.

A Simple Framework for a Powerful Downswing

Forget violentjerks or aggressive spinning. The best golf swings have a smooth, powerful transition from backswing to downswing that blends different movements together. Think of it less like flipping a switch and more like a wave of energy flowing from the ground up through your body and into the club.

Here ares the building blocks of that sequence.

Step 1: The Transition - A Subtle Shift, Not a Violent Fire

This is it. This is the first move, and it happens before your backswing has even fully finished. As your shoulders are completing their rotation and the club is setting at the top, your lower body begins its move back toward the target. The very first conscious movement in the downswing is a slight lateral shift of your hips toward the target.

Imagine a baseball pitcher. As their arm goes back into the throwing position, their front foot strides toward the plate. They are shifting their weight forward *before* their arm starts moving forward. The golf swing is the same. This little bump or slide of the hips does two critical things:

• It re-centers your weight over the golf ball and onto your front foot, which is essential for hitting down on the ball and taking a proper divot after the ball (with an iron).
• It creates a small separation, or "stretch," between your lower body (which has started forward) and your upper body (which is still coiled). This stretch is a primary source of stored power.

So many golfers see pro swings and focus on their incredible rotation speed, but they completely miss this initial, quiet lateral move that makes that powerful rotation possible.

Step 2: The Core Unwinds - The Real Engine of the Swing

Once you’ve made that slight forward shift with your lower body, the unwinding can begin. This is where the hips and torso start to rotate open toward the target. Since your weight is already moving forward, this unwinding action happens from a stable and powerful platform. It’s not a wild spin, it's a controlled uncoiling.

This rotation is the true engine of the golf swing. Think about it: your hips and torso contain some of the biggest and strongest muscles in your body. When you try to hit the ball with just your arms, you're leaving all that power behind. When your body unwinds correctly, the arms and club get pulled along for the ride. They are a consequence of the body's rotation, not the source of it.

Step 3: The Arms Drop - The Passive Delivery

Here’s the part all amateur golfers wish for: that feeling of the arms "dropping into the slot." The good news is that you don’t have to force it. When your lower body shifts laterally and your core begins to unwind, this action naturally creates space for your arms to fall downward on an inside path.

The arms are almost passive at this stage. You aren't actively pulling the handle down. Instead, the force of your body unwinding is what accelerates the club. This maintains the wrist angle (or "lag") that you created in the backswing, storing energy to be released at the very last second through impact. This is the complete opposite of "casting," where a golfer throws the club from the top with their hands and wastes all that stored energy before the club ever gets to the ball.

Step 4: Impact and Release - Unleashing the Stored Power

As this a seamless sequence gets down to the ball, the culmination of all these movements happens at impact. Your hips will be open to the target, your chest is rotating toward the ball, your weight is firmly on your lead side, and your hands are ahead of the clubhead.

This position allows you to compress the golf ball, creating that pure, satisfying feeling of a well-struck shot. The "release" you often hear about - where the clubhead accelerates past the hands - is the final piece of the chain reaction. It’s not something you consciously try to do, it’s the natural whipping action that happens when the body stops rotating and all the built-up energy is transferred through the arms and an out to the clubhead.

Common Downswing Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Understanding the sequence is the first half of the battle. Feeling it in your own swing is the second. Here are a some common mistakes and simple drills to help you feel the correct moves.

Mistake #1: Spinning Out (Over-rotating the Hips First)

This is when a golfer tries to initiate the downswing with a super-fast hip turn without the initial lateral shift. It feels powerful but it pushes the club onto an out-to-in path, leading to weak slices or sharp pulls.

The Fix: The Step Drill

1. Set up to the ball but with your feet together.
2. Take a normal backswing.
3. To start your downswing, take a step toward the target with your lead foot (your left foot for a right-handed golfer).
4. As your foot plants, let your body and arms swing through to a finish.

This drill makes it nearly impossible to spin out. It forces your lower body to move toward the target *_before_* it rotates, ingraining the correct sequence.

Mistake #2: Casting from the Top (Arms First)

This is the most common power-killer in golf. An attempt to hit the ball hard from the very top of the swing, led by the hands and arms. It destroys your lag and leaves you with no speed at the bottom of the swing.

The Fix: The Ball-Between-the-Knees Drill

1. Take your normal stance but place a playground ball or foam roller between your knees. A rolled-up towel will also work.
2. Take a short, three-quarter backswing.
3. Start the downswing by gently squeezing the ball with your knees and shifting your forward knee toward the target. You should feel your weight shift and lower body start the movement.
4. This lower-body first move will help your arms stay back and fall into the slot naturally.

This drill trains your lower body to be the leader of the downswing so your arms have no choice but to follow.

Mistake #3: The Dreaded Sway (Staying on Your Back Foot)

This happens when golfers try to "help" the ball into the air. They hang back on their a trail foot and try aand scoop the ball up. This lack of a weight shift leads to fat and thin shots.

The Fix: The Lead-Foot-Only Drill

1. Take a mid-iron and make some three-quarter practice swings while all of your weight is balanced on just your lead foot.
2. Lift your trail foot completely off the ground and find your balance.
3. Take small, smooth swings. You’ll immediately feel how your body has to rotate around your stable front leg.

This drill highlights the feeling of being stable and rotated over your front side through impact, which is a position you just can't get into if you're stuck on your back foot.

Final Thoughts

The golf downswing is not one single, powerful jerk, but a smooth sequence that starts quietly from the ground up: a lateral shift followed by a rotation of the core that pulls the arms and club effortlessly through the ball. By focusing on this proper order of movements - shift, then rotate, then release - you can stop trying to manufacture power and start unlocking the speed that is already waiting in your swing.

Feeling this sequence is one thing, but knowing if you’re actually getting it right is another. This is where personalized feedback can make all the difference. We built Caddie AI to act as that judgment-free coach in your pocket, ready 24/7. After practicing on the range, you can ask for drills to fix a specific fault like casting, or even upload a video of your swing for simple, actionable analysis that helps you see what your naked eye can’t. Our whole point is to take the guesswork out of difficult concepts like sequencing so you can focus on building a better, more confident game.