hip turn

Question
i have been playing golf for about a year now and i have shot under par once,. i can hit the ball consistantly straight but not to far with my driver i can hit it about 240 yards. i am wondering how much the hips have to do with the golf swing. does rotatiting them early increase power?

Answer
Hi Brad:

Good question.  I'll caution you first.  I would pay more attention to your arms, hands and club at first instead of your hips.  If I asked you to swing your club faster, how would you do it?  Since your hips don't touch the club, moving your hips faster won't make the club move any faster.  What actually should happen is the sequence of everything (arms, hands, club, legs, hips, torso, etc.)moving faster and being timed together needs to occur.  The hips should be very quiet in the backswing.  Your hips should turn half as much as your shoulders do.  If you can get a 90 degree shoulder turn to the target line, then your hips should be turned no more than 45 degrees.  But in the forward swing, your hips and your legs will begin the process.  The faster you can turn your hips out of the way, the faster you should be able to swing the club.  But remember, I caution you here.  Timing and hitting it solid are the first requirements to hitting it farther.  If your golf swing is all out of whack because you're trying to move your hips faster to hit it further, it won't work.  So my tip is to take your driver and flip it around so that you are taking your grip just above the clubhead.  If you were going to hit a golf ball with this drill, the grip end of the club would hit the ball.  So turn the club upside down, put a good grip on the shaft and pretend there is a ball waist high on a tee.  Now, make some swings backwards and forwards level to your waist of chest.  And with each swing, increase the speed of how fast you can swing it, so the whooshing sound the club makes with no weight on the end of it gets louder and louder.  This drill really makes you see just how fast you can potentially swing your club WHILE MAINTAINING BALANCE.  It will shock you at fast you actually can swing your club, and if you can increase your rate of speed (of the whole club swinging to a finish), you'll hit it farther.  Please get some good PGA help if you want to mess with your hips.  I say swing the club as fast as you can and allow your body to respond.  Keep your balance and have fun with it.  

Eddie Kilthau
PGA Member