Proper mechanics of hip turn through impact

Question
QUESTION: Hello, I was reading your hints and suggestions on rotating your hips to allow your lower body to manage your power through the ball and it makes sense.  I am a BAD sliver - have only been playing the game for about 2 years and am still learning the mechanics of the game.  I have two problems which I think relate to my hip turn - 1) distance is limited, making par 4s and (especially) par 5s unreachable for par and, 2) I slice badly. Very badly.  My partner tells me as he is watching me he notices I am not turning through impact, striking the ball with a slightly open face.  I抳e read instructions and drills but I am still left with a terrible slice (how terrible? I usually fly over the tall fence at the driving range at about 75 yards!!)  My question is this: When, exactly, should I begin to rotate my hips toward impact? Where should my hips be AT impact? I have heard of moving my hips laterally at first, then turn through. What, exactly, do you recommend as a drill or exercise so that I may learn to feel the correct timing and motion of a hip rotation to increase both power and accuracy?

ANSWER: Hello Robert:

I just happened to be on the computer when this came in.  I am going to disappoint you in relation to your question.  Since you are a bad slicer of the ball, the last thing you need to hear is something about your hips.  Forget your hips until you can strike the ball solidly most of the time and hit it straight.  The very first thing you MUST do is go get some help from a well known and qualified PGA Golf Professional, not from your friends.  You must learn the correct grip which will show you how to square the clubface at impact (which means hit it straight).  If you are a severe slicer, your clubface is wide open at impact, not barely.  You must learn how to use your hands and arms correctly first so you can control the club and the clubface better to make solid contact and hit it straight.  At that time, we will then see how to make sense of your lower body movement.  Get some help with your grip, learn how to release it so the face squares up and hit lots of balls doing drills to help you sense this.  Once you get better at hitting the ball down the fairway and hitting it pretty solid, then you will be ready for the next step.  

Eddie Kilthau
PGA Member

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your response. I should have left more information in my original question, but was unsure of how many characters I could submit.  To reiterate: I have taken classes from pros - twice. I have been told the following: my grip is good, my balance is excellent, I strike the ball cleanly 80%-90% of the time, brushing the grass (not taking a divot) - but whenever I aim at my target, 95% of the time my ball either slices or just goes to the right. It makes chipping and pitching the ball a little more aggravating, as I can usually recover from rough/trees/adjacent fairways from the tee.  I am still new, have not worked out my handicap yet but have been playing around a 54-61 on a 36 par 9 hole course.  Not great, but given I have been playing for only 2 years and started in the 70s-80s I'm happy with the progress. However, I still need help getting my ball to go where I am aiming.  So, I guess, my question is this: When should I initiate the turning of my hips toward the target? At the apex of the backswing, turning my hips first and allowing the club to follow? Should I initiate my downswing and hip turn at the same time, bringing my hips square at impact and following through? Should it be a quick 1-2 motion from the backswing, hips then quickly follow with a swing (or opposite)?  As much as I have read and been told, this is the one mechanic that vexes me the most.  If you were helping a student with the same problem, what would you advise, given everything I have told you so far?

I can hit the ball solidly but cannot hit it straight. I am certain I am hitting the ball with an open face, sending it to the right.  I have tried to concentrate on closing my wrists just before impact to ensure a square face but that hasn抰 been too successful, and without knowing if that is the issue or if it is I am not turning my hips enough, bringing the club into the ball early, I am not sure if I am walking down the correct path. Can you help?

Thanks for your help - I look forward to reading your next answer. :)

Answer
Hi Robert:
If I was advising a student who hits it solid 80-90% of the time, has a good grip and excellent balance, then we would work on training your hands to square the clubface up at impact.  The bottom line to your problem Robert is an open clubface.  Your hips have NOTHING to do with the clubface, so I would advise you to forget about your hips.  I'll briefly address your hips later, but I think you can tell by my insistence that getting that clubface closing through impact is job one.  The last time I checked, your grip (hands) control the clubface.  So if your clubface is open at impact, you better learn how to rotate the hands correctly and start learning how to hook a ball.  You mentioned you've tried concentrating on closing your wrists just before impact.  HUMANLY IMPOSSIBLE TO DO.  Reason:  you cannot move your wrist!  Your wrist is nothing more than a hinge.  You physically cannot move your wrist.  IT ALLOWS YOUR HANDS TO MOVE.  I guarantee you have poor and incorrect hand action which fails to square the face. So the question is "If you have a good grip, and my definition of a good grip is one that allows you to square up the clubface which you cannot do, when do you begin to rotate (start closing) the face?"  I don't know the answer, but it's obvious you do it too late.  It should begin about waist high in the downswing.  So you need to take the logo on your glove, the knuckles on your left hand and the face of your wristwatch and begin to rotate them down towards the ground as soon as you start swinging the club forward from the top of the backswing.  Your left forearm will rotate as well.  So here are your checkpoints.  AT IMPACT, THE LOGO OF YOUR GLOVE MUST BE POINTING AT THE TARGET.  If you slice it and push it, I guarantee your logo is pointing to right field.  Then, here is a great checkpoint:  AT WAIST HIGH IN THE FOLLOW THROUGH, THE LOGO OF YOUR GLOVE NEEDS TO BE POINTING AT THE GROUND!  So start in and make some slow, half to three quarter swings.  Sense how your hands control the clubhead and the clubface.  Feel the rotation, watch how the right hand rotates over the left hand.  When you are finished with a practice swing, stop at waist high in the follow through, does the clubface and your logo on the back of your glove hand point straight down to the ground?  Hit some balls and use your hands.  Start small using a pitching wedge through a 7 iron.  Until you can square up the clubface, there is no need to discuss your hips.  Your hips don't touch the club Robert so I don't worry about your hips very much.  Now, here is a brief answer to your question earlier about your hips.  The legs and feet start the downswing (I call it the forward swing).  The hips begin to unwind so that at impact, the belt buckle would be facing just in front of the ball, and the left leg would be straightening.  As the right heel releases off the turf the hips continue to unwind until the belt buckle faces the target and the weight is all on your left foot, the back foot is straight up and down acting as a balancer.  Everything I have said to you about your lower body has nothing to do with you squaring the face up.  But, timing is when your body moves in harmony with the swinging motion of the golf club.  YOUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY HAS TO BE TO LEARN YOUR HANDS CORRECTLY TO SQAURE THE CLUBFACE UP.  If you were my student, I would have you hitting balls that go from right to left consistently within 5 minutes.  IT IS SO EASY IF YOU GET GOOD INSTRUCTION.  I have to question your grip Robert if you cannot square the face.  Hope this helps.  

Eddie Kilthau
PGA Member