Hippy questions and thoughts...

[Rockford35]

I was watching Playing Lessons from the Pros again, the Laura Davies one. She's a huge be-atch, but she can bring it.

I'm a student of the game and like to see what makes everyone's swings tick. And, once in a while, I get a little insight that fits my eye more than anything else.

In her shot description, she explained that as a young girl, she played golf against her bigger brothers and their friends. And, they had long drive competitions. In her search for the long drive, she grew to find that using her right hip and driving it through the ball at impact gave her the most distance, even to this day. And, when she gets out of rythym, it's because her hips are pushing at the right time.

I never thought of the right hip as much of anything in my swing. But, after a few swings in the backyard intentionally driving the right hip (it feels so stupid off the hop, but after a few you start to see her thinking and the feel), I started feeling as though I was bring the club through the zone with authority.

Taking a step back, I went back to my regular routine swing and found that when I went for the fences, I had that same feel - to a point. I hate swinging 100%. But with her mindset, it felt to me as tho my swing was more powerful, but without the sacrifice of control.

I'm not sure how much sense this makes to anyone here, but it's interesting how you can watch 100's of swings and then out of the blue, from the last person you would expect it, gives you this tip that has you salivating for the range.

She's not hot, but she makes sense to me.

R35

 

[bdcrowe]

When I am on, I am a fairly long hitter. I am not a big guy, about 6' 170 lbs. My power definitely comes from firing the hips. Similarly, my timing depends on it. If I am not firing my hips, my tempo is gone, as is any consisyency.

 

[Nevercompromise]

http://www.golfdigest.com/instruction/index.ssf?/instruction/gd200506vijaysingh.html

Look at the highlighted sentence in the second paragraph.

 

[Rockford35]

Vijay?

What's he done lately?

This really makes me feel better about making what I see as a major swing change. Which, ultimately, will kill my game for a while. But, I see it as making things better in the long run.

Anyone else made a hip motion change as of late?

R35

 

[Augster]

I'm learning to turn into my left side. My knee never straightened as I used to just slide my hips and make the correction with my wrists breaking down.

Turning into my left side, and for that matter, starting my downswing with my hips first is totally new. Being that I don't have time to practice, and I only get to play on the weekends, and every round I play has cash riding on it, it's been an expensive bit of learning thus far. I am way down in April and May.

As you say though, anytime you work on the "trunk" movements, your tempo is going to get messed up a bit for a while. You are going to get your game messed up with for a while. Nothing 500 range balls won't really cure though.

I need to practice. It's the only way any kind of swing change "takes".

It's best to do in the spring though, as you aren't expecting to shoot lights out anyway coming out of hibernation.

 

[Dave Ireland]

Vijay?

What's he done lately?

This really makes me feel better about making what I see as a major swing change. Which, ultimately, will kill my game for a while. But, I see it as making things better in the long run.

Anyone else made a hip motion change as of late?

R35

Rock..... weren't you talking previously about a golfing buddy of yours who had a term "getting your junk thru the ball" ? ...


It's funny but it came to mind last Friday playing in a scramble event - we set off like a train 6 under after 5 holes, then we went off the boil, think we were guarding the score. I found myself pushing a lot of shots because I was only using my arms thru the strike area, but when I remembered the getting the junk thru the ball idiom, things came back on track.

I was never great on the techicalities of the swing, so my thought processes are now

1. Stand tall to the ball
2. 1 piece takeaway
3. get your junk thru the ball

 

[Dave Ireland]

Vijay?

What's he done lately?

This really makes me feel better about making what I see as a major swing change. Which, ultimately, will kill my game for a while. But, I see it as making things better in the long run.

Anyone else made a hip motion change as of late?

R35

Rock..... weren't you talking previously about a golfing buddy of yours who had a term "getting your junk thru the ball" ? ...


It's funny but it came to mind last Friday playing in a scramble event - we set off like a train 6 under after 5 holes, then we went off the boil, think we were guarding the score. I found myself pushing a lot of shots because I was only using my arms thru the strike area, but when I remembered the getting the junk thru the ball idiom, things came back on track.

I was never great on the techicalities of the swing, so my thought processes are now

1. Stand tall to the ball
2. 1 piece takeaway
3. get your junk thru the ball

 

[Bravo]

Rock:

I have played for 20 years with a guy who stands an intimidating 5'8" and weighs in at 165lbs.

He knocks the crap out of the ball. He is without question, the longest hitter I have ever played with.

You can imagine how many times I have watched his swing trying to figure out how he gets so much juice out of it.

Its his hips. We say this to him and he never, never denies it. We all know this is the case.

From the top, he makes a very strong forward movement with his hips. We always joke that he "f****" the ball.

And the shot shape - as you can imagine - is a draw.

Last May, we were playing at Shoal Creek. Hole #10 is 410 yard, flat, straightaway par 4. I stood up and absolutely murdered it (for me). I am thinking that this is just about everything I can get out of a drive.

He stands up there and just blows it by me - flew my position and kept going.

I carefully paced off both drives just for fun.

Mine: 288
His: 315

We were playing from the championship tees on a major championship course and he hit his gap wedge in.

I wish I could do what he does but I cannot.

Good luck with it...

 

[Quentin]

My power definitely comes from firing the hips.

I need to learn to transfer this technique from the sack to the course. If I can do it well there, I should be gold on the course.

~QQ

 

[Nevercompromise]

I've been trying to work on this since the end of last season. When it works it's great, when your off your dead.

 

[Bravo]

I've been trying to work on this since the end of last season. When it works it's great, when your off your dead.

There is no doubt that I have the same issue with it. When I get all the elements there - I torch it -but when I don't - Godonlyknows where its going...

The interesting about my buddy is he is able to accomplish this with a very quiet head. He has very little swaying, while at the same time is able to accomplish a Huge hip turn/movement. Damn it is tough..

I am trying desperately right now just to increase my fairways hit. A shorterm goal of 50%...its that bad for me now..

 

[Rockford35]

DI,

Ya, getting your junk through is key. However, I never equated "gettin' your junk through" to moving your right hip through the zone. I always imagined it your hips being timed with the swing.

I guess I might be splitting hairs, but my original description tried to describe more of a power move over consistent timing. I've been playing pretty well thus far, I'd just like to be able to generate just a little more power (even 7 or 8 yards per clubs would be like winning the lottery).

You make 3 good points there, that the swing is very easy when you make it easy. The simpler the dynamics, more often then not the better the results.

I'm still going to give this a try, but I'm going to blend the "junk" analogy with this "power right hip" move. See what happens.

Tee time tommorrow at 12:07. We'll see what shakes.

Cheers,

R35

 

[VtDivot]

It is interesting Davies mentions hips. It's probably since she can't make a strong enough athletic turn because of her "condition". Conventional logic says if you really want to go downtown you need the big shoulder turn. It's what I think MacLean or Leadbetter call the X factor, minimal hip turn but huge shoulder turn.

 

[Bravo]

It is interesting Davies mentions hips. It's probably since she can't make a strong enough athletic turn because of her "condition". Conventional logic says if you really want to go downtown you need the big shoulder turn. It's what I think MacLean or Leadbetter call the X factor, minimal hip turn but huge shoulder turn.

Yes the X factor is something that I rely upon heavily - and it is also illustrated in the Hogan book.

But I honestly feel, that these concepts describe different things.

The X factor is the amount of coil you have created at the top of the swing. The greater the differential between your hip turn and shoulder turn - the greater power will result.

The other factor being discussed here is the role of the hips in coming through the ball to create power - shoulders notwithstanding.

I do a decent job with the X factor but cannot duplicate what my friend does, which is create great coil through hip/shoulder turn differential AND start down and through with a massive hip movement (which leads the shoulders, then the arms and then the hands). All the while, he has a "quiet body"...

Just MHO...

 

[Loop]

Good thread.
I've read somewhere that Hogan told his caddie the secret for power. Basically, he says that you generate power by turning the right knee.
Also, you can understand why Hogan (he says it too) turned his left foot counterclockwise in the setup, so he can better clear his hips.
But it's all the same thing: turning the right hip, the right knee, getting your junk thru.
For me, it's getting my hips to face the target.
But timing is important, and Vijay hits it right in the spot: slight bump then turn.

There are others though who generate power with their arms, so each have their own way to hit the ball far.

Bravo, your friend has inspired me, and being a very flexible person, I do think I can cross the 260 yards average barrier.