The leading movement from the top of the swing is a lateral thrust of the hips to the left, eventually followed by an automatic turning of the hips. This is true. But there is more than that. Here are some golf tips to improve your downsing. The hips must not only move to the left and turn,their progressmust be so closely tied to the left arm that it pulls the arm and the club down and whips them through the ball.
There must be a fixed, conscious feeling that this is happening. It is the single most criticalmovement that a good golfer makes. This is not to be confused with the mistaken advice to start part of the body stay back. Finally you must turn your hips toward the target as they reach the extension of their lateral movement. Are your hips ever in this position when you hit the ball? What happens, actually, is that the left arm itself is being [dragged|pulled] by the hips. The arm is merely the connecting rod between the hips and the club. When the hips exert this pulling action, they cause the shoulders and the left arm to revolve so fast around the axis of the upper spine that the hands have little or no time to manipulate or do anything whatever with the club except hang onto it. If there is one special the secret to the golf swings this is it. Moving the hips in this manner would seem a simple thing to do.
It is easy to say and easy to understand. Yet nearly all of the vast army of golfers fail to do it. Millions have read it and heard it and seen pictures of it, but just as many millions keep right on starting down with their hands, or pulling with their arms, or stopping the hips after they start them, forgetting to move them all the way through. They fail for two reasons. The first is that this is a big movement and they are afraid to make it. The second is that, preoccupied with what they think they must make the club head do, they completely forget the fundamental hip action and let it die. The tight connection between the hips and the club, and the consequent pull the club gets from the hip action, is the single greatest source of power in the golf swing. The big muscles of the upper legs and of the torso are giving the club a speedy start before the hands do anything.
