Many golfers have had it drilled into their brains that they need to turn more, so they whip their hips around to start the downswing. This is a killer, because when the left side spins open, the arms and club are thrown away from the body. That pretty much guarantees an out-to-in swing path—and a big pull or pull-slice. BUTCH'S BASICS
Full Answer
How to start the downswing in golf?
The golf swing starts from the ground up. Even as the upper body and arms are still going back, the lower body is starting the downswing. Putting pressure into the lead foot early in the transition is a big key to setting up the rest of the downswing. 2. Knees Follow the Hips How to start the downswing with the hips is an interesting topic.
Why is my golf swing so over the top?
Golfers tend to commonly move too much from the top which causes the over the top golf swing. What happens is the upper body rotates too fast giving the lower body no time to shift the weight to the lead side. The problem occurs because the shoulders and upper body are able to move really fast, whereas your hips and lower body can only move slowly.
What happens during the downswing?
The downswing occurs right after the top of the swing position is reached. It consists of the movements that occur as you bring your hands and the club back down. The downswing ends with the ultimate impact with the ball. Keep the Hinge in your Wrists during the Downswing
How important is the push into the ground in golf swing?
I think that's a really important move for all golfers, especially if you want to hit the ball with some power. This push into the ground might feel like you're squatting at first. And that's OK. Just remember that you can't stay in a squatted position.
What turns first in the downswing?
The correct golf downswing sequence starts with a pressure shift to the lead leg, followed by an externally rotated trail arm to shallow the angle of the club, before rotating the torso through to impact.
What initiates the downswing in golf?
HOW TO DO IT: Pausing your arms and hands at the top, begin the downswing by releasing your left knee toward the target (above). The arms fall onto an inside path. After the knee moves, let your left leg straighten. If the knee moves outside the left foot, you've overdone it.
Does head moving forward in downswing?
0:462:53The Magic Move - Head Movement - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipI see that head moving forward in a golfer. I know that the upper body is unwinding. And throwingMoreI see that head moving forward in a golfer. I know that the upper body is unwinding. And throwing the club out across the path. So we have to make sure when we start the downswing.
Should hips or arms first in downswing?
Golf instructor Hank Haney says golfers who tend to slice should begin the downswing by rotating their arms first, to extend the club in front of their body, then should rotate their hips.
Do the arms start the downswing?
Arm Slot. Teaching professional Shawn Clement agrees that the player's arms should drop to begin the downswing, but he says they must drop into the right position. Clement advises players to focus on dropping their arms in front of the body, while keeping their hands on the proper swing plane.
What moves first in the golf swing?
The first move down should be a pulling motion initiated by the left leg (pictured above). From the top, the left knee shifts toward the target and starts pulling the rest of the lower body into its forward rotation.
How do I keep my head back in the downswing?
4:5415:42GOLF: How To Hit It Higher And Farther By Staying Behind The BallYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipLet's assume that you stay basically right there which is your head is just slightly behind the ballMoreLet's assume that you stay basically right there which is your head is just slightly behind the ball which is where it started as you work down should your head move.
How do I stop my head from being forward in the golf swing?
Take a few practice swings with the grip against your forehead, and then hit a few balls with it. Then have your friend step away, and hit some balls pretending like you can still feel the grip. Go back to the grip drill after a few shots, and slowly you'll start to shift away from being a chronic head-mover.
How do I stop my head from going back in the downswing?
1:593:17How To Eliminate Head Movement In The Downswing - Part 1 of 3YouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipI'm not saying hanging back is I'm saying still rotate. Just do it here instead of okay that farMoreI'm not saying hanging back is I'm saying still rotate. Just do it here instead of okay that far okay that makes sense yes you have to rotate with the hips.
Do the hips start the downswing in golf?
Once the slight pause at the top has been completed, it's time to start the downswing. The first element that starts this sequence on the way down is the hips. If you're too quick on the way down, usually it's the upper body that starts first which makes it nearly impossible to rotate your hips fast enough.
What is the correct sequence of a golf swing?
0:063:12Titleist Tips: Learn to Swing the Golf Club in Sequence - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAnd the proper downswing sequence is a lateral shift of the body onto the on the forward the leadMoreAnd the proper downswing sequence is a lateral shift of the body onto the on the forward the lead leg a rotation on the lead leg than a release of the golf club.
How do you turn your hips first in golf downswing?
4:509:25GOLF: How To Activate Hip Rotation In The Downswing - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipOver the stick on the ground. Before the club gets to impact let me show you what i mean. So if iMoreOver the stick on the ground. Before the club gets to impact let me show you what i mean. So if i take my setup here i want to just make about a half backswing length to start with.
What direction should your head be in the downswing?
During the downswing, your head/face should not get ahead of the upper swing center at any point. It should be noted that, although the head moves by a small degree towards the left in the downswing due to shoulder and body movement, it still maintains a stationary pose in regard to your neck from a left-right perspective.
What is forward swing?
The forward swing is subtly determined by the backswing. Bad movements on the backswing will cause different bad behaviors on your downswing, meaning similar errors on the backswing will reportedly cause you to hit the ball too far on one stroke.
Why should head movement be confined?
The head movement should be confined both in degree and direction to avoid overstepping, which many players do, and this interferes with their swing. As a golfer, if you know the biomechanics involved with the full golf swing, it’ll be a lot easier to apply upright head movements in response to the upper body for efficient golfing.
Where does the spinning of the head occur?
The spinning of the head primarily occurs at the joint between the first and second cervical vertebrae (the atlas and the axis). It also doesn’t necessarily indicate a complete tilting or rotation of the remaining length of your cervical spine.
Does Tiger Woods use head drop?
Also, note that Tiger Woods’ extreme head-dropping technique is not a disadvantage to him, as it doesn’t interfere with the position of his upper swing center at any point. In a nutshell, balance is the key and don’t move the upper part of your neck (upper swing center) when turning for a stroke. Instead, rotate the chest and neck in that axis.
Does a head twisting move your chin?
When performing the backswing, you will also realize that the head doesn’t lift up but, instead, turns horizontally.
Can you keep your head still in golf?
However, it’s perfectly okay if your head rotates in a horizontal direction or drops down slightly for the downswing. Just ensure the left side of the head facing the ground does not come close to the ball and the upper swing center remains unmoved.
Who advised the downswing to begin at the same speed as the backswing?
Newell recommends players heed the advice of the legendary Bobby Jones, who advised that the downswing begin at the same speed as the backswing started.
What does Tiger Woods do in his downswing?
Tiger Woods lets his arms drop first in his downswing, then he turns his shoulders. If a good backswing lays the foundation for sound golf technique, then a strong downswing is the heart of your stroke. While many golf instructors advise casual players to keep their swings simple and repeatable, there are a few fundamentals on which any player ...
What causes a shot to go to the right?
Rotate the Hips. Sliding the hips laterally toward the target, rather than rotating the hips, is a key cause of many shots that are pushed to the right, according to Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus says proper downswing hip movement is set up by a full hip rotation on the backswing.
How to do a downswing in golf?
1. Plant the Left Heel. The golf swing starts from the ground up. Even as the upper body and arms are still going back, the lower body is starting the downswing. Putting pressure into the lead foot early in the transition is a big key to setting up the rest of the downswing. 2.
What is the sequence of downswing in golf?
The Golf Downswing Sequence. The key factor in how to start the downswing in golf is the sequence. This is the DNA of a golf swing, and really what separates the best players from high handicappers. Just like in shooting a basketball, throwing a baseball, and almost all other athletic movements, there is a pattern of movement ...
What does it mean when your swing align rod is downward?
A slight downward (or level) angle of the Swing Align rod is a good indication that you’ve maintained your posture. As your golf downswing sequence continues, and the club approaches parallel with the ground, your trail elbow should be close to your body.
Why is swing alignment important?
Because of the highly visible alignment rod you can actually see the shifting of the lower body first without opening up with the upper body, allowing you to practice much more effectively. It is also easy to see and feel how the trail arm needs to work under the lead arm. Finally, the connection belt will ensure your arms stay in a good package at the top of your swing, connected to your body and in front of you for improved impact. A little practice with Swing Align at home or on the range will lead to better results on the golf course. Get yours today!
What is the trail elbow in golf?
The trail elbow working close to the body and under the lead elbow is what gets the club on an inside track and ready to be delivered with body rotation and more power! A large separation of the elbows at the top or after the transition starts will put you in the Death position.
What is weight transfer in golf?
Weight transfer or what we like to refer to now as pressure transfer is a staple in all good golf swings. There should be pressure moving into the trail foot early in the backswing. As the backswing is coming to an end, even before starting the downswing, pressure should be moving back into the lead foot. This sets up the chain of events from there with the torso, arms, and hands following accordingly. A well-timed shift back and through is one of the major influences of good timing and rhythm in a golf swing.
What does the knee follow in a downswing?
Knees Follow the Hips. How to start the downswing with the hips is an interesting topic. In realty the hips move back towards the target before anything else, although a lot of players might feel it is their knees. The big key here is to think of starting the downswing from the ground up.
What is the downswing in golf?
The downswing occurs right after the top of the swing position is reached. It consists of the movements that occur as you bring your hands and the club back down. The downswing ends with the ultimate impact with the ball.
What should the clubhead do in golf?
Clubhead Should Follow an Inside-Square-Inside Path. Coherent with the fact that the club moves around the golfer’s body – its axis, the clubhead should come in towards impact from the inside of the target line. It should do so in order to be square at impact and move back to being inside in the follow through.
How to keep the hinge in your wrists?
Keep the Hinge in your Wrists during the Downswing. The full hinge that was set progressively in the backswing should be kept intact as you being the downswing. This is in contrast to unhinging your wrists early in your downswing in what is referred to as the casting swing error. In a proper swing, the wrists only unhinge very late in ...
What happens if you fail to do a downswing?
Indeed, failure to do so will open the door to the deceleration swing error.
Where should weight be transferred in golf?
Weight Should Transfer Towards the Left Foot. As you start bringing your hands down during the downswing your weight should start to transfer onto the left – front – foot. It should do so progressively through the rotation of the hips and the shoulders that follow. The opposite of this will see a golfer finding most of his weight on his left foot ...
Which part of the body should be first in reversing action?
The hips should be first in reversing action – or uncoiling – when reaching the top of the swing. This is in contrast to the arms and shoulders leading the way and the hips simply following their lead.
Can you see a golf club come in from the inside?
It is best to avoid seeing the club come in from the inside so much that it becomes ‘outside’ after impact. Such a club path is referred as being inside-out. Alternatively, golfers who suffer from an outside-in club path will see the club come down during the downswing outside of the target line and continue on inside after impact.
How to improve downswing?
To improve your downswing, feel like you squat and then push upward. The front leg has to straighten. There was a time in practice sessions with my coach, Denis Pugh, where I would consciously squat and then feel like I was jumping off my left foot. The goal was to make that feeling happen without thinking about it.
What does it feel like to start a downswing?
When working on your backswing, you have time to think about what you want to do, and you can even rehearse new movements or feels while you play. The downswing is a different story. It happens so fast, you really have to know what you're doing before you do it.
Can you squat in a downswing?
This push into the ground might feel like you're squatting at first. And that's OK. Just remember that you can't stay in a squatted position. If you do, the club will crash into the ground behind the ball. To improve your downswing, feel like you squat and then push upward. The front leg has to straighten.
Why do golfers mess up their downswing?
This is due to the more dynamic nature of the move where more moving parts are required. Golfers tend to commonly move too much from the top which causes the over the top golf swing.
What is the downswing in golf?
The downswing in golf is critical. Mastering the downswing in golf is by far the most challenging part of the golf swing for most golfers. It happens at lightning speed and requires precision timing. Getting this right is the real key to becoming a great ball striker.
How to align golf shaft with right forearm?
Here are the 2 keys to getting the golf shaft in alignment with the right forearm: 1. Drop the hands at the top of the golf swing when commencing the downswing. A lot of golfers come in too steep on the downswing because they rotate their shoulders first and spin their hips.
What is the key move in the downswing?
What’s the key move in the downswing? Your number one focus in the downswing in golf is to shift your hips and weight to the lead side. You don’t want to just move your shoulders and upper body and release the golf club. Move your weight to your lead heel and really push it into the ground.
Why do golfers pull and slice?
Most simply believe it’s because of a poor takeaway, grip, lack of shoulder turn and athleticism, etc. Whilst it’s true these things are important to get right and do contribute to these poor ...
How to lower your hands with a golf club?
This has a similar effect as dropping the hands at the start of the downswing. By sitting into your left side you are correctly transferring your weight to the lead foot and lowering your hands with the golf club.
Why is it important to shift weight to the lead side?
It’s important to understand it’s not just a matter of shifting your weight to the lead side because there is a right way and a wrong way. The incorrect way is pushing from the rear side (right) and moving your hips forward creating a lot of secondary axis tilt with your upper body away from the target.
What is it called when you cast a fishing rod?
It’s what’s called casting.”. “Casting,” as Nicklaus calls it, refers to the swing phenomenon that occurs when golfers release their swing without moving forward, giving off the impression of casting a fishing rod. Golfers who do this usually see issues with both ballstriking and overally swing power.
Who won the 19th Major?
Jack Nicklaus wins major No. 19 (sort of) and 2 other stories you might’ve missed. By: Zephyr Melton. “Now let’s take the second fella, and that fella is a fella who does not release the club from the top of the swing and he holds onto it,” Nicklaus says.
Does Wolff's swing matter?
For swing aficionados, Wolff’s swing serves as a reminder of one of golf instruction’s universal truths: it doesn’t matter how the swing looks, so long as the club reaches the proper location more often than not. In this week’s Flashback Jack, Nicklaus points out two of the biggest obstacles golfers face in achieving consistency in their downswing.
Bobalu
With iron swings, a large percentage of PGA pros exhibit an interesting swing characteristic. Their head drops down a little during the backswing... and then their head drops even further on the downswing. Many DTL videos show this. Tiger is an extreme example of course.
Silky
I think we should know why before how, OP. Notice Wayne Defrancesco mentioned Rory's upward movement near impact. Notice Rory and Tiger's left shoulders shooting upward to the sky near impact. This is the so called parametric acceleration. It adds speed to the club head and shallows the path of the club head to impact.
Bobalu
Seems that most feel that secondary spine tilt is the answer to why the head drops down on backswing, and then more on downswing. Question then...does Shawn Clement (in the video above) not have enough secondary tilt? Why does his head always bob up- starting early- during his backswing? What is causing his head bob? Straightening up on backswing? Not keeping his butt back? Loss of primary rather than secondary spine tilt on the backswing? He recovers by somehow getting his head/spine tilt back down on the downswing..
starsail85
I would like to know why the head lowers in backswing , it certainly hasn't helped tiger, I do it myself and would like to know what causes it I thought the spine lengthens when it twists? Could it simply be that the head is heavy and it wants to lower in backswing? Could it be that the right hip turning back level to the ground causes it? A tilted hip turn doesn't seen to do this.
Bobalu
Tiger and Butch talking on Golf Channel Academy Live around 14 years ago, with some mention of head position goals: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlcEVIWNPiM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlcEVIWNPiM [/url]
Bobalu
Am i missing something or is there not much difference between the those stills with respect to the left knee. that was your point, correct?
mikah
Am i missing something or is there not much difference between the those stills with respect to the left knee. that was your point, correct?
Backswing and Downswing
Head Movement and The Backswing
- Head rotation
There’s a rather natural tendency with many golfers to swivel their head to the right during a backswing. This head twisting movement allows the shoulder to loosen the chin, giving decent space for your shoulder to turn. That head turn will give room for your shoulder to turn fully with… - Clubhead speed
You’ll also notice that golf players have to create a potential for high club head speed at impact during the backswing. The aim is to get the club moving as fast and quickly as possible by the time it reaches the ball. To achieve this, the backswing has to synchronize with the body turn an…
Head Movement and The Downswing
- The forward swing is subtly determined by the backswing. Bad movements on the backswing will cause different bad behaviors on your downswing, meaning similar errors on the backswing will reportedly cause you to hit the ball too far on one stroke.
Conclusion
- An amateur golfer has to learn how to keep their head still from a left-right perspective for completely smooth golf swings. However, it’s perfectly okay if your head rotates in a horizontal direction or drops down slightly for the downswing. Just ensure the left side of the head facing the ground does not come close to the ball and the upper swing center remains unmoved. Again…