This simple adjustment will put you further down the fairway.
One of the biggest power leaks in the swing is when the hips move laterally off the ball on the backswing – known as “swaying”. This robs you of the hip turn you need to load properly into your trail side and store energy for the downswing.
A simple check to see if you’re turning your hips enough is to practise with a full-length mirror or someone videoing you. From this perspective directly behind you [left], observe your legs at the top of the backswing. If you see a little daylight between your knees like I have here, then congratulations – you’ve made a nice, deep turn with the trail hip. You should feel a good bit of pressure move to the inside of your trail heel, too, but not to the outside of that foot.
Conversely, if you see no space, it’s a good indication that your lower body is probably swaying from the target, and you’re not getting enough hip turn. Keep working at it until you can consistently see daylight between your knees. A good thought is to feel the trail knee lose some flexion during the backswing. That should help you turn your trail hip more up and behind you, encouraging the full wind-up necessary to swing the club down from the inside and generate maximum clubhead speed.
Travis Fulton, one of Golf Digest’s Best Teachers in Florida, is the owner of Travis Fulton Golf in Jacksonville.
Photographs by Jesse Rieser, J.D. Cuban
