How the Speed of Your Hip Turn "Leverages" the Total Swing Speed You Can Generate in Your Golf Swing

As kids growing up in Africa we had a little tradition prior to our Christmas dinner of pulling crackers which was a fun way to get everyone into a happy spirit before the turkey was served.

Inside these crackers were little nick-knack toys and paper hats we all wore which made everyone look like idiots, especially when they were always too small for most of us!

Anyway, one of the little toys I remember getting from these crackers was usually a spinning top which you would twist between your fingers and it would spin at high speed on the table.

Although you may not know what a Christmas cracker is, I am sure most of you are familiar with what a spinning top looks like.

The reason I bring this up to start this article is because there is a direct correlation between the action of how to spin a top, and the action of your hip speed on the total swing speed you can generate for you golf swing.

The principle in play here is "leverage"...

Jack Nicklaus and many other great strikers of the ball stated that the power of their golf swing came mostly from their leg and hip action. Once I describe the principle of how to leverage your golf swing, you will understand clearly why they say that is the case.

But first, let's go back and look at the spinning top and try to understand what is happening from a mechanics point of view...

The design of the top typically has a large circular disk and a small shaft that you spin between your fingers.

With a little flick of your fingers on the small shaft you are able to create very high spin speeds of the larger disk, so much so that it becomes a small rotating gyroscope that is able to balance itself as it spins.

Now if you held the larger disk in your fingers and tried to spin the top with the same finger action, you would generate very little spin speed at all and probably would not be able to make it work.

Let me explain how it works...

As you roll the smaller shaft between your fingers in a linear motion, you generate angular rotation speed for the top. Of course, the larger disk is also rotating at the same angular rotational speed.

However, the "linear speed" at a point on the larger disk is much faster than the speed at a point on the smaller shaft.

The difference of which is governed by the ratio of their radius of rotation.

For example, if the radius of the smaller shaft is X and the radius of the larger disk is 15X, the linear speed at a point on the larger disc is 15 times faster than the linear speed of the smaller shaft.

So by generating an angular rotation speed on the smaller shaft you are able to "leverage" the linear speed created on the larger disc by the ratio of their radii.

Hope that makes sense!

If we apply this same principle of leverage to the golf swing, the faster you are able rotate your hips on the downswing, the faster you will rotate your trunk turn to generate faster linear swing speed at the club head.

Comparing this to the spinning top example:
- Your hips represent the smaller shaft
- The swing radius to the end of your club head represents the larger disc

So if your hip radius is approximately 6", and let's say the radius of your swing to the end of the club is 60", then for every increment in increased hip rotational speed you are able to achieve, you will increase club head swing speed by 10 times.

Now that is what I call leverage!

This why long hitters such as Jack Nicklaus say the secret to their distance was in their leg action...

Before you get too excited about this theory I have to point out that the principle of leverage will only work if the following two conditions exist on your downswing:

- Your hip action initiates your downswing ahead of your shoulder turn
- Your hip action is actually a "rotating" action and not just a lateral forward press of the hips towards the target

When your hips turn ahead of the shoulder turn, the torque that is generated on the backswing between the lower body and the trunk is increased or at least maintained throughout the downswing.

Maintaining this torque ensures your hips are always pulling your trunk turn through the downswing.

If the shoulder turn is initiated before the hip turn, this torque is vastly reduced from the top of the swing and the connection between the hip action and trunk turn is lost and with it the advantage of leverage.

If you are able to maintain this torque in the lower back by leading the hips ahead of the shoulder and trunk turn, then you will take full advantage of leverage....

The second point I mentioned should be obvious after this explanation.

If your hips are simply sliding forward with very little rotational motion, again you lose the torque in your lower back that will pull the trunk turn through impact.

The forward press of the hips on the downswing is a very common error I see with high handicappers that causes so many other problems besides the tremendous loss of lower body torque and the advantage of leverage.

So with these cautions in mind, give the leverage principle a go the next time you are on the range and you should see an immediate increase in your distance.

Focus purely on the speed you can turn your hips, without worrying about other areas of the swing that you feel will generate swing speed. You will be pleasantly surprised by the results as I know most high handicap golfers hardly think about their hip rotation during their practice sessions.

If you experience no difference in distance, then it is likely your shoulders are leading the downswing ahead of your hips. So delay your shoulder release so that your hips lead the downswing and pull your trunk through impact...and again remember:

Keep the hips rotating and avoid forward sliding. That is the key to increasing swing speed...

Best of luck,
Les

Les Ross is author of "Breaking the Distance Barrier" http://www.breakingthedistancebarrier.com and owner of "Highlander School of Golf" http://www.highlanderschoolofgolf.com

Highlander School of Golf specializes in providing personal "live" online technical information that is flexible for the student and cost effective.

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