“The Simple Turn”

A Simplified Lower Body Motion

Simple Golf is all about simplifying the golf swing and thereby making it more efficient and more consistent. One of the key ways we have made the golf swing simpler is by using a “simplified lower body motion“. This is a less complicated method of turning the hips during the golf swing.

This is a less complex method of coordinating the movement of the legs, hips and torso. It also causes less stress on the body. Aside from all that, it will instantaneously help you make solid crisp shots by reducing extraneous lower body motions. The biggest difference with the Simple Turn is keeping the front leg straight and NOT MOVING THE FRONT HIP TOWARD THE BALL IN THE BACKSWING.

With using the traditional swing, golfers try to rotate their hips around their spine. In order to turn their hips around their spine, they have to bend their front knee which, in turn, brings their front hip forward (toward the ball), sometimes straightening their back leg and pushing their back hip away from the ball. While that does rotate the hips it means moving and coordinating a lot of body parts. That requires a lot of timing and practice.

The traditional lower body motion has problems because it tends to over rotate the hips. Over rotating the hips has been tolerated in the conventional swing because most everybody slices and the over rotation of the hips does help somewhat with getting the club face back to square at impact.

Here’s how to make a Simple Power Swing Lower Body Turn

Stand up straight with feet a little wider than shoulder width. Lock your front leg straight. (we normally do not “lock” the front leg; we just keep it straight; but when trying to learn the correct motion it’s okay to lock the front knee back). Your back knee stays bent at address and through the backswing and the downswing.

Next, pull the back hip back away from the ball. As you pull the back hip away from the ball (while keeping the front leg locked straight), the front hip should act as pivot point. Practice this turning a number of times until you feel the pivot point of the front hip. Do this a number of times while turning your upper body with your hips. Then do it a few more times and don’t turn the upper body much at all; just turn your hips. Now get into your address position and try that lower body motion a few more times just as you would in your swing.

Don’t bend your front knee and move your front hip towards the ball to begin your backswing. The problem with bending the front knee and moving the front hip towards the ball on the backswing is that you have to straighten the knee and move the front hip back away from the ball on the downswing. It’s when you have to move the front hip back (on the downswing) that most people wind up over rotating the front hip and opening that hip up (moving it past square and back away from the ball). This opens the hips up too much, pulling your shoulders open and causing either a pull or a slice (depending on the position of the club head at impact).

If you do “rotate your hips around the spine” as in the conventional swing, that means you have to coordinate the motions of the front hip, front leg, rear hip and rear leg. With the Simple Turn, the rotation point is your front hip, so you only really have to move the back hip and back leg. Again the main thing we’re trying to do is create a stable base for the upper body (shoulders, chest & abdomen) to provide the power for the swing.

The bottom line is the Symple Lower Body Turn will allow you to hit the ball longer, more accurately and much more consistently.

Joe Davidson delves deeper into this swing in his Simple Golf Course. Well worth looking into if you are serious about improving your golf game – quickly!

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