A lot of players rob themselves of valuable distance and accuracy by a simple misconception at address. Setting up with your leading foot at right angles to the target line severely impinges your ability to rotate your hips through the impact area. This results in the hands taking over and breaking down – what’s known as the ‘chicken wing’ effect – and loss of the centrifugal force and clubhead speed you deserve.
When you look at many of the world’s best players, or even just those who hit it a long way, you’ll notice they finish the golf swing with their hips at 90 degrees to the target line. This can’t happen if the left foot is pointing straight ahead (unless you are hyper-mobile) because you are only going to get roughly 40 degrees of internal hip rotation through the hip 25 degrees from the knee and 5 degrees from the ankle. This leaves us 20 degrees short of our target goal.
You need another 20 degrees from somewhere to get the 90 degrees hip rotation you’re after for maximum power. The good news is that the answer, more often than not, lies in simply turning your leading foot about 20 degrees toward the target. You will need to experiment a little with this adjustment. The less flexible your lower body, the bigger the turn needs to be to allow your hips to pivot correctly on the follow-through.
With the foot turned out, your hips are freer to turn naturally toward the target on the downswing, creating clubhead lag and increased swing speed, which should result in straighter and longer shots. If you’re still having problems turning your hips through the ball after trying this drill it would be a good idea to get a thorough physical screening with a physiotherapist qualified Remember, now is your chance to practice these drills at the range rather than aimlessly letting rip with the driver. Get the right habits ingrained during the winter so that when the weather improves so will your scores.
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