Help understand "fire the hips"

Bob9604 · May 12, 2017

I have heard the first part of the down swing is to fire the hips. Does this mean to twist the hips on a center axis or slide the hips toward the target before rotating the torso?

GMR · Apr 17, 2012

Danger!

GolfWRX · Jan 1, 2005

glk · Aug 25, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujq9aANGQe4

macedan · May 31, 2018

Tread carefully here...

Firing this hips led me to have upper body rotation that is way behind my lower body leading to me getting stuck beyond belief and hitting push fades, hooks, and a foot behind the ball.

MonteScheinblum · Sep 11, 2009

Just say no. Hips are supposed to lead the upper body in the sequence, but firing them is not how you want to look at it and it generally doesn’t end well.

farmer · Dec 1, 2008

And Monte wrecks another myth. The 'hold the lag" and now the "fire the hips" guys are going to poking pins in little cargo short dolls.

andrue · Mar 13, 2017

Just to play a kind of devil's advocate and because I'd appreciate the clarity, what's the difference between 'firing the hips' and 'bumping the hips' as in 'bump, dump and turn'?

GolfWRX · Jan 1, 2005

glk · Aug 25, 2014

andrue wrote:

Just to play a kind of devil's advocate and because I'd appreciate the clarity, what's the difference between 'firing the hips' and 'bumping the hips' as in 'bump, dump and turn'?

Can be no difference if it is not understood that the bump includes both the lower and upper body centers.

Justsomeguy · Feb 12, 2016

It's just a colloquialism for getting to the lead side. It can mean any number of things to any number of people.

My 2 cts.

Krt22 · Jul 4, 2013

glk wrote:

andrue wrote:

Just to play a kind of devil's advocate and because I'd appreciate the clarity, what's the difference between 'firing the hips' and 'bumping the hips' as in 'bump, dump and turn'?

Can be no difference if it is not understood that the bump includes both the lower and upper body centers.

Not just that, the bump (hips), dump (arms), turn (whole body) is the sequence and meant to link the arms to the pivot. "Firing" the hips typically is the bump and the turn while leaving the arms behind

SkiSchoolPro · Jun 1, 2017

MonteScheinblum wrote:

Just say no. Hips are supposed to lead the upper body in the sequence, but firing them is not how you want to look at it and it generally doesn't end well.

I don't disagree, but how to you handle a student who has a decent swing but tends to have hips that are square at impact?

MarlinFisher45 · Aug 11, 2018

SkiSchoolPro wrote:

MonteScheinblum wrote:

Just say no. Hips are supposed to lead the upper body in the sequence, but firing them is not how you want to look at it and it generally doesn't end well.

I don't disagree, but how to you handle a student who has a decent swing but tends to have hips that are square at impact?

Square at impact is fine. There are guys at the highest level that are more or less square. Probably more important things to worry about than that

GolfWRX · Jan 1, 2005

jdang307 · Jun 6, 2017

Firing the hips messed me up for a while. Don't do it.

andrue · Mar 13, 2017

glk wrote:

andrue wrote:

Just to play a kind of devil's advocate and because I'd appreciate the clarity, what's the difference between 'firing the hips' and 'bumping the hips' as in 'bump, dump and turn'?

Can be no difference if it is not understood that the bump includes both the lower and upper body centers.

So you're saying that bumping the hips should not increase lateral tilt if weight has correctly moved over the trailing leg in the back swing?

Nickc · Jan 24, 2016

If thinking about hip movement causing issues - then maybe think about feet / knees - the spiral idea - hips , arms and turn will happen!

I probably have it wrong but my understanding / feeling* is that the bump will automatically result in the dump and then turn through to an elegant finish and watch your ball majestically fly towards your desired target.

* though I do not actually think of bump. dump turn myself

Pleasedwith3putts · May 13, 2006

MarlinFisher45 wrote:

SkiSchoolPro wrote:

MonteScheinblum wrote:

Just say no. Hips are supposed to lead the upper body in the sequence, but firing them is not how you want to look at it and it generally doesn't end well.

I don't disagree, but how to you handle a student who has a decent swing but tends to have hips that are square at impact?

Square at impact is fine. There are guys at the highest level that are more or less square. Probably more important things to worry about than that

Technically you are correct but let me throw a personal perspective on this.

I would describe myself as a decent player. I developed impingements and arthritis in both hips, probably related to too much competitive swimming and water polo when I was younger. They've also found correlations with ice hockey keepers, baseball catchers, etc, anyone that actively hyperextends the hip socket.

It meant I went from being able to clear my left hip at impact to being stuck in a square position. Over the years my swing changed to compensate and I found two things;

It is a lot harder to cover / compress the ball properly with square hips so whilst accuracy was fine, I lost a lot of distance.
It's a vicious circle as the golf swing then puts more strain on the left hip socket when it doesn't clear and in my case that became noticeably worse than my right notwithstanding on X-ray they had both suffered the same issues

I've had several operations and pioneering stem cell treatment in both hips to try to stave off replacement for a number of years. It's hard to re-program your mind and body but given the choice my preference would always be to see the left hip clear / rotate backwards to be open at impact both in terms of being able to apply more force to the ball and to reduce the wear on the hip itself.

I've had a few sessions on one of the golf robots like they have at Pebble. It's a really good way of almost forcing your body to take up the correct positions and sequencing and the feeling of the left hip rotating backwards and the hands dropping into the slot in front of you is a pure joy again!

andrue · Mar 13, 2017

Nickc wrote:

If thinking about hip movement causing issues - then maybe think about feet / knees - the spiral idea - hips , arms and turn will happen!

In the past I've used the thought of shifting the hip toward the target while keeping my head back to work well. It tends to drop my elbow back to my hip automatically. At the moment I'm starting with 'trail elbow to hips' which seems to automatically cause the hip bump. In both cases I keep my head behind the ball and that increases secondary tilt. Now it seems like I shouldn't be increasing secondary tilt but without it my weak fade becomes more like a slice and I struggle to launch my long hybrids.

I'm not currently looking to change anything since it's working fairly well (got a problem with face squaring but that's another issue) but some clarity on hip movement and secondary tilt would be welcome

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GolfWRX · Jan 1, 2005

glk · Aug 25, 2014

andrue wrote:

glk wrote:

andrue wrote:

Just to play a kind of devil's advocate and because I'd appreciate the clarity, what's the difference between 'firing the hips' and 'bumping the hips' as in 'bump, dump and turn'?

Can be no difference if it is not understood that the bump includes both the lower and upper body centers.

So you're saying that bumping the hips should not increase lateral tilt if weight has correctly moved over the trailing leg in the back swing?

Bumping the hips and leaving your upper body back is the same as firing the hips. Both the upper and lower body centers move forward in transition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muSx60mU4XY&t=208s

MonteScheinblum · Sep 11, 2009

SkiSchoolPro wrote:

MonteScheinblum wrote:

Just say no. Hips are supposed to lead the upper body in the sequence, but firing them is not how you want to look at it and it generally doesn't end well.

I don't disagree, but how to you handle a student who has a decent swing but tends to have hips that are square at impact?

Fix the reason why hips aren’t opening more. Vertical shaft, too much slide, not enough right bend, etc.

Jagpilotohio · Sep 14, 2015

MarlinFisher45 wrote:

SkiSchoolPro wrote:

MonteScheinblum wrote:

Just say no. Hips are supposed to lead the upper body in the sequence, but firing them is not how you want to look at it and it generally doesn't end well.

I don't disagree, but how to you handle a student who has a decent swing but tends to have hips that are square at impact?

Square at impact is fine. There are guys at the highest level that are more or less square. Probably more important things to worry about than that

Hips Square to the target line at impact??.....show me some.

Clearing the hips before impact is critical to a good powerful swing.

GolfTurkey · Dec 13, 2016

Jagpilotohio wrote:

MarlinFisher45 wrote:

SkiSchoolPro wrote:

MonteScheinblum wrote:

Just say no. Hips are supposed to lead the upper body in the sequence, but firing them is not how you want to look at it and it generally doesn't end well.

I don't disagree, but how to you handle a student who has a decent swing but tends to have hips that are square at impact?

Square at impact is fine. There are guys at the highest level that are more or less square. Probably more important things to worry about than that

Hips Square to the target line at impact??.....show me some.

Clearing the hips before impact is critical to a good powerful swing.

Brian Gay is fairly close? Mute your sound to avoid brain damage...

Krt22 · Jul 4, 2013

Not sure if that is a good example since he's one of the shortest drivers on tour lulz

GolfWRX · Jan 1, 2005

MountainGoat · Dec 30, 2016

"Fire the hips" is just an expression that attempts to get the average golfer to activate a part of their body that is currently dead. I hardly ever see an adult amateur with over-active hips.

MonteScheinblum · Sep 11, 2009

MountainGoat wrote:

"Fire the hips" is just an expression that attempts to get the average golfer to activate a part of their body that is currently dead. I hardly ever see an adult amateur with over-active hips.

I see it every day all day.

SNIPERBBB · Apr 4, 2009

MountainGoat wrote:

"Fire the hips" is just an expression that attempts to get the average golfer to activate a part of their body that is currently dead. I hardly ever see an adult amateur with over-active hips.

I can leave my arms so far behind it's a minor miracle I don't hit the ground two feet behind the ball.

bladehunter · Jan 11, 2014

As a guy who’s lower half outruns his upper of I’m not swinging well this is my thought to proper sequencing. I feel like the proper downswing for me Starts with my hands at the top. They go first ( not really but that’s the feel ) and I want to feel like my right foot is in cement until much after impact. Those two thoughts keep me from bumping open ahead of my arms. Yet on video the lower half still is leading and clears nicely. My lower is so quick to clear I can’t think “ bump “ ... if I do it’s right headed right city . That’s me. Don’t know if it will help you.

MountainGoat · Dec 30, 2016

MonteScheinblum wrote:

MountainGoat wrote:

"Fire the hips" is just an expression that attempts to get the average golfer to activate a part of their body that is currently dead. I hardly ever see an adult amateur with over-active hips.

I see it every day all day.

Then you probably work with younger guys than I do. The crowd I see tends to have spent their lives building up their upper body musculature to the point that they only use their hips and legs to stand up. I can't think of a single guy that suffers from the 'spin out' move that everyone here seems to be afraid of. It's the high school kids with rubber spines that seem to have issues, but I don't work with them.

GolfWRX · Jan 1, 2005

MonteScheinblum · Sep 11, 2009

Just because they are stalled or square at impact does’t mean the hips aren’t over active.

FourTops · May 3, 2018

Bob9604 wrote:

I have heard the first part of the down swing is to fire the hips. Does this mean to twist the hips on a center axis or slide the hips toward the target before rotating the torso?

If you know the term "fire the hips" then you know what it means. There's like 9 billion videos on YouTube.

tyorke1 · Jun 28, 2007

I am unfortunately square at impact only slightly cleared left hip and I was the last person to not get into the senior open at your sciota. I had a replacement and you learn to make compensations .

Jagpilotohio wrote:

MarlinFisher45 wrote:

SkiSchoolPro wrote:

MonteScheinblum wrote:

Just say no. Hips are supposed to lead the upper body in the sequence, but firing them is not how you want to look at it and it generally doesn't end well.

I don't disagree, but how to you handle a student who has a decent swing but tends to have hips that are square at impact?

Square at impact is fine. There are guys at the highest level that are more or less square. Probably more important things to worry about than that

Hips Square to the target line at impact??.....show me some.

Clearing the hips before impact is critical to a good powerful swing.

Help understand "fire the hips"

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