A good golf swing starts with a sound setup. So, give yourself a fighting chance by improving your address position.  

By Brad Skupaka

When it comes to the address position, most golfers understand that because our trail hand grips the club below our lead hand, the trail shoulder should likewise tilt downward in relation to the lead shoulder (right below left for right-handers).

Proper Address Position for improved ball striking

Many of world’s best players look balanced and athletic in this regard, but many amateurs look unathletic and awkward with their tilting. So, let’s discuss a simple key to improve your setup and fix what you never may have known was ailing you in the first place.

Slide your hips more toward the target at address.

We often see amateurs position their hips in the center or behind center of their stance. This can move the torso excessively behind the ball (to the right for right-handers), and when combined with shoulder tilt often leads to slicing the ball from an outside-to-in swing path.

Many tour pros by comparison place their hips more toward their lead leg at address, which keeps their shoulders balanced over the lower body – a key position to create the inside-to-out swing path many of us desire.

Hips at address in the golf swing


How to practice this:
  1. Take your normal driver stance and feel the weight equally distributed over both feet.
  2. Slide your left hip toward the target over your left ankle.
  3. Notice you may feel more weight on your left leg and your hands positioned more forward.
  4. Take some slow and smooth practice swings, feeling that your lead hip stays over the lead ankle throughout the swing.
  5. Hit golf balls in the same manner, while slowly ramping up the pace until you can maintain this feeling with a full swing.

3 COMMENTS

    • Hey Bob,
      Great question and yes moving the hips toward the target at address works great with the irons as well! Controlling where you hit the ground is very important with your irons. This easy address adjustment can help you to make ground contact on the target side of the ball. I think this probably answers your question, but to be sure this applies to your swing be sure to checkout a GOLFTEC and get your swing measured.

      Best,
      Brad

  1. i was keeping my hips straight at address and was pushing the ball a lot…. then i put my left hip a little towards the flag, and i was hitting the balls straight all the time…. thanks….

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