Clearing My Hips During My Golf Swing - A Lesson From Jim Furyk

My fiancee came to visit me in Miami last week which meant I didn't have much time for golf. Not that she doesn't let me play, we just had a lot to do in short amount of time.

Her original reason for popping in was to go see our beloved Chicago Bears play the Dolphins. Which we won! Let me just say that I am one lucky dude that my future wife loves football. AND...on top of that, likes the same team that I do. A match made in heaven.

With our recent engagement it also gave us some time to start planning for the wedding. Being that she lives in Arizona, we have to make the most of the time that we have together to get every thing squared away.

Since I wasn't playing or practicing, I had to get my fix from my golf magazines. In the December issue of Golf Magazine, the swing sequence of Jim Furyk was featured. Furyk probably has the most unique(ugliest) swing that is still effective throughout a round of golf. Lee Trevino and Arnold Palmer are known as two golfers who possessed swings which were not very pretty, but still won them many majors and tour championships. Furyk is right there with them.

Before working with Mike Southern, people used to say that I swung the club like Jim Furyk. The truth is that I was the complete opposite of the 2003 US Open champion. I used to start my swing way on the inside and then I would have no choice but to come over the top in an attempt to get back on the proper swing plane.

Furyk, on the other hand, starts his swing over the top and then drops back down to the inside to get back on plane. His timing is impeccable, and as he gets to impact he is back in perfect position to deliver a powerful, accurate strike on the ball.

As I was reading the article entitled Watch & Learn, and watching the video online, the part of Furyk's swing that stuck out to me was at the moment of impact. As he makes contact with the ball, he clears his hips toward the target while his shoulders are still square to the ball. Take a look at this video and if you pause it at frames :33 and :34, you will see what I am taking about.

This is the move that Mike Perpich, Top 100 Teacher says is the key to Furyk's excellent ball striking ability. Perpich also says, that because Furyk maintains his spine angle throughout his swing and clears his hips so well, "this gives him consistent contact that most players can only dream of."

There have been times when I was practicing and I am in the middle of my swing and I am thinking, my hands way behind my shoulders on this one, and then WHAMMO, the most beautiful shot you have ever seen. And then I just kind of stand there confused. Like, "how did that just happen?" Now I'm starting to understand why.

Mike has been working with me on the "whys" of golf. Instead of just telling me to do something, he also tells me why I am doing it. If I make a certain move, then I can expect "this" result. If I make this move, then I can expect "that" result. Understanding why we do things in golf gives us a better understanding of the overall game. To drive this point home with me he gave me this school of thought from Lee Trevino and Ben Hogan...

You can own a swing if you dig it out of the ground -- that is, if you work at it until you understand what you need to do and why you need to do it. You can't buy that knowledge; you have to find it yourself.

He then went on to say...

And the beauty of it all is this: When you start to understand the whys of your swing, golf ceases to be so difficult. To give you a couple of obvious examples (at least, they're obvious to you now), one simple move -- the one-piece takeaway -- eliminated many swing compensations and the associated swing thoughts you needed in order to make them all happen in sequence. And one simple concept -- "toss the ball toward the hole with your stroke" -- gave you so much confidence over your putts that you no longer agonize over pace.

I have always heard instructors say that golfers need to clear their hips, but never understood why. Now I do and maybe I can work the move into my swing a little easier than I would have if someone had just told me to do it.

Another piece to the puzzle is working itself into place. I don't think I will ever be able to put all the pieces together. No one can really. But at least the picture is a little bit clearer now. Have a great round and always hit your target.


*Jim Furyk Slo-Mo. If you pause it between :36 and :37 you will see how much his hips are cleared in comparison to his shoulders.



*I don't have a slo-mo of myself, but if you pause my swing at :21, you will see that besides all the madness that preceded it, my hips are still closed at impact, which rendered an ugly duck hook. You can see why I called my swing, the reverse Jim Furyk. I will get footage of my new swing ASAP:-)



Jim Furyk Images - Fred Vuich/SI

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