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How do I teach myself to start the golf swing with my legs and hip turn? I'm really struggling getting the lower end to start the down swing and I think this is preventing me from attacking the ball from the inside.

TW,

You'll likely get a lot of different opinions on this. Mine is that if you start with a solid setup position, maintain leverage, the lower body will do fine from there. I've seen a lot of swings get fowled up by focusing on the hips while failing to maintain leverage with the ground. Properly leveraged, any move back to the ball will be initiated at the fulcrum, or inside of the back foot.

You can try this drill to get the feel of it:
Assume a well braced setup position, accentuating knee flex and kicking the knees in toward each other, which will get your weight well of the insides of your feet. Cross your arms over your chest and place each hand on the opposite shoulder. Coil your shoulders and keep your back knee well flexed and kicked in. You should feel a lot of tension on the insides of the legs build up as you coil back. Unwind the coil from the top with the left shoulder and note that your legs immediately begin to unwind to release that tension with the hips unwinding in sync. From that braced top position, you can rapid fire the leg release if you wish, but I think that should be attempted only after you have learned to let it unwind on it's own. You can feel it starting with the knees or the hips, but no matter what you feel, it will all start off the fulcrum of the inside of the back foot. Additionally, if you stay leveraged, you can key the whole swing with the leading shoulder and everything else will function just fine. Flexed knees and weight on the inside of the back foot are key.

One of the inherent problems in starting the downswiing with feet and hips when you are developing a swing is starting with a pronounced slide to the forward foot. As Crossgrain mentioned, this is potentially quite a loss in leverage. The act of transferring the weight will cause a shift but it is easily overdone. IMO, it is just a bump to the left side followed by rotation, not sliding the hips.

Take an old golf shaft and place it in the ground vertically just slightly forward of your left hip for a right handed golfer and work on hip rotation without contact with the shaft. This along with a shaft or a cardboard box on the ground just outside your ball on the target line will have you swinging more consistently while you build your swing. These two drills will insure you are clearing your hips at the same time as swinging on the desired plane.
Hope this helps a bit,
Bob

Thanks for the reply's and the suggestions.

I just feel like I'm out of sync and starting the downward swing from the top and not the bottom.

Can you explain what "clearing the hips" actually means?

Thanks,

Here is a simple exercise to try that a pro showed me to help train moving your lower body first. On your practice down swing, keep your wrists from returning to the setup position as late as you can (below you left arm at horizontal). Start slow and then progressively quicken the pace.

I find that my problem in this area comes with having a lack of connection between the arms and body. I think a lot of us do move our hips and legs first but it doesn't achieve the goal of getting the arms moving without turning them on. As a result after the initial bump the arms turn on and try to play catchup and the clubhead either either overshoots sthe mark or arrives late. Usually in this effort we come over the top. Just a thought.

Here's an easy way to learn the turns for the swing. Stand with your hands hanging naturally at your side, your knees slightly flexed and your feet evenly spaced shouilder width apart. Next assume someone standing a few paces behind and off to your right calls to you. Turn your head and torso to look at them. Then someone calls to you from off your left shoulder and a bit behindyou. Turn likewise to see them. These are motions which we make from time to time. I've played 60 years and maintain that natural, comfortable body movements are key to the game. Now all you have to do is set your grip and make the proper wrist action for a good swing.