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I am having trouble keeping my hips from opening up too early on the downswing which is pulling my shoulders across the ball and leading to straight pulls all day long.

Does anybody have any tips or drills to quiet the the hips on the downswing?

Thanks in advance.

Hit balls with your feet together...it'll teach you to quiet down down there...

Why are so many people trying to quiet the hips? The hips should be active! You cannot rotate them too fast! The hips are the engine that drives everything else.

If you are hitting pulls from "too fast" hips, you should be checking your setup, your backswing, and/or your connectedness (that is, keeping your arms connected to your pectoral muscle on your chest).

You need to make sure that your arms, wrists, and hands are all passive and allowing your core to drive the body. Active hands and lead to pulls and/or slices as well.

But, look at Hogan, his hips were open a good 15-25 degrees at impact. His shoulders were open even more than that. Rotation is a primary source of power, and you want everything to be continually rotating up to impact.

you definitely want to make sure the hips aren't sliding, but if they are rotating and only rotating, they will be significantly open at impact because that means they are still accelerating.

Finally, all of the above refers to a Hogan-esque, rotation driven swing. I personally have found that that type of swing is easier to learn and easier to maintain. It is also commonly called a "one-plane" swing. There is also a "two-plane" swing, which is more up-and-down, armsy, Tom Watson-eqsue swing. The people who stop their hips are commonly termed "slingers" because they sling their arms due to the hip stoppage. You can play very well that way -- Phil Mickelson is a classic slinger. But, they also are more prone to being way off when they have timing issues -- and again I think we can cite Phil again because when he's on, he can compete even with Tiger at his best, but when Phil is off, he is cover-your-eyes awful.

Hi bignose - thanks for the feedback.

My problem comes from initiating the downswing with a quick opening of the hips which makes it hard for me to keep shoulders from opening up with them. So I still want my hips to open through impact but just not as fast as they are right now.

If my shoulders open up too fast I come over the top of it and pull it.

If my shoulders stay closed then my arms get stuck behind my hips and I'll usually flip it and hook it.

I'm working at keeping the feet together to get some smoother transition...hopefully that helps out! I've got all winter to work it out.

Try a one count at the top of the backswing. sounds like you are starting your downswing before you complete your backswing. you will feel you wait ages but it will not be.

Your hips need to move toward your target before they start turning.

Feet together drill is good.
Impact bag is good.
Golf glove under lead armpit sometimes helps.

Actually, you should not have to think about your hips.

If you turn your hips less during the backswing you will not have to turn them so fast (or far) during the downswing. I believe power increases the more the shoulder turn exceeds the hip turn.

Look at this swing sequence of Ben Hogan.

http://www.golfdigest.com/images/gol...r01_swings.jpg

The hips are square when the club is at 9 o'clock. And the shoulders are significantly open at impact. One of the greatest ball strikers ever to walk the Earth considered it a huge error to return to square at impact.

I can only strongly suggest you read his book, 5 Lessons, to learn why being open at impact can be so very right.