Driving tips 24 Sep 2026 9 min read

Stop Coming Over the Top: Create Space With Your Hip Turn

If you keep trying to drop your arms onto a shallower plane but still come over the top, check what your hips do on the way back. If they move towards the ball, you may be taking away the space you want the arms to use.

That was the pattern Andy Proudman addressed with Blake, a left-handed golfer who already understood that his delivery was steep. Forcing the arms into a different position had not solved it. Andy started with the backswing turn, then checked whether the change survived an actual shot.

This is a useful pattern to investigate, not a diagnosis for every over-the-top swing. Here is how to rehearse the movement and judge whether it helps yours.

Check whether your hips are crowding the ball

Start with a down-the-line recording: a view looking along your intended shot direction from behind you. Compare your hip position at address, at the top and as you start down. Are your hips moving closer to the ball before your arms have room to return?

Blake’s hips had already moved forward at the top of the backswing. The movement became more pronounced in transition, with the club approaching steeply. Andy’s first question was whether a better turn going back could create more room coming down.

Here, forward means towards the ball, not towards the target. Those are different directions. Keep that distinction clear when you compare camera views or app feedback.

Do not assume this is your swing pattern just because your club is steep. Check the recording first. If your hips are not crowding the ball, adding more hip depth may not address the reason you come over the top.

If that check does not explain your pattern, our lesson on clubface, feedback and alignment covers other reasons an over-the-top move can persist.

Turn your trail pocket back

Use the trail side as your reference: the side farther from the target at address. For a right-handed golfer, that is the right hip and heel. For the left-handed golfer shown here, it is the left.

Andy had found a restriction in the golfer’s upper-body rotation during a movement screen. He also noted a lower-back injury. His response was to explore more turn from the hips rather than demand more torso rotation. That was a tailored coaching choice, not a treatment for back pain or a drill proven suitable for every back condition.

Try the basic rehearsal without a ball:

1. Place a club across your shoulders and take your normal golf posture.
2. Turn into your backswing, allowing your trail pocket to move behind you.
3. Pause and notice whether you have turned into that hip, rather than moved the pelvis towards the ball.
4. Return to address and repeat at a comfortable pace.

The feel is trail pocket back. Blake also noticed more of his weight in the trail heel. That helped him recognise the movement; it was not a measured pressure percentage or a demand to lift the toes.

Use a recording to check the feel. You are looking for a turn that preserves space, not simply pushing your whole body backwards. Do not force extra range to imitate a position. If injury or restricted movement affects your swing, get individual guidance before adopting someone else’s adjustment.

Let your lead knee move with the turn

The front knee matters because it can either move with the pelvis or hold the turn back.

Andy asked the golfer to compare two rehearsals: one with the lead knee held still, then one allowing it to move inward with the backswing turn. The second made the hip movement easier to feel.

For the left-handed demonstration, the lead knee is the right knee. For a right-handed golfer, it is the left.

Make the same comparison gently, first with the club across your shoulders, then with an iron in your hands. Let the lead knee respond to the turn rather than trying to keep it fixed in its address position.

Check the knee and hip together. Does the freer knee let your trail pocket turn back? Can you repeat that without losing your balance? There is no knee-angle target here, and the instruction is not to collapse the knee or chase the largest possible turn.

Check the change before adding speed

A rehearsal can feel dramatically different without moving as much as you think.

Andy used Swing Coach’s hip-depth feedback at the top of the backswing. The app distinguished between hips moving forward, being in its reference zone and moving too far back. The goal was the zone, not maximum depth.

When the app said “Good swing,” it was confirming the selected checkpoint in that practice setup. It did not mean every part of the swing, the strike or the ball flight was perfect.

Next, check the club. After the hip-turn work, Andy could see a less steep delivery without asking the golfer to force his arms down on every swing. That was useful progress, but he still checked the motion and the shot.

To work with that kind of swing-position feedback, explore Swing Coach.

Keep the feedback sources separate. Swing Coach’s hip and club-plane values in this lesson were app scores, described on a 1–10 scale, not centimetres or degrees. The club-path readings discussed alongside them were separate launch-monitor feedback. If you are looking into that equipment, see the Full Swing KIT; do not treat an app’s shaft-plane score as the same measurement as club path.

You can also compare your rehearsals and shots on video, while checking strike, start direction and curve. A better-looking backswing is only part of the test.

Keep the iron ball-position check separate

During the iron work, Andy noticed that the ball was too far back in this golfer’s stance. He moved it slightly ahead of centre and checked how the lower body moved through the shot.

This addressed a different part of the motion. From face-on, Andy wanted to see the golfer move more towards the target through the strike. That does not contradict turning the trail hip away from the ball during the backswing: target-side movement and hip depth are different checks.

If your iron ball position has crept back, check it before adding another swing thought. Note the position, make a small adjustment if it matches the pattern being coached, and watch what happens to contact and start direction. Ball position can affect the clubface and path as well as the strike, so judge the ball flight too.

Slightly ahead of centre was this golfer’s iron adjustment. It is not the driver setup instruction for the next stage, nor a fixed position for every iron and shot.

Take the movement to your driver

The first driver attempts did not immediately match the better iron rehearsals. The hips moved forward again and the club remained steep. That is a useful reminder to test the change with the club that causes you trouble.

Andy returned to a paused backswing, helped the golfer find the hip turn, and then asked for a softer, slower-feeling swing.

Use that progression:

1. Rehearse the turn and pause at the top.
2. Make a controlled driver swing with the same hip-turn intention.
3. Compare it with the rehearsal: did the hips crowd the ball again?
4. Check contact and flight before you add more speed.

Add speed only while you can keep the movement you are practising. If it disappears as soon as a ball is there, return to the rehearsal and a more manageable swing.

Blake’s slower swings produced less extreme club-path readings. That is an example of progress, not a promise of extra distance or a permanently neutral path. His “half-speed” sensation was a feel, not a measured 50% reduction.

Make the arms match the turn

Creating room did not make every other part of the swing irrelevant. Later, Andy noticed the arms working too far out and up, and asked the golfer to make their motion match the turn more closely.

That is why it is worth working in order. Check whether the backswing pivot is taking away space, improve that pattern if it applies, then reassess the arms and club. Do not keep pushing the hips farther back to solve every remaining delivery issue.

If your arms keep lifting or running on after your body turn, try the driver backswing hand-position check.

The final comparison showed better hip depth and a shallower club position, with some work still to do. Use the same standard for your practice: a change you can repeat and verify, rather than a single position that looks perfect.

If you would like help identifying which part of that sequence fits your swing, explore our in-person golf schools. You can also find course and visitor information at The Grand Golf Club at Fairmont Grand Del Mar.