Loading Into the Trail Hip: The Foundation of Power | Swing Fit

Loading The Trail Hip: The Foundation Of Power

If you’re losing power or balance in your backswing, you might be missing one thing — loading your trail hip properly.

According to Newton’s Third Law, for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. In golf, that means when you push down into the ground, the ground pushes back with equal force.
That “push-back” is your ground reaction force — and it’s what fuels power in your swing.

If you can’t coil into your trail hip, you’ll never truly access that force. You might swing harder, but you won’t swing smarter — and you’ll be leaving effortless distance on the table.

Why It Matters

Your trail hip acts like a spring. When you coil into it, you store energy in your glutes and hips — ready to be released into the downswing.

Do it right, you’ll feel stable and connected:

• Pressure in your trail heel

• A deep glute load (not a knee collapse)

• Your upper body coiling into, not over, your hip

When this sequence happens, you’re not just turning — you’re loading. And that’s the key difference between a powerful, balanced swing and one that feels like hard work.

Common Mistakes

❌ Swaying off the ball – too much lateral shift breaks your posture and disconnects your coil.
❌ Spinning out – losing trail-foot pressure too soon releases power before impact.
❌ Collapsing the trail knee – this shuts down hip rotation and limits stored energy.

Each of these errors blocks the body’s ability to use the ground — and without ground reaction force, there’s no real power.

How to Train the Feel

Work that booty. Not every exercise you do needs to resemble a golf swing. Train your glutes, they're a powerful muscle group and king of the swing. You need to be able to feel your glutes firing during exercise. If you can't, lay on your back on the floor and focus on squeezing your glutes - hard. Once you've got that feeling try isolating one at a time.

When you can fire your glutes, focus on that feeling when doing your glute training.

Final Thoughts

Every great swing starts from the ground up.
When you learn to load into your trail hip, you’re unlocking the connection between balance, rotation, and effortless power.

Remember:

Turn into your hip, not over it.
Pressure down equals power out.

That’s physics — and good golf.

Coaching Takeaway

Want more distance without swinging harder? Learn to use the ground.
Master your trail-hip load and let your power flow naturally through impact.

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