Losing Track of My Swing - Back to Hogan Hips

I have gone through some "slumping" recently, but it's actually a good thing...here's why. What I've found is my lower body "fights" the "Hogan Hip" move on my backswing, meaning my tailbone can actually start rotating inward on the backswing. From there my swing arc moves to the right which is the death zone.

So yesterday I was still hitting thin shots and a thought came into my head..."where are your hips moving on the backswing?". Sure enough, I got into the lazy spin move for which my left hip actually rotated inward. After a few practice swings with the my left hip moving towards the target, I went from a so-so front nine to going one over on the back nine.

The other thing to monitor is ball position on longer irons. It dawned on me yesterday that I play the 4,5,6 iron too far back in my stance along with "Hogan Hips" and as such I hit over-draws and nearly hooks. Thus, as my Hogan Hips move towards the target, and I'm swinging a longer club, the face of the longer club is more open than if I was swinging a PW. This creates a hard right to left shot shape...not good if I'm not playing that shot.

So on #18 yesterday I moved the ball about 2 balls left of center with a 5 iron and hit a straight shot. Tom might chime in here, but the Hogan Hip leftward movement will keep the club face open longer, thus if a 5 iron is played too far back in the stance, due to the length of the club, the club face is too far open at the point of impact which promotes a more severe right-to-left shot. Conversely, a bad inward rotating left hip puts the speed, and arc, on my right side which results in severe distance loss and left to right weak shots.

In summary, the more leftward movement of the tailbone on the backswing, like Hogan, and the longer the club, the more forward the ball position. It's a fun experiment to play the ball far forward, then way back to see the different ball flights, provided the distance your tailbone moves left during the backswing is consistent. Plus, if you're starting to hit thin, fat, or other weak shots, get in front of a mirror or in the sun's shadow and check your tailbone movement on the backswing. Chances are your tailbone could be spinning, or worse, moving away from the target on the backswing.