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Rotate vs. Bump for Power

Today's prescription will help you generate more power and consistency in your golf swing. Watch as I explain and demonstrate the difference between bumping versus rotating through the golf swing and which one will lead to longer drives.

By Quite The Chap
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Today’s prescription will help you generate more power and consistency in your golf swing. Watch as I explain and demonstrate the difference between bumping versus rotating through the golf swing and which one will lead to longer drives.

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Quite The Chap
Quite The Chap

Colby Johannson has been a lover of golf ever since his departure from diapers. He took his talents to Arizona to play college golf but his dream of pursing an acting career pulled him to the West Coast. After a successful decade in front of and behind the camera, Colby's love and talent of golf has remained a constant and is what lead to the creation of Quite The Chap.

28 Comments

  1. Paul A. Lazare

    August 9, 2018 at 3:14 pm

    I wanted to watch the Video on Rotate vs. Bump, but it wouldn’t play. Is there some other place I can watch this?

    Reply

    • Keith @ GolfersRX

      August 11, 2018 at 8:02 am

      It should be working now. thanks for letting us know!

      Reply

  2. William Murdick

    September 24, 2018 at 8:37 pm

    …led not lead to the creation….

    Reply

  3. Bob Pegram

    September 25, 2018 at 12:28 am

    It is BOTH! If the hips rotate but stay in the same place as at the top of the backswing, the weight will never transfer to the left foot where it should go. The golfer’s swing will spin out with his weight remaining on his right foot and he will come across the ball resulting in either a pull or, more likely, a slice.
    There shouldn’t be too much emphasis on either one. Your own hips slide slightly left from the top of the backswing past impact. It is obvious in the video. If they didn’t move left you would remain on your right foot and your swing would look terrible like the swings of many weekend golfers, most of whom slice because their hips don’t move toward the target on their downswings.

    Reply

    • Quite The Chap

      September 29, 2018 at 12:04 pm

      Hey Bob, the hips absolutely move, I agree, but I would say that this is an indication of weight transfer, not the ‘sliding/bumping’ of the hips. I you look at the best ball strikers on tour today (Billy Horshel, Adam Scott, etc.) they have a tiny amount of lateral hip movement. Most of it comes from the sequencing of the weight transfer and rotation. Thanks for watching!

      Reply

  4. Martin

    September 25, 2018 at 5:33 am

    Surely it’s bump and turn… not just bump. So there is rotation, and if you pause your videos at the point of impact you appear to have pretty much identical rotation in both. I thought the “bump” is just a queue to help get the body in the correct position to allow for the rotation (we have two legs, which makes it hard to rotate exactly around the centre without shifting weight). So, yes, rotation is obviously creating the power, the question should be, does “bump and turn” have any benefits over just turning, such as being easier on the joints, easier to perform, or promoting a more consistent golf swing (I believe shifting allows a slightly straighter path through the ball compared to rotating). If you could do a comparison between the two based on these kinds of questions then it would be much more informative. Cheers.

    Reply

    • Quite The Chap

      September 29, 2018 at 12:08 pm

      Hey Martin, I wouldn’t consider the ‘bump’ a queue but the rather the transfer of weight being the queue to start the sequencing of the downswing.

      Reply

  5. Underdog

    September 25, 2018 at 8:08 am

    Far too much emphasis is placed on hip rotation through impact. Shifting the weight cannot be over emphasized at the beginning of the downswing. If there is only 30% transfer of weight or less, hip rotation is a devastating train wreak. Really, if there’s enough transfer of weight (70% or more) then the arms swing the head, the hips WILL respond in sequence to the swinging head. Very little conscious rotation is needed.

    Reply

    • Quite The Chap

      September 29, 2018 at 12:02 pm

      Hey Underdog, transfer of weight is a must, I agree 100%.

      Reply

  6. Larry A Marino

    December 9, 2018 at 4:13 am

    Looks like rotating wins. Thanks for the tip.

    Reply

    • Quite The Chap

      December 11, 2018 at 10:55 am

      Much appreciated, Larry!

      Reply

  7. Lisa

    December 9, 2018 at 7:53 am

    Have any great tips for helping someone whose had 4 hips replacements. I tend to bump or slide instead of rotating. Weight transfer has always been my issue.

    Reply

    • Quite The Chap

      December 11, 2018 at 11:07 am

      Leave it with us Lisa, we’ll put together a video for just that.

      Reply

  8. JD

    December 9, 2018 at 8:42 am

    The bump allows you to get the hands to to drop into position for good lag. My 2¢ worth.

    Reply

    • Quite The Chap

      December 11, 2018 at 11:28 am

      Hey JD, my belief is that lag is created by holding onto the angle created between the wrists and arms at the top of my swing, not by dropping/bumping/or even rotating. Loss of lag is created by releasing the club too early in the downswing. When the weather smartens up here, I’ll put a video together for creating and holding lag into impact. Thanks for writing in!

      Reply

  9. Bob Dignan

    February 11, 2019 at 10:17 am

    I usually like these tips, but this one seems to miss the mark. I don’t think anyone ever suggested that you should slide the hips in place of rotating them. The question is whether you should initiate the downswing with a “bump” of the hips and then rotate. I think the idea of this (bumping the hips) is to begin the weight shift prior to firing the hips by rotating them. For me this is at least partly about swing thoughts and how many pieces you want to try to put into your swing. For example: from the top of the backswing you can start with a bump, rotate the hips, pull with the left arm, swing through impact, straighten both arms at hip height, let the left arm fold on the follow through, finish high with the belt buckle toward the target; or you could simply initiate the downswing by rotating and firing the hips. In the latter instance just thinking about firing the hips might cause you to bump them slightly, and firing them will pull your arms through impact, very possibly reaching a high follow through with the belt buckle toward the target; or you could think about pulling down and through with the arms from the top, which might cause a slight bump, and if you focus on a slightly in to out swing path, the pulling of the arms will cause your hips to rotate into the high finish as with the other approaches. It seems to me that it’s good to be aware of the positions in which the hips and arms (not to mention the clubface) should be at different points in the swing, but it is not necessarily productive to try to actually get to those positions consciously. If something is not working, it might make sense to try to determine (either on your own or with help) where the fault is, but for the most part the swing is about tempo and timing. The downswing should start slowly relative to the speed at which it will be at impact and just beyond, but that does not always mean slow. Nick Price, for example, had a pretty fast swing (tempo), but his timing was impeccable. An effective downswing must accelerate all the way through impact. The body needs to lead the arms in the sense that if you are going to pull the club through impact, you must have something against which to pull ((i.e. the solid left side that instructors have long talked about). If you fire the hips, that will create the solid left side. Maybe some people can fire the hips and then pull with the left arm and “hit” by snapping the right wrist (Hogan is reputed to have wished that he had two right hands)’ but that is way too many actions to try to control in less than a second for me. I have tried focusing on firing the hips, which works, but over the course of a day, it seems to be hard on my body (I am 75). For me, pulling from the top with a gradual increase in force and speed, seems to work best. Of course I need to stay in balance and make sure my swing path is right, but that is about all I can manage in terms of in swing thinking. I do have a hard time sometimes getting to the high finish I would like, but as long as I am pulling against a solid left side, that approach seems to work. Once you settle on an approach it seems to me that swing speed, and therefore power, is mostly a matter of how hard you can go at it without throwing off your timing or balance. In other words, how hard can you swing and still make it look smooth and effortless? That is where practice and golf fitness come in.

    Reply

  10. EVERETT URECH

    February 12, 2019 at 5:28 am

    Bump v Rotate, Jim Hardy in his great video set “The Plane Truth” explains this so very well. For the two plainers (arm dominated swing where arms swing on higher or more upright swing than shoulders) a slight bump to initiate the downswing is necessary to get better width in the swing and coupled with the “arm drop” necessary for good timing. He states that one plainers (arms and shoulders swing on same plane) need to start rotating immediately and even start a little before the backswing is completed.
    I like the methodology that George Gankas (GGSwing Tips) employs, an initial Sam Snead “squat” into a Ben Hogan rotation to complete the downswing. Looking at the wonderful film of Hogan practicing in Mexico City by Pepe Cano, one can see that Hogan though having a “flat” swing had a significant slide into his rotation. So go figure.

    Reply

    • Quite The Chap

      February 12, 2019 at 11:54 am

      Thanks Everett, I’m very much a fan of George Gankas and what he’s teaching at the moment. It’s an update as to what has been taught in the past and I think (personally) that it’s more natural and intuitive.

      Reply

      • Jud Cuttino

        July 26, 2019 at 10:58 am

        K- vest data (trackman of the turning parts) shows that pros do not bump or slide but appear to using your eyes. The left hip moves very little and the right hip goes “backward” toward the target. The spine does not move away from the target then toward the target. Optical illusion. When you rotate around your spine, you appear to bump toward the target on the downswing .

        Reply

  11. Cliff Dawson

    March 28, 2019 at 1:50 pm

    Never should have been Bump. Swinging a BAT is getting leading side Out of the way. As a former champion in Diving, figure skating, gymnastics, racquetball. And Competitor in Baseball, tennis and many more……… IF I did a “bump” when doing my reverse 1 1/2 with 2 1/2 twists, what would I look like? Right handed( right hips) gets to their power side my rotating. My coaches for diving, gymnastics and figure skating said “left hip/butt cheek drives the elbows around… the rest follows. Moving ‘Unnaturally” anything in the direction of intended ball flight leads to “locking” something . Even for a moment( Lead hip joint, knee, ankle) Of course All of this IS debatable and HAS and will be for many years to come. Especially for those that have been conditioned to believe because it “Has always been this way, and is written “in stone”, has to be right. So…..Just keep following because the PGA endorses it and guess what. By the way does any of you “pros” out the Know WHY beginners to intermediate golfers CAST???

    Reply

  12. Delmar Yennie

    May 27, 2019 at 9:08 am

    You need both but, you need to come to a stop in order to get the club to snap through like a whip effect. If you don’t bump to a stop and then rotate, you lose some power that everyome is looking for. So try snapping a whip without stopping and revesing your hand action. If you don’t, you won’t snap the whip either. You don’t rotate until after you have hit the ball, but it helps get a fuller swing. So I say you need both.

    Reply

    • Quite The Chap

      June 9, 2019 at 11:11 am

      Snapping the whip is a great visual, thanks for that Delmar!

      Reply

  13. Ken Greene

    July 26, 2019 at 9:09 am

    Hip bump vs slide; one or the other?? this has always been a source of confusion for me; I work with a Master Level PGA instructor who teaches me a slight bump first but not to let the L hip get past the L foot. Another Pro at Golf Tec I know describes hip motion at the start of the downswing as “forward rotation”.

    Hogan in the 5 Fundamentals says 14 times from pages 84 to 94 to start the downswing with hip rotation. But he says on page 90 ” TO BEGIN THE DOWNSWING TURN YOU HIPS BACK TO THE LEFT. THERE MUST BE ENOUGH LATERAL MOTION FORWARD TO TRANSFER THE WEIGHT TO THE L FOOT.”

    Hogan the King of hip turn mentions lateral motion forward! I think to rotate the hips well you need to create a solid Left lateral post hence slight lateral L motion. At the top if the L knee rotates back toward the address position (external L knee rotation) this turns the hips and lateral translates the body to the L post.

    Ken Ohio

    Reply

  14. MIke Miller

    July 26, 2019 at 12:11 pm

    Good to see the great John Jacobs in this video. One of the best golf teachers ever. ‘The ball flight tells you everything’

    Reply

  15. Bill Whitten

    July 26, 2019 at 12:16 pm

    Great video. Very helpful. My question is whether the shoulders should rotate at well starting the downswing? Oh, also is the way to finish on the outside edge of your left foot as you do here?

    Reply

  16. Ted Tsevdos

    July 26, 2019 at 4:37 pm

    Enjoy the videos … they even help .. sometimes .. hahaha. Sometimes, when I’m rotating too much I have a tendency to pull the ball left. What’s a good way to get the body/hip rotation without the “yank”?

    Reply

  17. NIKI Breisach

    October 5, 2019 at 9:56 am

    Drag the hips while dropping the arms!
    That’s power!!!!!!

    Reply

  18. mardukes

    June 26, 2023 at 7:04 am

    I’ve got a fellow competitor who bumps his putts! Disastrous.

    Reply

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