Lower Body - the secret

DURING THE BACKSWING  I  SHOULDERS TURN   

LOWER BODY RESISTS

We are going to begin this lesson with the movement of the lower body during the backswing. Very, very simple and very short lesson, the less your hips, knees and feet do during the backswing the better.

POWER
Imagine the golf swing as shooting with a bow and arrow, when you pull the bow-string back (shoulders), the bow (lower body) needs to resist. It is the tension between bow and string that will shoot the arrow far. The bigger the difference between your shoulder turn and hip your turn, the farther you can hit the ball. The Golfer on the left is John Daly, one of the longest hitters on earth. He has made a huge shoulder turn, but watch his right knee and leg, how they resist this huge shoulder turn. All this tension in his right leg will be transformed into a fast hip turn in the downswing. We still not recommend to leave the club so bent over as he does, because is not easy to return it square at contact.

CONTROL
Imagine a piano player giving a recital, and he sits on a piano stool that moves around all the time. A good player will be able to hit a few good notes every now and then but not as good as when the piano stool would not move.

RIGHT KNEE COMPLETELY STILL WEIGHT SHIFTS TO THE INSIDE!!!!!!!!!! AND ONLY THE INSIDE OF THE RIGHT FOOT

BEN HOGAN, still considered the best ball striker of all times and the best golf swing of all time!
He is hitting balls here at age 79. 
When Hogan would practice, other players would stop and watch him because the thought they could learn more from watching him than from practicing themselves!
Look at how his right knee does not move at all during his backswing while his shoulders turn as far as they can.

THE LOWER BODY  DURING THE DOWNSWING
Once you have made your backswing, shoulders turned as far as possible, with a lot of tension in the lower part of your torso and legs, it is time for your legs and hips to start moving.
It begins with a very small weight shift. With the majority of your weight being on one foot, you can only use 50% of your power. By moving your weight back to the center, both feet can contribute.
This movement is very complex; it involves the LEFT knee moving back to its original position without the right side moving, called separation and a kind of sitting down movement, or squatting, that you can clearly see in the photos of Tiger Woods below , it almost looks as though someone is pushing his body into the ground

Once the weight is on both feet, the hips need to turn as fast and as far towards the target as possible while both legs gradually straighten. Your shoulders and arms need to remain passive, they should, ideally, do  nothing.

Tiger Woods

Look at how his hips have begun to turn towards the target, but his shoulders, arms and club still lag behind.
The same goes for these images of Ben Hogan at the Masters, see how his legs and hips are working extra hard when approaching the ball but his shoulders still being relaxed  

DRILLS
How to put all this theory into practice? We have devised a few very simple exercises that when executed correctly will slowly integrate into your swing.

DRILL 1 Right side resistance
Stand in front of a full length mirror, without a club, take your set up position, fold your hands across your chest and put your hands on your shoulders.  Now while looking at your RIGHT knee and making sure it does not move, try to turn your shoulders as far as possible, do it in slow motion. As you turn, feel your weight move to the INSIDE of your RIGHT foot and try to grip the ground with your toes as you turn. When you cannot turn your shoulders any further, hold this position for about 10 seconds, close your eyes and just try to become aware of the tension in your body. Repeat as often as possible, but remember, quality is more important than quantity!

DRILL 2 Left side separation
More complex; Repeat drill number 1 but now, when you have turned your shoulders as far back as possible, hold the position for 2 seconds. Then, in slow motion, begin to move your LEFT knee back to its original position without moving your RIGHT knee. As you do, try to become aware of your weight moving, from the inside of your RIGHT foot, back to being on BOTH feet. Again repeat and take your time, do not rush these drills, make every one 100%!

DRILL 3 Turn your hips to the target with passive shoulders
Stand with your knees slightly bent, about 50 centimeters from a wall. Place your hands on the wall in front of you, at chest height, both arms slightly bent. Without moving your hands or shoulders, try to turn your hips, in slow motion to the left, or the target. Your left hip should move away from the wall, your weight should move gradually to your LEFT HEEL and pressure should build up in your RIGHT BIG TOE. As you turn, try to gradually straighten BOTH legs trying to keep your RIGHT HEEL FLAT on the ground as long as possible. Once you have figured out the movement, try to make it as fluent as possible

Drill 4 Impact fix
This time, with a golf club, finally. Please take your stance, and place your club against a heavy immovable object, a car tire, table leg or log for the fire place. Without making a backswing and moving your shoulders or head, begin to gradually turn your hips to the LEFT, or target. It should feel as if your upper -and lower body  are 2 separate parts. Do it in slow motion first and then work to making the hip turn as fluent as possible.