Reverse Pivot in Golf? Try These 6 Proven Ways & Drills to Fix It

Britt Olizarowicz

Jun 7, 2024 . 7 mins read

Like this post

114,771 subscribers

Share Post

The reverse pivot is a frustrating move in golf. It causes your body to move incorrectly, reducing distance and accuracy.

To get powerful shots that fly straight, your pivot needs to be more intentional, with your weight transferring to the back foot and then to the forward foot.

Things like wrist action, head position and even the angle of your spine are all going to come into play when working to fix the reverse pivot.

After analyzing more than 1,000,000 golf swings we have come up with six simple and effective ways to fix the reverse pivot in golf.

Fix Reverse Pivot in Golf (Key Takeaways)

If you don’t have time to go through all of these fixes and find something that works for you, here are the most important points to take with you.

• Don’t change your spine angle during the swing; as soon as it starts to increase, you could be setting yourself up for a reverse pivot.
• Sometimes, a reverse pivot can be caused by too much extension and hinging of the wrists in the swing; keeping a flatter lead wrist can set you up for a better position at the top of your swing.
• Weight transfer needs to happen as a result of a pivot and turn, not a slide. Golf alignment sticks in the ground can be used to help ensure this happens efficiently.

Black Friday

Save up to 200 USD on HackMotion

Sign-up now

6 Proven Ways to Fix Reverse Pivot in Golf

Keep the Chest Pointing Down at the Top

Spine angle is a difficult thing to feel when you are swinging the golf club. When your spine angle changes throughout the swing, you may not even know it’s happening.

However, it’s one of the quickest things you can spot on video. If you know you are reverse pivoting, take a video of your swing and see if your spine angle changes as you reach the top of your swing.

You’ll notice it gets a bit taller, and you may even see a move towards your target.

Since it’s so difficult to think about the spine in the backswing, try thinking about the chest instead.

When you get to the top of your backswing, is your chest pointing higher than it was, or is it aimed down towards the ground?

This video gives you some great insight into this concept and how to get that feeling of the chest pointing more down at the top of the swing.

Proper Weight Transfer

Weight transfer is key to fixing a reverse pivot in golf.

With a reverse pivot, you’ll move your weight onto the lead side on the backswing and the trail side on the downswing. It’s the opposite of what you want to do.

To start learning this concept, put the club down and cross your hands so they are sitting on your shoulders.

Now, take a turn back. While you are shifting your weight during your backswing, make sure you load up onto your trail side. You’ll feel the weight load up, and that trail leg will get heavier.

Check to make sure your hips have pivoted and turned.

From this position, fire through toward the target. Get all of that weight transferred to the lead side. This move is so much more powerful.

The reverse pivot kills your distance; when you get the weight transfer figured out, you also have better balance and control.

Maintain a Steady Head Position

Sometimes the concept of thinking about your head and its position in the swing can be enough to fix a reverse pivot. Try to keep your head centered over the ball. Moving your head too much can make it difficult for your body to pivot the right way.

To do this, I like to take an alignment stick and put it down on the ground in line with the golf ball. As I swing back my head might move just to the other side of the alignment stick, and then it stays behind it on the downswing.

Overall, the motion is very small.

Create Width on the Takeaway

Here’s a great trick for eliminating the reverse pivot, and it’s a unique perspective you may not have considered.

As you take the club back, many players who reverse pivot tend to take the club inside and lose some of the width in their swing. Instead, you’ll want to feel like you push the club back down the line a bit.

When this happens, your arms have the room they need to swing, and your hips are forced to rotate better. With this space created, you should be able to rotate the hips through impact without swaying them laterally.

It’s amazing how a little push of the club back through the takeaway can set the rest of the swing up for success.

Improper Wrist Action – Extension and Over-hinging

Wrist action on the backswing will create more issues with your reverse pivot. Where we really see trouble is with golfers who overcomplicate the concept of hinging in their backswing.

Excessive wrist action causes your club to get out of position.

Here’s a little test you can do to see if you are hinging your wrist too much as you take the club back:

Take a half-backswing and stop the club. Look at your lead wrist position. Is it hinged? Has your lead wrist started to extend or cup because of this hinge?

A proper hinge will help maintain the correct swing plane and prevent a reverse pivot. Take a look at this video where you can see how the hinge should be happening more naturally and potentially a little later in the swing.

Hip Tilt At Setup

Getting set the right way is the final piece of this reverse pivot puzzle. Start with a balanced stance and posture. Your feet should be shoulder-width apart and your spin tilted forward from your hips.

However, there is one more little trick that can help get you set up to remove the reverse pivot from your swing.

Slightly bump the hips so the lead hip is a bit higher than the trail hip. It’s not a full lean to the trail side, just a slight change of angle so that the hips are not completely parallel.

This position makes all the difference in getting that feeling of leading up the trail side and ensuring more consistency in the strike.

Black Friday

Save up to 200 USD on HackMotion

Sign-up now

Drills to Fix a Reverse Pivot in Golf

If you still need a few more drills to help you learn to pivot correctly, here are a few that you can try.

Two Step Drill

Here’s a drill that even Ben Hogan would use to help understand weight transfer and how things should shift in the swing.

You can modify the two-step drill but work on it with or without a golf ball.

Keep Hip Below the Shelf Drill

One of the things you’ll notice when you reverse pivot is a tendency to increase the height of your hip as you rotate.

This drill teaches you to keep your hip below the shelf and create the proper pivot.

Final Thoughts

At this point, you have many ways to attack your reverse pivot issue for good.

After many years of studying the reverse pivot, we have determined that there is often a small cause in the hands and wrist position, takeaway, or weight transfer that makes it very difficult to get the club position back where it needs to be.

Wear your HackMotion to the range and pay very close attention to the ulnar and radial deviation as well as the flexion and extension in your lead wrist; you may find the answer to all of your golf swing troubles.