Early Extension in Golf: What It Is and How to Fix It
7 min read · by the AnchorStance team
Early extension is the most common swing fault in amateur golf: on the way down, the hips thrust toward the ball and the upper body stands up out of its posture before impact. It crowds your arms, forces last-instant hand saves, and produces the classic two-way miss — blocks one swing, flip-hooks the next. The frustrating part is that it is nearly impossible to feel. The good part: it is very visible on video, and very fixable.
What early extension looks like
At address you set a forward bend from the hips. In a sound downswing, that posture is maintained — the hips rotate open while staying "back", roughly on the line they started on (coaches call it staying on the tush line). Early extension is the hips leaving that line toward the ball while the spine rises.
On a down-the-line video, watch your backside against a vertical reference: if daylight appears before impact, you extended early. A 3D analyzer measures it directly — AnchorStance tracks how far the hips move toward the ball through the downswing and flags the fault when the shift exceeds the ideal band.
Why it happens
Three usual causes: a lower body that does not know how to rotate (so it thrusts instead), a club stuck too far behind (the body stands up to make room), and simple hip/glute mobility or strength limits. Because the root cause varies, checking your measurement week over week matters more than any single-swing judgement.
The two drills that fix it
Both drills give your body an external reference it cannot cheat:
- Wall (glutes) drill: set up with your backside lightly touching a wall. Swing to the top keeping contact, then start down keeping your trail glute, then lead glute, on the wall through the strike zone. If your hips leave the wall, you extended.
- Chair drill: place a chair back (or bag stand) just behind you at address. Rehearse downswings where your hips rotate along it instead of pushing off it.
Feels that help
- "Belt buckle rotates left and up — not out at the ball."
- "Keep your chest bowing to the ball through impact."
- "Make room: hips back, hands in front."
Track it, don’t guess it
Early extension retires slowly — expect weeks, not swings. In AnchorStance it appears on your Fix List with these drills attached and only counts as fixed after ten consecutive clean swings, so you know the change is real rather than one good rep.