How To Prevent “Spinning Out” in the Golf Swing

Spinning out in the golf swing is often marked by staying stuck on the trail side, an out-to-in club path, and an inability to effectively shift weight to the lead side. This pattern can lead to decreased clubhead speed, reduced distance, and increased stress on the body—raising the risk of injury. But what causes this inefficient movement pattern in the first place? And more importantly, what can we do to correct it and unlock a more powerful, efficient swing?

Why do golfers “Spin Out”

There can be many reasons why golfers are spinning out in their golf swing. Often, this swing characteristic of hanging back and pushing the trail side knee and hip forward towards the ball is a natural adjustment the body makes to try to correct issues at impact. Unfortunately, this “fix” often leads to more performance issues. Further, spinning out can happen when the body is physically uncomfortable or uncapable of getting into the position opposite of spinning out. This would include creating a lateral weight shift, staying hinged through the swing, rotating into the left hip, and shallowing the club. Whether it is due to pain and injury, mobility restrictions, or both, we need to first address the physical components that are influencing action.

Pain and injury

Common sites of pain that can produce a spinning out swing pattern include lead side lower extremity injuries, low back pain, and neck pain. If a golfer is suffering from lead side ankle instability/pain, knee pain, or hip pain, the body will naturally limit how much weight and force that can be pushed into that side. The golf swing is a violent action, with nearly double the forces being experienced on the lead side lower extremity than the trail side. For this reason, the body will stop the lateral weight shift and rotation over top of the lead side and instead produce rotation early while still on the back side leg, keeping us from ever truly getting to the left side with speed.

Further, unilateral or one-sided lower back pain can be caused or exacerbated in some patients by rotating into the lead side while posteriorly tilting the pelvis to stay back and hinged. This is what we want to see in the swing, but with lower back pain or injury, rotating the lumbar spine while moving into flexion can irritate already injured structures. By hanging back and spinning out, we can avoid flexing the lumbar spine and minimize rotation to the lead side. This can potentially reduce pain in the low back and protect the structures, but also comes with severe performance issues and a high potential for new pain and injury.

Neck pain can reduce the golfers comfortability in rotating through the swing. To protect the structures of the neck and decompress any injured muscles, the golfer can naturally reduce there need to rotate the trunk under a stable neck (effectively creating neck/ cervical rotation) by hanging back and spinning out early where the head and neck can rotate with the trunk at similar rates.  Check out this video showing how cervical rotation takes place in the golf swing…

Mobility and strength deficits

Spinning out in the golf swing can be a product of missing mobility or strength in key joints. Specific regions of the most importance are the lead side hip internal rotation, supination on the lead side foot, and external rotation of the trails side hip. Check out this video showing all the key mobility requirements from the backswing and downswing…

Lead side hip internal rotation is exceptionally important for avoiding spinning out. If we cannot pull the pelvis over to the left side and rotate on top of the femur (hip internal rotation) then we will struggle to avoid spinning out or hanging back. Try these two exercises to first improve pelvic positioning and hip range of motion and then create stability and strength through that motion…

Also, check out this article which will dive deeper into improving this quality with a significantly important movement, the abduct and shift drill.

Second, having access to create supination of the lead side foot is critical for accepting the load of the weight shift and vertical forces created at that foot during the downswing. If we cannot achieve supination of this lead side foot, we will either be limited in how much force we can produce/ accept or avoid shifting and rotating over that foot in the first place, creating a hanging back swing characteristic or lifting the lead foot and allowing the body to rotate through entirely without applying braking forces to create speed at the club head. Check out this link to an article to learn more about creating braking forces in the golf swing…

Try these movements to help introduce and reinforce foot pronation and supination…

Last, we can specifically look to trail side hip external rotation limitations as a cause for spinning out. We need to be able to push off and rotate out of a stable trail side hip. When we cannot do this or lose space at the trail side hip for external rotation, the knee, ankle, pelvis, and trunk will begin to take over to create rotation. This leads to us using a full body pivot instead of a joint-by-joint rotation strategy. Check out the exercises below to help open up hip mobility and train the trail hip to create external rotation without losing posture…

Conclusion

Spinning out is a common issue among golfers, and it's rarely caused by a single factor. In most cases, it's the result of a combination of mobility limitations, motor control deficits, or lingering effects from past injuries. To address it effectively, we first need to determine whether your spin-out pattern is driven by pain, instability, or restricted movement—or a combination of all three. Previous injuries can subtly alter sequencing and timing, further contributing to inefficient swing mechanics. Identifying the root cause is key to building a more stable, powerful, and repeatable swing.

-Dr. Nick DC, MS, TPI, CSCS

If you would like to learn more about your body, pain, and performance, send Dr. Nick an email at contact@integratedrpc.com or call at (585)478-4379, or schedule a FREE discovery visit at Contact.

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