Clear Hips Drill: The Ben Hogan Formula

MOST GOLFERS GET ON THE COURSE AND COMPLETELY FORGET THAT GOLF IS AN ATHLETIC GAME…AS SIMPLE AS THROWING A BALL! YOU DON’T THINK ABOUT TECHNIQUE WHEN THROWING A BALL. YOU THROW THE BALL NATURALLY. THIS DRILL WILL BANISH YOUR WOODEN SWING, AND ENTICE YOUR INNER ATHLETE OUT TO PLAY.

I added the Clear Hips Drill to the Golf Practice Planner today because most of us get jammed in our swings because of our hips, which is horribly unathletic.

If you were asked to throw a baseball as far as you possibly could (even if you were British, and had never seen a baseball before), here’s what you would instinctively do.

You’d clear your hips!

And you’d clear your hips without a single technical thought disturbing your brain.

The typical fault of a scratch golfer or pro is overactive hips.

But for mere mortals, which is 99% of us, the hips are dead in the swing. Mr. Typical Golfer will wildly rotate their shoulders early in the downswing and have what I call “forgetful hips”. Forgetful hips forget to move at all (remain passive) until they are pulled into the shot after the shoulders have already rotated around the front of the body.

The Clear Hips Drill will breathe life into those dead hips of yours.

Name
Clear Hips Drill

Category
Long Game Practice Drills

Difficulty
5 out of 10

Time
5 minutes

Props
Any Club. Golf Practice Planner.

Steps

Step 1: Watch
Watch the video.

Step 2: Throw A Ball 
Throw a ball like Ben Hogan.

“The motion of the golf downswing is very similar to the motion of a baseball infield player throwing a side-throw (half side-arm, half underhand) ball to the first baseman.” – Ben Hogan 

Step 3: Clear Hips 
Address the ball. Make sure that your bottom is sticking out (protruded). Get into the top of the backswing and pause. Let the arms fall in front of you on the downswing while maintaining the lag, and hit the ball. Maintain the “bottom sticking out position” on the downswing, to give you lots of room at impact.

Step 4: Keep Score
Hit 10 shots (after pausing at the top of the swing) feeling the lag and hips clearing. Give yourself one point each time you feel proper lag and clear the hips to make room for the club at impact.