(shoots golf ball) - Hi Adam Bazalgette here, founder of Scratch Golf Academy. Today's subject, how to clear
your hips in the golf swing. Show you the pros, show you how they don't all do it the same and some ways that you can
customize this for yourself and also we'll give you some drills there as we go along that will
really help you get the feel and show you something
at the end of the video that's kind of an underestimated
component of all this. So stay tuned. (upbeat techno music) (hitting golf balls) Very quickly here, if you're new to the channel or if you've watched the
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you put those down there in the comment box below. (shoots golf ball) So how to clear those hips properly. One thing you want to bear in
mind at the very beginning, the hips don't hit the golf ball, the club hits the golf ball. So you always wanna stay connected to what you're trying to do with the club. I mean, hey it's great to turn your hips but if that makes you
swing off the target line or something like that which
we'll get into it's no good. So stay connected to the
delivery of the club. Now certainly one thing
good hip motion can do, speed in the hips, helps speed the club up. But that is only the case if this segment, the pelvic segment separates
from the other segments. Picure me, I've used these
towels in my videos a lot if you've seen them. Hey I can't create some speed there but not if both ends of
the towel move together. So remember it's not just about hip speed, it's separating the hips
from the other segments as you begin to do it. Now, not all pros do it the same way and not all of them
just rotate their hips. Let's have a quick look at a few of them to get a mental picture
then we'll come out and really get into this thing. So here's Paul Casey on the left, there's Bubba Watson on the right, and if we look at Paul Casey, beautiful move there, strong lower body action. Let's stop him right about
as he's hitting the ball. Let's look at Bubba Watson at that point. Look's like he's hitting
possibly a wedge there. Bubba Watson's hips are
definitely significantly more open than Paul Casey's are. But that works for him. Both of them deliver the club beautifully down the intended target line. That works for them. So differing degrees there could be based on athletic instinct or perhaps even just
flexibility or whatnot. So let's look at Arnold Palmer, nice throwback there. And let's look at say, Dustin Johnson. Now, let's look at Dustin. He's hitting like a hybrid here. Now look at the lateral
movement in his downswing. Look how his hips bump toward the target. And I don't think that's
especially a lot either. I'd say this player Fred Couples bumps significantly more than that. But you watch Arnold Palmer, super dynamic hitter of the ball. Just watch his hips in
total and you'll see that it's almost pure
rotation coming down. There's just heiress movement forward and that is a very rotary look. Again that worked for him with his swing. What is does do fantastically though is you'll see how the lower body separates from the upper body there, creating tremendous
torque and possible power. Okay I mentioned in the beginning, remember it's the club that
hits the ball, not the hips so if you were trying for
a really ferocious hip turn but you don't have the ability to separate your shoulders from your hips a bit, and you're a guy or a gal that thrusts the club a little bit, you're almost certainly gonna across the target line when you do that. So you even need to learn to
separate the hips from the top or you've gotta back off a little bit of that hip rotation. Now here's drill number one. Just to see how you do in terms of trying to separate
your hips from your top. Put a club, fact you
don't even need a club. Just put your hands up here like this. Hold your shoulders nice and still and see if you can rotate your hips each way without moving your shoulders. If you're good at it you can rotate your hips pretty quickly there. Minimal shoulder movement. Now if you're not able to
do that in other words, if you can't separate or you
can keep your shoulders still, it could either be that
you lack the coordination between the segments, your mind just hasn't
done things like that, or it could be that you lack mobility. So try this little drill. I'm gonna use my golf
bag for example here. Put your hands on the
top of the cover there. You could have them up
against the door or something. That'll hold your shoulders still. Now you can work on those hips. Can I move those hips pretty
aggressively and independently. We're not even counting hip drive. We're just saying hip mobility. If you can do that in other words if you can do it when your hands holding your shoulders still but you
can't do it without that, that means your coordination isn't there. You need to see a trainer
or work on some drills to help you with that. But even if they are still, if you can hardly move those hips, it means your flexibility
just isn't there. And again you can work on that with someone that really has
some expertise in that area. Okay in this drill, we're gonna take book
out of the page of say baseball or tennis. Now you not have played those sports. Hopefully you've played one or the other, but you've probably watched them. And baseball, when they
step in to hit the ball, the bat's actually taken back momentarily. Same in tennis. The ball comes here, the racket goes back as the player steps forward. If you can separate those two, you'll really go a long way towards separating your shoulders
from your hips as well. So here's the drill. I've got the nine iron,
doesn't have to be a nine, but a short iron on a tee. You need it on a tee
really to make it easier. Were gonna go back to
maybe about horizontal with this lead on maybe just short of it and then pause. Now, let me just jump in and say I use this drill in teaching quite a lot and typically once that
ball is there and you say "Just pause, and then do such and such." They don't, they just hit it like that. So you've got to make
sure you have the pause. Here's the drill. I'm gonna do a practice rehearsal first. Get to about here, full pause. Now in this case, as I start to apply force in the hips here, I'm gonna just jolt my hands
back just an inch or two so I feel them going in
the separate directions. Lets try it with the ball here. There's my spot. (swings at golf ball) Yeah I really could feel a sense of two different directions at once. It's not a lot of movement but the different direction
separates a segment. Creates a lot of energy. Now one other missing ingredient here that most people fail to, they don't even know it exists, but it will really help
you get those hips working. Let's have a quick look at a pro then I'll give it to you here at the end. So there's Tiger Woods, and certainly as you watch his hips, he bumps towards the target a little bit and for certain he clear out, I mean his hips are aiming here and he hasn't even hit the ball yet. But what else does he do, and he does this super super well, if you look at his belt buckle, he lowers a little bit as we comes down, I mean his belt buckle is
down there at this point. That is pressure going
down into that foot. And against the ground
you can then spring up through the ball which
will really increase the rate of speed your hips turn at. Look at his belt buckle, rise as he really springs in those legs. Snap. Straight. You will add some power and
zest if you can do that. I have a free course, three
part course, detailed videos on how to gain 25 extra yards. Just go down to the description
box it's there for you. So we're going right back to our drill where we stop here and then
do the two separate ways. You don't have to do it with this drill but it's a good way to start. Except now I'm more aware
of the ground pressure. Let's try one out here. So I get my spot and as I move I'm gonna feel a distinct
sense as I push the club back. I'm pushing into the ground initially and how that lets me spring a little bit. Let's see how we do here. (swings at golf ball) I could feel some down
and upward pressure there. Not doing it like the big hitters on tour but that feels a little more dynamic to me even then when I normally do in my swing. Now listen have some fun with this. There's no exact right way to do that. We've showed you this. Play around with some
ideas and some drills and customize it so that you
can deliver the club well. Maybe add a little bit of force and power to your game as you do it. Well thanks again. I'd really appreciate it if
you hit the thumbs up button if you liked the video. That would help me build the channel. Help bring you more golf content. Hope this helps you with how to clear your hips in the golf swing and that you'll make good progress. (upbeat tech music)
