What does the term clearing my hips mean in the golf swing? Now the hips to actually hit consistent shots and to achieve a lot of distance need to rotate towards the target during the down swing and finish at a point where they’re facing down towards your target after you’ve actually finished the shot. Now clearing the hips is the process that some people use at least the term that some people use to donate the actual rotation of the hips through the down swing and clearing the left side especially. So turning that left hip out of the way and just allowing the rest of the body to flow through the shot. So you actually clear the hips when the down swing starts. So you turn to the top with a nice full shoulder turn and then as you start down, the hips being to rotate or clear and they leave a path for the club to actually turn down and through.
So you clear the hips out of the way and the upper body just flows and falls into a nice little slot. And when you actually fall into that slot, the actual strikes should be much more consistent. So it’s at the top — those hips clear and then the rest of the body follows through. Now what in clearing the hips doesn’t mean is shunting them out of the way. As you get to the top of the swing if the hips rotate and turn, there should be plenty of room for the club to fall down into. If you get to the top of the swing and you literally try and clear those hips back out of the way, it’s just going to become a very hands and armsy shot through and you won’t get the power and the distance that you can achieve if you just turn those hips through. So clearing the hips means the rotation of the hips through the ball and not a shunt back through impact. If you do that you won’t be achieving everything you need to. So clear those hips, let the club fall and hopefully hit longer and more consistent shots.