Your swing is only as good as your physical abilities allow. This statement merely means that your body is your most important piece of equipment. All the expensive pieces of equipment and golf lessons are useless if you do not have the necessary strength, flexibility, and balance to utilize them. Many golfers hold to the belief that strengthening their muscles through weight lifting exercises will only detract from their golf game. This strongly held assumption is a myth. If you are a golfer than you are an athlete, and your training should reflect this. A stronger and more flexible body will help improve your overall game. This article will delve into the stance, back swing, downswing, and follow-through and selected exercises to help enhance your physical abilities and thus bolster your overall golf game.


Stance
When you strengthen the leg, hip and lower back muscles, you become better able to hold a stable basic stance throughout the entire swing. A stable body position enables you to execute fuller and more effective hip and shoulder rotation not only in the backswing, but also in the downswing and follow through. Maintaining a stable position especially a stable spine position, is the key to the prevention of back problems. The squat can greatly improve the effectiveness of your stance and produce positive results in your golf swing.



Basic Squat
The basic squat is a multiple-joint motion exercise, which target the hip and upper-leg muscles.

Proper Alignment: In a ready position, begin with the legs shoulder width apart with the feet pointed out about 20 to 30 degrees, with the hips and knees flexed, weight over the ankles and the trunk in a slight forward lean.

Proper Technique: Begin with the knees slightly bent and slowly begin to lower the body as far as you can while maintaining a natural arch in the lower back. Contract the glutes and hamstrings. Slowly begin to straighten the legs while keeping your weight over your ankles. Return to your original start position while maintaining proper spinal positioning.

Essential Tips: Remember to inhale on the down phase of the movement (eccentric) and exhale on the upward phase (concentric). Avoid having your heels come off of the floor. Have the shoulders aligned with the knees and the feet. Finally, keep the shoulders back, with a natural arch in the lower back and the head and neck in a neutral position.

Incorporating the basic squat into your golf regimen will help strengthen your quadriceps muscles and help stabilize your lower body during all phases of the swing.

Back Swing
An effective back swing plays an important role in delivering explosive power in the downswing. It is the necessary preparation for a release of built-up energy. Placing the muscles in an actively stretched position will generate more force through the contraction. As a result of this active stretch, these muscles accumulate elastic energy, which is given back when the muscles contract in the downswing. To achieve your swing potential you must learn to utilize the effects of this active stretch and muscular contraction to generate more power with less energy expenditure. The shoulder twist exercise strengthens the lower back and serves to increase the degree of shoulder rotation as well as increase abdominal flexibility.

Shoulder Twist
If you have weak back musculature or limited abdominal flexibility, then the shoulder twist is an excellent exercise to help your golf game.

Proper Alignment: In a ready position, begin with the your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart and feet pointed out about 20 to 30 degrees, with the hips and knees flexed, weight over the ankles and the trunk in a slight forward lean. Hold a bar across the shoulders on outstretched arms.

Proper Technique: Bend over from the hips while maintaining the normal spinal curvature so that you have the same trunk angle as in the regular golf swing. When in position, rotate to the right as far as possible without discomfort. Be sure to keep the lumbar spine in its normal curvature (slightly arched) during execution. After reaching the farthest position, rotate as in the usual swing and then go as far as possible to the left. Go through a full range of motion.

Essential Tips: Using a long pole across the shoulders on outstretched arms is most effective for ensuring a full range of motion. If you use a golf club on the shoulders and bend both elbows, it is difficult to get a full range of motion. Caution: rotating the shoulders with a rounded back (flexed spine) can be injurious to the lower back.

By adding this exercise to your training regimen it will help strengthen your lower back and serve to increase the degree of shoulder rotation which in turn will develop a tightly coiled upper trunk in preparation for the downswing.

Downswing
The movements involved in the back swing play a critical role in preparing appropriate muscles for immediate action in the next phase the downswing. The downswing is the phase in which power and explosiveness are generated in the swing and transmitted to the ball. It is important to have sufficient force coupled with good technique for each action to build an explosive downswing. Combined with the preceding force generated, maximum club head speed at contact is the culminating result. Due to the complexity of the multiple joint actions: forward hip rotation, shoulder rotation, left arm abduction, right arm adduction, wrist supination and pronation, ulnar flexion, left arm lateral rotation, right arm medial rotation and wrist flexion and extension, we will only focus on the hip slide or right hip abduction (in a right handed golfer).


Hip Slide Exercise
The hip slide or weight shift (weight transfer) is the first action in the downswing. It is better known as "getting your hips in the shot." The main action involved is right hip joint abduction, which involves the gluteus medius and minimus muscles located on the sides of the hips.

Proper Alignment: In a ready position, begin with the feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart and feet pointed out about 20 to 30 degrees, with the hips and knees flexed and the weight over your ankles.

Proper Technique: To do this exercise, you need a nonslip belt around your hips (about two inches above the pubic bone) secured firmly. Attach one end of the cord to the ring in front of your right hip, and stand with your right side to the door or support where the other end is attached at hip height. When ready, rotate the hips slightly to the rear as in the backswing while still retaining tension on the tubing. Then shift your weight onto the left leg (slide the hips forward) to create more tension in the tubing. As you do this, turn the hips to the left against the resistance of the tubing.

This is a great exercise to incorporate into your golf regimen. This is a great exercise for learning not only correct technique, but for getting more power in the hip turn.

The Follow-Through
The follow-through ensures maximum speed of the clubhead through the contact area to produce an explosive hit. Momentum is responsible for the movement in the follow-through and no muscles are actively involved to produce the range of motion. Specific muscles are however stretched in an effort to slow down the club. As the muscles stretch, they contract eccentrically, developing tension as they lengthen.


Since the main function of the follow-through is to dissipate the forces generated in the downswing, any development of additional strength is used to slow down the club and body movements in order to finish in a balanced, non-stressful position. The backward overhead medicine ball toss helps duplicate the follow through actions to ensure a full follow-through and to prevent injury.

Backward Overhead Medicine Ball Toss
The backward overhead medicine ball toss is an excellent exercise for strengthening the lower back and abdominals to control the amount of the reverse-C curve. As you end the shoulder turn in the follow-through, you end up in a forward facing reverse-C curve (a hyperextend spine).

Proper Alignment: In a ready position, begin with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart and feet pointed out about 20 to 30 degrees, hips and knees flexed in a slight forward lean. Hold a ball in your extended arms.

Proper Technique: When ready, go into a squat (as described in the basic squat) and extend the trunk and legs, at the same time keeping the arms straight, raising the ball up and releasing it overhead as the body is fully extended and as you go into the reverse-C curve.

Essential Tips: Toss the ball easily in the early stages. When you master this exercise and develop the technique, strength, and flexibility you need, you can throw the ball for maximum height and distance to the rear.

By doing this exercise, you will enhance the follow-through, which is critical for maximum explosive force, and reduce your risk of injuries.

Anyone can play golf, but to go from a fun 150 shot game to consistently breaking 100 or even 80 means that you need to develop a good swing and duplicate the same basic swing on every shot. As you have undoubtedly already experienced, making changes, especially when you have a set swing is often very hard, and very costly. Regardless of your clubs, or the recommendations from numerous golf pros, you must have the physical abilities to hit the ball as far and accurately as you desire. This requires the strength, flexibility, and coordination to do this. If you do not, you are doomed to failure regardless of how much money you spend lessons you take, and practice you put in. Your swing is only as good as your physical abilities allow.


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