The lower body is the most ignored part of a golf exercise routine. People focus on building upper body strength – to gain more distance. I maintain that distance is gained by SQUARE (center of the clubface) hits – and has less to do with upper body strength than most people imagine.

The lower body is key to staying balanced – and keeping your hips and knees level throughout the swing. Staying level is what provides CENTER of the CLUBFACE hits – otherwise the clubface tends to move up or down ever so slightly (along with the upper body). Staying level can only be accomplished if your lower body is STRONG.

The only other muscle (group) apart from your lower body that you need for golf is your CORE. Every pro on the tour knows this – and works more on their core than any other part of their body.

So – if you had to do ONE exercise – that covered your ENTIRE LOWER BODY and your CORE – what would that be?

The SQUAT– There’s a reason it is called the King of all (Full Body) exercises.

Very few exercises can focus on multiple muscle groups at one time. The squat is one of them. In golf, there are few exercises that will change your game as drastically as squats will. I’ve had this confirmed by several coaches as well – but I did not need their validation. This is something that I discovered on my own – while sticking to my gym routine.  Lower back, hips, butt, chest, shoulders – there isn’t a single part of the body that doesn’t benefit from the simple, unassuming SQUAT.

 

Squat no weight

  

Squat with weights
squat_no_weights   squat_weight

On Stretching and Yoga

Undoubtedly, stretching has a very positive effect on the entire golf swing. Several yoga poses help – and no (serious) golfer should overlook a regular yoga regimen. However,  for the time constrained, there are a few poses that are more important than others. I consider the EAGLE and the PLANK poses shown above to be two of the more important ones.

  1. The PLANK (holding a plank position) – for as long as you can
  2. Eagle Pose in Yoga

Plank Pose  – Hold for as long as possible

  

Eagle pose in Yoga
plank_position   eagle_pose

Amateur golfer with no real claim to fame (unless club championships count). Sharing knowledge obtained from (far too many) golf lessons – from far too many pros.

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Golf Tips – who has written posts on Anuj Varma, Hands-On Technology Architect, Clean Air Activist.