We All Want More Distance from Our Golf Swing
If you find yourself over 40 and want to add more distance with a more powerful golf swing, you may want to read this blog and take a look at the videos of a few exercises you can do.
Everyone’s body and therefore their golf swing is a little different. There are some fundamentals about the golf swing, your musculature, and bone structure.
This blog isn’t to teach you to improve your swing, but to help you examine aspects of your golf swing that may be reducing the potential for a more powerful swing. And we’ll show you a few exercises you can do to improve strength in key muscle groups to improve power.
Information Related to the Golf Swing on Golfsquatch
To start, take a look at your swing and what elements are reducing power. From here, you can begin working on swing techniques and exercises that will help generate more efficient power in your golf swing. PGA Tour
Indicators your swing is likely lacking power
- Your lower body moves before your upper body
- You release early
- You have an improper grip that is interrupting your swing
- You feel like you’re falling over after your swing
- You are tense during your backswing and follow-through
If you don’t grip the club properly, you won’t ever generate a lot of power in your swing.
So, before you start thinking about your upper and lower body, take a look at how you are gripping the golf club.
There are a few different ways to grip the club – start with this first. Stronger grips can help to generate more power, but can also produce a wicked hook.
Upper body
Another way power in the swing is lost is because of lack of or improper upper body rotation during the backswing.
In the backswing, your chest should turn away from the target. You should hinge your wrists during the rotation hinge, moving your weight to your right foot or heal (for right-handed golfers).
This rotation is sometimes called the coil – this is where power comes from. So, if you need to do exercises to strengthen the muscles it takes to create a proper upper body rotation, keep reading or go straight to the videos below.
The Downswing
There is often the potential of major power loss during the downswing as well.
The temptation is to hit the ball with your arms and wrists after reaching the top of your backswing. Resist this urge. You should instead start the downswing with your lower body – hour hips and legs.
This is why we are recommending some simple exercises to strengthen the muscles used in the backswing and downswing.
Building a More Powerful Swing
Focus less on shifting weight back and forward during your swing, rather zero in on rotation.
Rotating with your hips and legs is easier – these are bigger muscles for creating efficient power.
It’s easy to think that you need to ‘swing harder’ to create more power. This may work, but it requires perfect timing.
Once when I first started golfing I was so angry for not playing well I swung so hard with a 4 iron and hit over 200 yards to an uphill green on a par 5. That was luck, not consistency and accuracy.
Creating Speed
Make sure you are balanced and allow the speed in your swing to gather slowly, causing the clubhead to move faster upon the impact of the ball and through impact.
Your Setup
How you set up prior to your swing can have a major impact on how energy is transferred to the ball with your swing. It’s about making sure when you uncoil your swing, you have the proper loft and attack angle for the club you are swinging.
Timing
Your movements – backswing, downswing, and follow-through need to be coordinated. I’ve found that The Golf Swing Shirt helps keep
VIDEOS: Exercises to Build Power in Your Golf Swing
I recently spend some time with Sean Masters from Tangelo Health a Seattle Chiropractor working on some exercises. Here are a couple of golf exercises to help you build power in your golf swing.
Increase Turn in Your Backswing
Find a wall or other vertical object you can get next to. Take a knee with the outside leg away from the wall. Put your arm away from the wall out and make a firm fist. With the hand next to the wall … watch the video below!
Strengthen Muscles to Stabilize During Lateral Movement
This exercise helps to improve the strength in your stabilizing muscles in your hips and legs.
Final Thoughts
The golf swing is (or can be) a complicated thing, but as you gain more experience you’ll find it becomes a little more simplified. I played several years of baseball, basketball at the high school and college level, but now I’m in my 40s. I’m still working on my swing technique and now adding more exercise training, mostly to remain more flexible as I age.
These exercises can be done in the privacy of your home or while you’re warming up at the course before your round.
During the shooting of these videos, I did 1 set of 5 (for each back turn) and 1 set of 10 (for banded squats and side steps) without a lot of warm-up and I was a little winded, but not for long. I’m going to try these exercises for a while and will write an update to this blog.
