Your posture at address helps you make solid contact. If your posture is off, your swing is off and you’ll make weak contact. Weak contact drives high golf handicaps. Three areas of the body—the abdominals (the six pack), the rectus abdominis (glute muscles), and the oblique muscles (both right and left)—greatly influence your posture at address. If you strengthen them, you’ll prevent injury and make better contact. Below are three exercises that can help strengthen these muscle groups.
Start With The Glutes
Your glutes are key muscles in golf. When they’re weak, golfers tilt from their pelvis too much. Their spinal curve forms the shape of the letter “S”—something we see often in golf instructions sessions. Too much spinal curve hurts a golfer’s ability to rotate toward the target and maintain good boy angles before impact. You must keep the spine as straight as possible at address, with a slight bend around the neck, to make solid contact.
A simple exercise can strengthen your abdominals. Lie flat on the ground on your back with your knees slightly bent. Now hold a club directly over your head. Without moving the club, bring your knees and under the club. If you can’t make it all the way up, go as far as possible. Do two sets of 10 repetitions each. This exercise forces a posterior tilt of the pelvis and helps strengthen the abdominals.
Train The Obliques
Your obliques are a second muscle group that needs strengthening. Weak obliques force you to lose flexion as you move to the top. This in turn results in a swing fault called reverse spine angle. It looks similar to a reverse pivot, but is more a problem of poor weight shift. Simply put, if your spine angle at address is 30 degrees and that shifts to a minus five degrees, you’ve reversed your spine. This forces you to lean toward the target, resulting in poor contact. It also can produce lower back pain.
To maintain your flexion, you must train your obliques. A simple exercise you can do at home strengthens your obliques. Using a narrow stance get into a half kneeling position. Take a wide grip on a club with your arms extended. Keeping the lower body still rotate your torso toward the lead knee as the arms move up and across the body. The rotation strengthens the obliques while the kneeling helps the glutes. Do a set of 10 repetitions in each direction, switching the leg positions
Strengthen The Back Muscles
A popular swing fault in our golf lessons is early extension. A stability issue, early extension occurs when you move your lower body toward the ball during the downswing. When that happens, the club drops behind you. This swing fault results in the club being blocked as you swing unless you standup to create room. Standing up throws your swing off. The best you can hope for is a push or a hook—both of which can lead to trouble.
Early extension is the result of weak glutes, tight calves, and the inability to squat. To eliminate this swing fault, grab a 5-, 10-, or 15-pound dumbbell and hold it in front of you with your arms extended. Now lower your body into a deep squat position. Your butt should almost touch the ground. Place the dumbbell on a platform or chair. Then stand up without it. Do two sets of 10 repetitions each.
Good posture at address is critical to making solid contact. If key core muscles, like your glutes, obliques, and calves, are weak, your posture deteriorates, making it hard to make a good swing. To maintain good posture throughout the swing, do the exercises described above. They’ll strengthen your core and help you make the kind of solid contact that shrinks golf handicaps.
