Fortify Your Foundation

A strong and stable lower body will support a powerful swing.

By Dillon Johnson

I like to use the analogy of building a tree house when discussing the importance of lower body stability and strength in the golf swing. Would you consider building a deluxe tree house, with all the bells and whistles, on top of a small, weak tree? Of course not. You’d choose a tree with a big, stable base to serve as the foundation.

The golf swing is no different. We all envision having a powerful and consistent golf swing, however we often overlook training our body to ensure it is actually capable of this. The only way to produce consistent power—and support the additional load and movement coming from above— is to build a strong and stable lower body. Here are a few introductory exercises to help get this pro-cess going.

If you have any health concerns/issues please contact your physician before attempting these exercises.

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Single-Leg Getup

• Locate a bench, chair, or box of appropriate height
• While on a single leg, sit down, pause for a 2-second count and then stand
• Repeat 8-10 times per side

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Front-Loaded Squat

 

• Choose an appropriate dumbbell or kettlebell for you to hold between your legs with straight relaxed arms
• Set your feet up about driver’s width apart with most of your weight in your heels
• Keeping your shoulders back, slowly bend your knees and drop into your hips taking your butt towards the ground
• At around 90 degrees of bend in your knees, or whatever your body is comfortable with, slowly stand back upright
• Repeat 12-15 times

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Stability Ball Bent-Knee Bridge

• While lying on your back, bend your knees to 90 degrees and plant both of your feet into the front of a stability ball
• Keeping your knees at 90 degrees, slowly lift your butt/hips as high off the ground as possible
• Hold the top for a two-second count, then slowly roll your spine down one section at a time until your butt/hips rest back on the ground
• Repeat 12-15 times
• Looking for more advancement? Try it with one leg

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Lunge to Backswing

• While holding your golf club, put your left foot in front of your right foot with your right heel off the ground
• With this narrow stance, slowly bend your knees traveling towards the ground
• Then slowly rise back up to where your legs are both fairly straight and slowly go into a full backswing
• Repeat 10 times per side

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Co-owner of RallySport in Boulder, Dillon Johnson is Level 3 & Juniors Certified by the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) and Certified by the Personal Training Academy Global. He is a multiple CAGGY winner. Reach him at 303-928-9007 or [email protected].

Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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