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Lower Body Exercise : 1 . Stand in your golf posture with your lead leg touching the chair and your arms crossed with your hands on your shoulders . 2 . Straighten / extend your right leg and flex your left leg to allow the hips to turn on a tilted angle and stay connected to the chair . 3 . Start your movement forward by using the feeling of crushing a can under your lead leg . This shift in pressure will move your hips more towards the target and the chair will prop up off the ground immediately . 4 . Your weight should be 90 / 10 on your left leg in the finish and the chair should be propped up off the ground the most . Upper Body Exercise : 5 . In your golf posture set up with your head lightly touching the wall with your arms crossed and hands on shoulders . Pivot keeping your head stable against the wall . Keep very light pressure on the wall as you use the exercise . Progress to setting up with your hands hanging down from your shoulders and making a backswing with your hands connected together similar to your grip . 6 . Set up to a line drawn in the bunker with the leading edge of the club on top of the line . 7 . Swing back to where your lead arm is parallel to the ground and the shaft roughly perpendicular to the ground . 8 . Move the weight towards the target keeping the clubhead trailing your hands and hit the sand on the target side of the line . Hold your finish where your arms are parallel to the ground and the weight is 90 / 10 on your lead leg .
BRYAN ZELL contact the ball first , then the ground . Conversely , when the shaft leans away from the target at impact , the club will contact the ground , then the ball .
Now , for the how . It ’ s important to have a way to practice the movement patterns you are trying to achieve . Two of the three following exercises I recommend can be practiced at home . Homework is an excellent way to train your body when you can ’ t get to the range .
LOWER BODY MOVEMENT EXERCISE To practice correct body movement , try this chair exercise . Start by standing next to a chair with your lead side against it . Pivot back , keeping your lead side lightly touching the chair while still achieving rotation . To assist you with the rotation , your knees change flex where your trail leg extends and your lead leg flexes . As you start the downswing , increase the pressure in your lead leg as if you were crushing a can under your lead foot . This will move your hips forward and the chair legs will prop up slightly off the ground . As you complete the motion to the finish , 90 percent of your weight will be on your lead leg , and the chair legs lift off the ground higher .
UPPER BODY MOVEMENT EXERCISE To train your upper body to stay in the correct position , practice your backswing with your head against a wall . If your head is sliding along the wall laterally as you rotate through your backswing , your upper body is moving too much .
LOW POINT EXERCISE Lastly , to practice controlling where the club strikes the ground , try the following exercise . Using a practice bunker , draw a line perpendicular to your stance . Hover your club just above the line at address . Make a backswing to the point where your lead arm is parallel to the ground , and the shaft is at a right angle to the lead arm . Next , shift your weight forward and keep your grip slightly in front of the club head , then strike the sand . The goal is to strike the sand on the target side of the line . In your finish , hold your arms between waist and chest high with 90 percent of your weight on the lead foot , your hips turned 90 degrees , and the shaft in line with your lead arm .
Please give any or all of these exercises a try to help improve your low-point control . You will be well on your way to hitting more consistently solid shots .
vsga . org M AY / J UNE 2021 | V IRGINIA G OLFER
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