Let’s continue with our winter off-season Top 8 golf tips from my friend the Titleist certified golf instructor Connie. Remember, her biggest “ah-ha” moment was when she applied her golf training principles to her “everyday” clients. That means YOU, even if you abhor golf!
First (or 5th) exercise: Lateral Hop
Let’s try a lateral hop from side to side. Here is Maggie using the lines from a section of indoor track to create a start and finish. Push thru your heels and see if you can get that glute to fire on take off.
Go from the right to the left, or left to the right. Try 2 sets of 10 to start.
Second (or 6th) exercise: One knee side plank
This is another difficult core exercise. The difficulty lies in the fact that normally you would have both feet on the ground. Notice that one knee is on the ground, and the other foot is lifted.
Now lift the outside leg more to get that glute! Remember, feel the glute, not the quad or your back or something else. Use your shoulder blade to anchor the elbow on the ground. Don’t let your core collapse.
Third (or 7th) exercise: Half (sort of) Moon… with a little help
This deceptively simple exercise is designed to work on balance and opening the hip. It is always a good idea to work on balance once you’re a little tired, which is why we put it late in the line up. Stand next to something you can lightly grab onto. Draw the leg back, and then rotate and open up the leg in the air’s hip to the sky. What muscles are working?
Fourth (or 8th, saving my favorite for last) exercise: Scapular Retraction
Grab some very light weights (these are 5#) and stand with your palms facing forward and elbows bent to ninety degrees. Now you are going to retract your shoulder blades together (squeeze them low down.) This should be relatively easy. The problem is, we need those shoulder blades to also be able to retract when you address the ball– aka lean over.
What happens when you lean over? Do you shoulders fall forward with those all-of-a-sudden-now-kind-of heavy weights? Aaaah. Now you see what I am talking about. Once you can keep them where they were before you tipped forward, then squeeze and release the bottoms of the shoulder blades to start to get them strong. If you need shoulder blade anatomy review, re-read this blog on foam roller exercises.
There you are! Some of the latest and greatest from the golf world! Let us know how you liked them in the comments below.
