1. Walk backward on a treadmill or pedal a stationary bike backward to strengthen the back of your legs (hamstrings, calves, tendons, etc.). Spend half of your cardio time moving in reverse.
2. Pretend someone put a pencil between your shoulder blades, and you have to keep it there by pinching them together. Feel like the bottom of the blades are almost touching. Do this several times a day.
3. Stand with your forehead resting on a wall, arms out to your sides so your body forms a cross. Press your palms into the surface and pinch your shoulder blades together for a few seconds. Then turn around and do this same exercise with your back to the wall and your palms facing away. Do this five times in each direction, holding the squeezed position for several seconds. This will train all the muscles around your shoulder girdle to control the club better.
FLEXIBILITY AND COORDINATION
1. Do karaoke drills. Stand tall with your arms in a goal-post position. Cross your right foot behind your left, and step to the side with your left foot. Cross your right foot in front of your left, and step again to the side with your left foot. Continue this alternating pattern as you move laterally to the left for 10 to 20 yards. Then reverse the footwork and move laterally to the right. Your upper body should stay facing forward as much as possible. Start slow, but eventually you'll want to do this drill at a brisk pace. This improves your ability to rotate your torsos and sequence a golf swing properly.
ACCELERATION AND LEVERAGE
1. Grab a golf shaft or an alignment rod, and get on your knees. Make five swings right-handed and five left-handed as fast as you can. Take a 5-iron and repeat. Then do it with a sand wedge.
2. Using the same progression of golf shaft/rod, 5-iron and sand wedge, make five swings from your normal address posture as fast as you can with each item right-handed and then left-handed.
3. Following that progression, make five swings with each item right-handed and left-handed, but take a couple of steps toward the swing's direction before swinging. Think of the movie "Happy Gilmore."WANT MORE?Tom House and his business partner, Charlie Nootbaar, have developed a heavier training aid and a program to help golfers increase their swing speeds. Visit velocityshaft.comfor more information.
