The muscles around the midsection of your body—commonly known as the "core" muscles—are hugely important in terms of making an effective golf swing. Their main responsibility is to stabilize your body so you can swing powerfully without losing your balance or control of the club—no matter what kind of lie you are facing. They also help prevent injuries, specifically protecting your spinal column.
To summarize: You need to do exercises that strengthen your core.
Unfortunately for golfers, the majority of exercises that focus on the midsection don't take into account that golfers need stability not only to move forward and backward, but also side to side and rotationally. Considering you have to move in all three planes of motion in order to perform a golf swing, doesn't it make sense to train your core in all three planes? That was rhetorical. Of course it does. And that's why Golf Digest fitness advisor Ben Shear wants to revamp your core workouts with a series of new exercises that are tailored to golfers' needs.
This is a three-part series that starts with static exercises in the half-kneeling position, progresses to static exercises while standing, and then finishes with dynamic core exercises. Trust me, if you're sick of doing planks or crunches, you're going to want to implement Ben's routine. Special thanks to trainers Ryan Anderson and Joe Yoon for demonstrating Ben's moves. Click on the video to watch them.