But before I give you this exercise I just need to explain that doing passive exercises is not going to have a huge positive effect on your golf swing. And when I say passive exercises, I mean doing a stretch and holding it.  The reason for this is because when you swing a golf club you are moving, so it doesn’t make sense to do exercises that require a lot of holding.

When stretching to hit longer drives you want to be moving!

One example of a great exercise you can do to help yourself hit longer golf drives is called the twister. To do this exercise you simply get a dumbbell or a medicine ball and hold it against your chest. Then with the dumbbell or medicine ball in place, setup as though you are about to swing a golf club but have your feet a fraction wider apart than normal.

Once you are ready then simply rotate your upper body from one side to the other, and as you’re doing this shift your weight from one side to the other. When you’re doing this exercise try to increase your turn on each side for each rotation, but be sure to do this in a controlled manner and use common sense. Don’t rush this to start with, but as you get more used to the motion then you can increase the speed.

Always make sure you are turning fully as you’re doing this. You can do this exercise every day if you wish, for say 20 repetitions. This will help you to make a bigger turn in your golf swing and consequently you’ll hit longer golf drives.

To help you do this, below are six simple hand exercises you can do to help improve your hand strength and flexibility for longer golf shots. These exercises can be done easily in the comfort of your own home, and they do not require you to purchase anything that you would not already have available. Before we get into the exercises, however, here is some important advice.

The following exercises are for strengthening the lower arms. You can make these exercises easier by holding lower down on the shaft of the golf club, and if you need to you can also make these exercises harder by using a heavier club and holding the club near the end.

When you begin the exercises you should hold the golf club in a place which as a result, after about 20 repetitions you are reasonably tired. Do 20 repetitions with each hand and when you’re just starting out with these exercises, keep your sessions to once a week and slowly build up to three sessions per week as you progress. Stop if you feel any soreness or any other feeling that you don’t think is normal.

After a while of doing these exercises at 20 repetitions you can increase the repetitions gradually until you can do about 100 with each hand. But like any exercise, use common sense as you build up to that. So without any further ado, here are the hand strengthening and flexibility exercises.

1. This first hand exercise is a great one for the wrists as it simulates the open and closing feeling that should happen in your golf swing. To do this exercise stand with your golf club as you would to address a golf ball, then keeping the upper arm pointing down to the ground, raise the club up so it’s pointing to the sky. Now press your elbow against your side and roll the club from one side to the other as far as the arm will allow. Only use the top hand for this exercise, so you’ll only be doing this exercise with you left arm (or right arm for lefties).

2. This exercise is a great one for strengthening the wrists for longer drives. Do this exercise with each arm, one at a time. Holding a golf club in your hand, hold your arm slightly bent against your side so that only your wrist is mobile. Now move the club in chopping motions up and down. The club should be in front of you, and you should move it towards your head and then towards the ground.

3. Do this golf exercise with each hand, one at a time. While holding a golf club place your elbow against your side and “write” all the letters in the alphabet in the air with the golf club, using big movements of the wrist and lower arm.

4. Repeat the previous exercise and “write” all the letters in the alphabet in the air, but this time do not place your elbow against your side. Keep your arm straight, so that you are writing using only the shoulders and wrists.

5. Hold a club in your left hand, and take up your golf stance. Hold your right hand behind your back. Using only your left hand wrist, raise the club to the horizontal position and then lower it. Repeat this until your forearm tightens. Complete all repetitions and then swap the club to your right hand and repeat the exercise with the other hand.

6. Wring out a wet or dry hand-towel, using both hands and twisting as hard as possible. Change hands from time to time, left above right, then right above left, until your forearms tighten.

So there you go, six great hand exercises for you to do to build up the strength and flexibility in your hands. After a while of doing these exercises not only will you hit longer drives but you’ll also find it easier to get out of the rough as well. Have fun hitting longer golf drives.

Golf Tip 1: When you exercise, you will gain time, not spend it. You will gain time for your busy day because you will increase your metabolism. Increasing your metabolism means you have more energy and you get more done with the same time and thus become more efficient. You accomplish more in the same amount of time. Another way you will be gaining time is that you will reduce your need for sleep. Don’t believe me? If you are normally a couch-potato-type person, just try it for one week and see if you don’t stay up later or get up earlier naturally. It has also been said by Dr. Ralph Paffenbarger of Harvard that for every hour spent exercising in your life, statistically, this will return 2 hours of quality life back to you for your life’s expectancy, that is, how long you will live. That’s been long ago scientifically proven to say nothing of the benefits of disease prevention.

Golf Tip 2: With exercise it’s not all or nothing. Whatever you do is good. A little bit is good and more is better up to a point. Anything you do will help so don’t think you have to go join a gym and get religious about it like a touring pro to get some benefits for your game. There’s so many ways you can get more exercise into your busy life for example, take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park far away in the parking lot; it’ll save your car from door dents besides. Do knee bends or jumping jacks or running in place for a few minutes in your office to break up your day. It’ll make you more productive at work too. Get creative and just be more active, and you will see a difference in your golf, even if you do always use a cart at the course.

Golf Tip 3: Develop Your Strength. Dr Gary Wiren, former PGA educational director and Golf Digest top 20 instructor: “It’s important to get stronger, not so you can swing harder but so you can swing easier”. Perfectly said, that’s the real benefit! If we can get the same distance by swinging with less effort, then it will be easier to control the club, simple.

Again, there’s loads of information in this area and I have links for more info, but here are a couple quick golf tips that take no time.

Get yourself one of those mini-donut swing weights and use it. For the money, this is the best golf gadget on the market. You can get one anywhere they sell golf stuff for less than a large pack of tees, like $3 U.S! Always swing it in control, don’t let it swing you. It will build up your golf-specific muscles.

Here’s another quick and easy golf tip to improve your strength. Snead said to squeeze tennis balls when you’re doing passive activities, like sitting and watching t.v. It’s also a good way to relieve stress. As an added benefit to doing this, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons study showed that golfer’s elbow can be avoided or lessened by strengthening forearms.

Many golf fitness gurus will tell you that if you want to hit the ball farther, the number one area to work on is what they call – your core. In simpler terms it’s your torso, especially the lower torso. That means doing sit-ups, back extensions, etc.

My chiropractor summed this all up for when he told me: “Craig, your body is like a balance sheet. You’re going to do good things and you’re going to do bad things to it. You want to try and do more good than bad”. In other words, it’s not all or-nothing again. Anything you do good will help so don’t think you have to all of a sudden become a fitness fanatic like Woods. Do something, a little bit today, maybe a little bit more next week before an important round and pay attention to what you put in your body and keep the negatives in moderation. Remember that word, moderation, and repeat it to yourself, it’s another big key. Look, I’m like a lot of people who think that life is meant to be lived and not worry too much about everything you ingest that could kill you. The scientists keep changing their mind every year about what’s good for us anyway, right? You know your body, just use common sense and let your golf game be your incentive to fall on the good side of the balance sheet because it will pay you back on the course with lower scores. Decide that you want that and then take some action to make it happen, and it will!

About the author: This is article is just a snippet from the great product called Break 80 Without Practice by Craig Sigl. For years Craig struggled to break 80 like so many amateur golfers. After throwing his clubs in the corner of his garage and giving up, he discovered golf’s secrets that changed his life and renewed his game. A year later he scored 77 on a championship course. He then went on to drive his handicap down to a 5, make a hole in one, and record his first under par round…all without practicing. He is now a mental toughness trainer and teaches his methods to golfers worldwide. To learn more about breaking 80 without practice go here now.

Ok, so you want a longer, more flexible golf swing — like a Fred Couples type of swing?

Well, one great way you can do this is to swing a heavy golf club. One of the reasons why John Daly has such a long swing is because as a small child he was forced to swing using full sized mens golf clubs, because he didn’t have any kid golf clubs. These were obviously way too long and way too heavy for him and this helped him to build a long, powerful golf swing. And it’s not too late for you to improve your own swing by doing something similar.

To do this you need to find an old driver and then get some lead tape (which you can find from a pro-shop or an online golf retailer) and place the lead tape on the driver at the back to make it heavier.

When you do this you want to make the heavy driver only about 15% heavier than your normal driver. If it’s any heavier than that then you won’t be able to maintain a good golf swing very well.

So once you have your heavy driver you simply have to practice your normal swing using the heavy club.

When you swing your heavy golf club you should focus on swinging it fully with a nice fluid movement creating the biggest, widest arc you can – both back and through.

Start swinging your heavy club a little every day and with continued use you will not only drive the golf ball longer, but you will swing easier and more powerfully which will make playing golf significantly more enjoyable.

First of all warm up thoroughly and then sit with your feet placed fully extended out in front of you onto the box. Keep your legs straight and reach as far forward as possible with your fingers stretched forward. Do not bounce for this test, just stretch as far as you can and then get someone to measure your distance either past or before the box. The measurements past the box should be recorded as PLUS distances, whereas in front of the box should be recorded as MINUS distances.

SCORING TABLE FOR THE SIT-AND-REACH TEST

Excellent +15cm

Good + 10cm

Fair + 5cm

Average 0cm

Poor less than 0 cm

This second group of flexibility tests will clearly show you how flexible you are for golf. And if you want to play to your potential as a golfer then you should get a score of “zero” for all four tests.

Golf Flexibility Test 1

With your back to a wall, raise both arms to shoulder height along the wall. Now walk forward and see how far from the wall you can stand and still touch it with the fingertips of both hands, with your arms straight. Your arms should be at shoulder height and you should stand well balanced on straight legs. Don’t bend your knees or lean back. Measure the distance between your heels and the wall.

Golf Flexibility Test 2

Sit on a stool placed against the front edge of an open door. Try to keep both your neck and lower back against the edge of the door. Lift your arms up and back over your head. Place your palms flat, one on each side of the door, and try to reach as far back as possible. Measure from the edge of the door to your fingertips.

Golf Flexibility Test 3

Try to make the fingertips of both hands touch behind your back. Do this by putting your left hand behind your back from underneath and try to raise it as high as you can, now place your right hand over your shoulder and bring it down as close as you can to your left hand. Alternate between hands then measure the gap between your “best” and your “worst” side. Combine the results. If your fingers do not touch at all on one side, subtract the shortfall from the result.

Golf Flexibility Test 4

Hold your arms straight out in front of you and see what is the shortest piece of cord you can stretch between your hands while still being able to pass your hands over your head and down your back. Measure the length of the cord.

*Sample Top Golfer Results From These Golf Flexibility Tests*

Golf Flexibility Test No. 1 ==> Top Golfer: 49cm

Golf Flexibility Test No. 2 ==> Top Golfer: 35cm

Golf Flexibility Test No. 3 ==> Top Golfer: +12cm, + 3cm

Golf Flexibility Test No. 4 ==> Top Golfer: 99cm

To get your golf flexibility result, simply subtract all the results. If you get negative results for test 3 then you will need to add them, to get your result. This example is what a “top golfer” result would be:

99cm – 12cm – 3cm – 35cm – 49cm = 0cm

Now before you watch this free sample video I need to explain the background to it and how the 4 step program on these DVD’s is laid out.

The video sample below is from the first DVD, and the first DVD starts by giving you tests you can do at home so you can see where you are lacking in your golf flexibility. Then after that you’re given the exact flexibility exercises to improve where you are lacking flexiblity. So here is the video sample from this first DVD. Watch it and then come back to find out what the second DVD has for you.

[See post to watch Flash video]

After you’ve gone through the first DVD and completed the tests and are starting to work on improving your flexibility where you need to, then you can move onto the second DVD. On this DVD you’re shown…

The Dynamic Warm-up

This warm-up is made up of a series of general and isolated dynamic movements which helps to train your body to move further while swinging…even when you’re tired. So if you get tired as you’re playing golf, then these exercises will help you to hit the ball powerfully right from the beginning of your round to the end of your round. Then finally in the second DVD you also get….

Special Golf Flexibility Exercises

These flexibility exercises help you to transfer over your new found flexibility directlly to your golf swing.

When you start following this golf flexiblity program you will…

Naturally there are a lot more benefits you’ll receive from this program, but these are the main ones. And because we believe so much that if you follow the exercises on these DVD’s you’ll hit the ball further, we have secured the rights to sell them.

These DVD’s were selling for $97 plus shipping and handling.

But because we now have the exclusive rights to sell them we can pass the savings onto you and let you have them for just $57 + $7 Postage and Packaging – anywhere in the world!

So if you want to hit the ball further then you should get these DVDs right now for just $57 because as you’ll see when you get these DVD’s, it will be one of the best investments you could make to improve your golf game.

Look, I don’t need to tell you, you’re not getting any younger. And it’s been scientifically proven that as we age we lose flexibility. And losing flexibility in golf is terrible because you lose distance as you get older. So the time to stop that is now. But don’t wait any longer because the clock is ticking. You now have the chance to reverse the damaging aging process and gain some serious yards.

Get these DVDs now and start to follow the exercises and after 30 days you’ll be hitting the ball better – and we guarantee that.

Because if you follow the instructions on these DVDs for 30 days and if you’re not swinging easier and hitting the ball further, simply return the DVDs and you’ll get all your money refunded.

But please don’t put it off, because every day that you’re not doing the flexibility exercises that are on these DVD’s is another day that you’re potentially losing flexibility that will going to cost you yards on the golf course. So take action now. To hit the ball longer and more powerfully than you potentially ever have, click the button below and order these DVD’s right now!

There are 30 million active golfers in the USA alone, 40% of which get injured each year – that’s a lot of bad backs.

The lumbar spine (lower back) is the most common site of injury for golfers. This is because the spine is subject to four types of forces, each of which alone can cause injury. All of them are present during the golf swing.

Addressing the golf ball creates a flexion (forward bend) force, both increasing the pressure in your intervertebral discs and causing the spinal ligaments to stretch, and lose their elasticity. It also adds shear (front to back force on your discs when leaning forward) causing them to slide over one another, as well as a compressive force – wearing and flattening the discs. The backswing component adds rotational force, squeezing the discs and degenerating their outer layers, plus a side-bend force. The downswing and follow-through produce the same forces in the opposite direction, plus extension (backward bend) to finish.

The repetition of these actions during an average round of golf (roughly 40 full swings per round for a single figure handicap, doubled if adding just one practice swing per stroke) put an enormous amount of stress and wear on your spine.

The good news is these forces can easily be counteracted. Developing the strength and endurance of the muscles that surround the spine (the core) in order to stabilize the back, considerably reduces the risk of injury when playing golf.

These core muscles run the length of the torso. When they contract, they stabilize the spine, creating a solid structure for both support and locomotion. A strong core will divert those detrimental forces away from the weaker spinal structures and direct them to the muscles.

The endurance of these muscles is the other element to consider. It is no use having very strong muscles that tire very quickly (especially when you’re after that 300 yard drive down the eighteenth!).

Improving both the strength and endurance of the core can be done through three quick and easy exercises – the Front Plank, Side Plank and One Leg Bridge.

Front Plank

Side Plank

One Leg Bridge

The trick with these exercises is to engage the muscles that you’re trying to build. So squeeze your gluteal (butt) muscles together and contract your abs as you perform each exercise. Start with performing each exercise three times, holding for as long as you can without sagging or shaking. You’re doing well if over the weeks you can build up to two minute holds, three times per exercise.

Alex Gairdner - BSc(Hons) Physio, Acup. ACP, BSc(Hons) SpSc

So use these exercises to keep you fitter, stronger and on the golf course for longer. There’s a bonus to building your core – as it forms the power for your swing, you may also end up adding yards to your golf drive!

This article was written by Alex Gairdner who is a sports scientist originally from England, but now living in New Zealand. Alex is a keen golfer who has created a specialised fitness program to help golfers hit the ball further. This program has helped golfers all around the world to hit the ball further and now it’s your turn. To find out more about this program visit: www.GolfSwingSpeedChallenge.com

Note: Read all instructions carefully before attempting any of these exercises & breath through your nose for all of the stretches.

1. KERB STRETCH

An effective way to stretch your calf muscles is to use a piece of wood or a step. Stand with the balls of your feet on the edge of the step and let your heels drop towards the floor, feeling the stretch in the calf and breathing easily through your nose. You can do this with both feet at the same time or one leg at a time if you prefer.

2. STANDING QUADRICEPS STRETCH

Stand behind a chair. Hold on to the back of a chair with your left hand for support and raise your lower right leg. Now reach behind yourself with your right arm and get hold of your raised right leg. Next gently ease your right foot towards your buttocks. You will feel the stretch along the front of the thigh. Repeat on the other side breathing easily through your nose.

If you have difficulty performing this exercise at first initially begin the exercise with the knee of the supporting leg flexed slightly. Once you are stretching you can then gradually try to straighten your support leg to increase the stretch. It is important to keep good posture all throughout this stretch.

3. LYING HAMSTRING STRETCH

Lie on your back for this exercise. Now flex your knees on about a 90 degree angle. Get hold of your left leg behind the thigh with both hands and straighten your right leg so it is resting on the floor. Now pull your left leg towards your chest trying to get it as close as possible. You will feel the stretch along the back of the flexed thigh. Repeat with the other leg.

4. STANDING HAMSTRING STRETCH

Stand up for this exercise. Now flex your knees and bend from your hips until you can easily rest your chest on your thighs. Now reach your arms around your legs and give them a hug. From this position, try to straighten your legs as much as possible, while still keeping your chest firmly pressed against your thighs.

You will soon feel the stretch along the backs of your thighs. Let go of this stretch by slowly flexing your knees. Remember to breathe through your nose when completing this, and not only this exercise, but all the others as well.

5. STANDING HIP AND THIGH STRETCH

Stand in front of a chair or stool. Raise one of your feet up onto the chair or stool, and then ease your body towards this foot so that your chest and thigh come closer together. Keep your spine and back leg straight and try to keep your shoulders down away from your ears. Move as far forward as possible and then hold this position.

You will feel the stretch along the front of the thigh of the extended leg, and along the back of the thigh of the raised leg. Repeat on the other side and remember to breathe!

6. LYING GROIN STRETCH

Lie flat on the floor. East your legs up towards your body and place the soles of your feet together and let your knees ease out sideways. You will feel the stretch along the insides of your thighs and groin.

7. SEATED GROIN STRETCH

Sit for this exercise and ease your legs up towards your body and place the soles of your feet together. Now let your knees fall out and down towards the floor. You can place your hands on your knees to increase your stretch or you can use them to keep yourself stable while doing this exercise.

8. SIDEWAYS NECK STRETCH

You can stand or sit to do this exercise. Also ensure you keep your shoulders down away from your ears when doing this exercise. Tilt your head to one side trying to place your ear on your shoulder. Repeat on the other side. You can increase this stretch by gently using a hand to increase the weight on your neck. But be careful do not pull your head, you could cause injuries to yourself.

9. UPPER BACK STRETCH

You can choose to sit or stand for this exercise. Interlock your fingers and push your hands as far away from your chest as possible so your palms are facing away from you. Tilt your head down and look at the ground. And make sure your upper back is straight and as relaxed as possible doing this stretch. You will feel the stretch between your shoulder blades.

10. CHEST STRETCH

Once again you can do this stretch while seated or standing. Place your hands behind you and place them on your lower back. Now squeeze your elbows towards each other while keeping your spine straight. You will feel the stretch in the front of the chest.

11. FRONT SHOULDER STRETCH

As with the previous exercise you can do this one sitting or standing. Place your hands behind you and interlock your fingers, then straighten your arms and try to lift them upwards and backwards as far as possible. Try to keep your back straight and long, with your shoulders down away from your ears. You will feel the stretch in the front of the chest.