Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you play smarter, better golf.
Early extension is a golf-swing killer.
We’ve covered this topic ad nauseam on this site — but for good reason. When you thrust your hips toward the ball too early in the downswing, you eliminate the space needed to effectively turn through the ball. When that happens, your ball striking always suffers.
Understanding the proper technique to eliminate early extension is extremely important. However, for some golfers, understanding the issue is only half the battle. Because of physical limitations in their bodies, they simply can’t execute the technique that eliminates early extension.
“Everybody talks about mobility and strength, but I think one thing that is often overlooked is stability,” says GOLF Top 100 Teacher Tony Ruggiero. “If you’re not stable enough in that [front] leg, you’re gonna want to stand.”
If you’re someone who suffers from early extension, check out the video below. In it, Tony shares three different exercises you can do to strengthen your body so you can move in a way that doesn’t result in early extension.
What I love about the exercises Tony showed me is that they incorporate the movements of a golf swing. They don’t simply target the necessary muscle groups; they also force your body to move in the same way that they do during the golf swing.
1. Punch exercise
The first drill is what I call the punch exercise. To set up, get into your golf posture and then drop your trail foot back away from the ball. Next, grab an exercise band that is tethered behind you and pull it across your chest with your trail arm. From there, reach around your body and punch toward the target as you turn your body through.
“That’s pure rotation,” Ruggiero says. “That’s your ribcage rotating through and over to your left leg. When you do that and isolate your weight over your left leg, it’s helping build stability.”
2. Rowing exercise
The next drill is the rowing exercise. For this exercise, get into your golf posture. This time, grab either end of the exercise band in each hand with the center of the band tethered on the ground in front of you. From there, make a rowing motion going back with your trail hand, and then as you turn through to your lead side, make a rowing motion going back with your lead hand.
“There you should actually feel with this resistance having to push off the ground a little,” Ruggiero says.
3. Hinge exercise
For the final exercise, get into your golf posture once again with your trail foot dropped back behind you. This time, hold the shaft of the club across your shoulders. From there, rotate fully toward the target, posting up on your lead leg.
“A lot of people when they do that the first time, they’ll feel that their foot is fighting to hold the ground,” Ruggiero says.
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