Engage your core for longer drives.

In swinging sports like golf, tennis, or baseball, speed and power are essential to peak performance. Specifically, in golf, speed and power are translated into carry distance. If you want the ball to fly farther, you need to swing faster, period. 

Golfers only have access to a small handful of power sources, so the options for increasing speed are limited. Typically, the average golfer overuses two of those power sources: the flexion and extension of their hands, and the roll and extension of their arms. If that’s the case, what they then lack in is rotational speed of their torso and pelvis. Pictured below is a great exercise you can do with a golf club and a resistance band to increase rotational velocity, ultimately increasing your club speed and distance off the tee.

Here’s how you set this up: first anchor the resistance band to something that won’t move (I used a bench press). Second, tie the band around the clubhead side of a mid iron.

Once everything is set up, this is how you execute: first, grab the club and hold it the way you would a set of bicycle handlebars with your hands roughly shoulder width apart. Next you’ll want to move far enough from the anchor point that there is no slack in the band - the further you move from the anchor point, the more resistance and the more difficult this exercise will be. Then get into golf posture with your feet in driver stance, running parallel to the resistance band. The object of the exercise is to rotate your torso and pelvis 90 degrees or more, then back to the start. As you rotate, you should feel a weight shift into the lead side as well. To execute this properly, you need to engage your core and derive power from your torso and legs, so make sure you keep your arms straight during the whole movement. 

Start slowly, then execute 10-15 reps at a brisk pace. Then switch sides and do the same thing in the other direction (10-15 as a righty then 10-15 as a lefty). It’s important to do both sides of your body because we can only speed up as fast as we can slow down. Strengthening both sides of your body will help you generate lots of speed while maintaining balance and control of the club.