*Editor's note: Every week my colleague Ron Kaspriske, Golf Digest Fitness Editor, presents Fitness Friday on the Instruction Blog. He gives you a great health and fitness tip or an exercise or stretch to get your body warmed up for the weekend. This week he focuses on three golf-specific excercises to help you hit the ball longer. And remember to follow me on Twitter @RogerSchiffman.
Roger Schiffman**
Managing Editor
Golf Digest*
If you studied the swings of the longest hitters in professional golf, you'd see all sorts of different characteristics--short backswings, long backswings, violent downswings, smooth downswings. But one common element all the biggest hitters have is the ability to wind up and then let the body rotate toward the target quickly and powerfully.
A key ingredient to hitting it farther is increasing your swing speed, and a key ingredient to increasing your swing speed is being able to make a powerful, yet controlled rotation of your body. It's not a perfect science, but you can pick up 2.5 yards of distance for every mile per hour you increase your clubhead speed. "You want fast hips and a powerful turn," says Golf Digest fitness advisor Ralph Simpson. "Just watch the big hitters wind up and then let it go, ** and you'll get a sense of what you'd need to do to hit longer drives than you do right now."
You might not be able to torque your body like Bubba Watson, but click on the video below and try these three golf-specific exercises designed to make your swing more powerful.
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--Ron Kaspriske, Fitness Editor, Golf Digest*
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