Welcome to Play Smarta regular GOLF.com game improvement column that will help you play smarter and better golf.
One of the most common swing ailments among recreational players is early extension. However, despite its prevalence, most have no idea it exists.
If you fall into that camp, he’s a quick explainer. Early extension occurs when the pelvis shifts toward the ball (forward) during the downswing. When this happens, you reduce the space for your hands and arms to move freely through the strike zone, causing inconsistent contact and a lack of power. Suffice it to say, when you have an early extension in the swing, you are becoming susceptible to all kinds of problems hitting the ball.
I myself fall into the camp of those who struggle with early extension from time to time. To help with this, I enlisted the help of GOLF Top 100 Teachers Tony Ruggiero for helping me eliminate the disease for good. Watch it in the video below.
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Configuration errors causing early extension
Like many ball-striking problems, many of the root causes of early extension come from poor setup.
“One of the things that is important and often overlooked is the base of the spine,” Tony said. “People get the base of their spine too far (away from the target) at address, which causes them to slide out from under it, and then they slide (toward the target). As a result, they stay up trying to get the club on the ball.”
To fix this, Tony suggests feeling like you’re placing the base of your spine under the top of your spine. To do this, it will feel like your lead hip is slightly bumped towards the target at address.
It’s also important to get the right amount of hip hinge when you drive the ball, feeling like your shoulders are over your toes when you set the ball.
“If you’re going to take the stick and put it across your waist and then push your rear end back,” Tony said. “Now let your hands rest on your knees. That would be a pretty good athletic balance stance.”
If you have trouble with the early extension, check the configuration basics first. You may be able to correct the problem without changing anything in the swing, but rather by slightly adjusting the way your body lands at address.
3 exercises to fix early prolapse
If adjusting the basics of your setup doesn’t do it, it may be time to change the way your body moves during the swing. This can be a challenge when walking at full speed because your body is used to moving in a certain way. This is where the use of drills comes in to instill the new sensation.
During my lesson, Tony showed me three different band drills that help instill the feel of ball spin without stretching early.
1. Punch training
The first drill that Tony showed me is what I’m calling punch drills. To set up, he asked me to get into my golf stance and then take my foot off the ball. Next, he asked me to grab an exercise band that was tied behind me and then pull it across my chest with my trail arm. From there, he asked me to straighten my body and punch the target while turning my back.
“That’s pure spin,” Tony said. “That’s your ribcage rolling through your left leg. When you do that and isolate your weight over your left leg, it helps build stability.”
2. Rowing exercise
The next exercise was the rowing exercise. For this exercise, I again go into my golf stance, but this time I hold both ends of the exercise band in each hand with the center of the band attached to the ground in front of me. From there, I did a back rowing motion with my trail hand and then as I turned to my lead side, I did a back rowing motion with my lead hand.
“There you have to feel this resistance that has to be pushed out of the ground a little bit,” Tony said.
3. Hanging exercise
For the last exercise, Tony had me get into my golf stance once again with my leg dropped back. This time, however, he instructed me to hold the shaft of the stick on my shoulders. From there, he asked me to rotate fully to the target, landing on my lead foot.
“A lot of people when they do it the first time, they’ll feel like their foot is struggling to hold the ground,” Tony said. “That’s your body figuring out how to stabilize. Everyone talks about mobility and strength, but I think one thing that’s often overlooked is stability. If you’re not stable enough on that leg, you’re going to want to stand.”
How to practice without early extension
After going through some exercises to train my body to stabilize myself, Tony showed me a great drill to use on the range when hitting balls to eliminate early extension.
For this workout, he had me wrap a thick exercise band around my legs just above the knees. Next, he told me to apply pressure to the outside of my feet, feeling like I was pushing against the resistance the band offered.
“It engages your core which stabilizes the lower body,” says Toni. “If you keep the tension and the pressure on that group, it’s very difficult to stand up.”
This is a great distance drill to practice when you’re actually hitting golf balls. After a while, you can remove the band and try to keep that feeling when you swing. If you can continue to feel that pressure on the outside of your feet, you will stabilize your core and make the early extension extremely difficult.
“This is a great improvement plan for someone who is trying to get rid of premature aging,” says Tony. “You have some drills you can do off the range that you can combine with your practice. And then you have a drill you can do when you actually hit the ball. Then you just have to do it on the golf course.”
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