The right knee in the golf swing is one area that is critical to keep braced and solid during your swing. Here’s a tip/drill that will help you with that.
There are so many golf training aids out there that it is really difficult sometimes to separate the wheat from the chaff but we’ll try to really do that with just 1 drill. Of course there are many drills but this one, to me anyway, really gives you the proper “feel” of the position the right knee needs to be in.
What’s even more interesting is that I’m a lefty and it’s difficult to not think of golf in terms of “left leg” for me but stay with me on this one and I’ll give you a tip/drill that I think could be quite valuable to your game.
I’ve written about this before, in more of a fitness context, in the article, 7 Ways to Produce a Powerful, Tension Free Golf Swing. Especially pay attention to point #4 where you should try one of the best exercises EVER to help you achieve a solid right leg in your golf swing.
By the way, I guess I should mention WHY a solid right leg is important. It’s important that your center doesn’t shift in the golf swing. That’s why a concept like Stack and Tilt is very popular in that it keeps you from the concept of “shifting your weight.”
When you have that lower body “solidness” (really, DO the Kettlebell exercise in the 7 Ways article!!) you can still turn but you create tremendous torque in your body where you can then really unleash that stored power and really explode into the ball. But this NEEDS to happen at the ground level where you use the leverage of the ground to your advantage.
Back to the tip/drill I mentioned above. One of the best ways I have found to feel this torque and powerful “load” into right side is to get a pair of running shoes (or hikers) or something with a pretty good tread on them. Then find a lower matted carpet (not the shaggy ones) or perhaps a section of it lying somewhere around the house.
Once you get on the carpet and walk with your shoes, it’s no big deal, right? But then try to stand in your golf swing stance and try to turn back, simulating a golf swing. Those treads get stuck in the carpet and provides instant feedback of the resistance and torque your looking for in your right knee/right glute.
I practice this all the time at home and probably think I could get to a scratch handicap if the tee boxes on my local course were a low carpet and then I could use my running shoes instead of golf shoes and I would instantly create the feel I’m looking for.
Of course, on grass and using those pitiful little crappy plastic spikes you get a much more watered down version of the “running shoe/carpet drill” but THAT IS the feel you are looking for.
The only way I have found (so far) is to really strengthen the leg muscles, in particular the abductors and glutes. Those are strong, powerful muscles. Do the Kettlebell exercise as a good foundation exercise and make sure you’re working the abductors as well. See the article we wrote on that here: Is Abductor Strength the Hidden Key to Golf Power?
Let us know how this is working for you by commenting on our post. Also, feel free to forward to your golfing friends.
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