Power. It’s the one thing that everyone wants a little more of on the golf course. Every golf coach is besieged with questions on how to add length off the tee and I constantly get requests from people wanting to know how to add distance to their game. It’s understandable because, really, who doesn’t want more power and longer drives?

We’ve been talking about the backswing recently and this is one area where we can help improve our power. When we talk about power in the golf swing, the key is club head speed when it comes to driving distance. But the interesting point is that this is a component of both golf swing mechanics and the body. When discussing golf swing mechanics, we’re essentially looking at the coiling and uncoiling of the body and the properties involved in the biomechanical movements, and the end point of these movements is the development of club head speed.

The second component of power development in the golf swing has to do with the body. When talking about power and the body, it is the ability of the body to create the greatest amount of force in a short amount of time. Simply stated, if the club head is moving faster because the body is able to create greater amounts of force, it invariably increases club head speed. It creates more power and the ball hopefully travels farther.

What we need to do in order to develop more power is increase the ability of the body to develop force in a rotational movement pattern. In other words, the body needs to create more torque. This is a combination of your flexibility, balance, strength and coordination. On top of those components, we can add a power-specific exercise.

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Bent knee, side-to-side rotations beginning position

One of the best power-specific exercises to develop rotational power is called the bent knee, side-to-side rotations. It’s a great exercise to develop power in the hips and core regions and it’s a very simple exercise to perform.

Begin by lying on your back, extending your arms straight out from the shoulders. Bend your knees to 90 degrees and press your legs together. Press your lower back to the floor and, under control, rotate your knees to the right. Continue to rotate to the farthest point to the right, keeping both shoulders on the floor. Pause for one second and then repeat the movement of your legs to the left. Continue the rotational movement right and left for 15-25 reps. Again, it’s very important to maintain proper technique in this exercise. If it’s not done properly, you start to lose the rotational aspect of the exercise, which is what we’re trying to train in the body to elicit more power in the golf swing.

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Bent knee, side-to-side rotations finishing position

Power exercises are the last component in the pyramid to develop the body for the golf swing. In order to develop power, you must have flexibility, balance and strength within the system. All too often, I see golfers go right to the power exercises when they should focus on flexibility or balance because without those, you cannot perform the power exercises properly.

If done properly, this exercise will start you on the road to adding power and distance to your game. We make no promises or guarantees that it will fly straight.

Sean M. Cochran is the personal strength and conditioning well as working individually with players like Chicago Cubs pitcher Mark Prior, started working with professional golfers, most notably Mickelson (who won the 2004 Masters and the 2005 PGA Championship), in 2002.

Cochran, who has worked as a strength and conditioning coach for the Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres as well as working individually with players like Chicago Cubs pitcher Mark Prior, started working with professional golfers, most notably Mickelson (who won the 2004 Masters and the 2005 PGA Championship), in 2002.

Recognized as one of the world's foremost authorities in golf-specific strength training, he has spoken at numerous seminars and clinics around the country. BioForceGolf.com was founded in late 2004 to respond to the need of the amateur golfer for quality information on golf-specific-strength training. The site provides subscribers the highest quality information in the areas of golf training, nutrition, and general instruction.