Early extension kills your swing. Here’s how to fix it

Welcome to Play Smart, GOLF.com’s regular game improvement column that will help you play smarter, better golf.

One of the most common swing ailments among recreational golfers is premature extension. However, despite its prevalence, many do not even know it exists.

If you fall into that field, you are a quick explainer. Early extension occurs when the pelvis shifts toward the ball (forward) during descent. When this happens, you reduce the space for your hands and arms to rotate freely in the striking position, causing inconsistent contact and lack of power. Suffice it to say, if you get an early extension in your swing, you leave yourself vulnerable to all kinds of ball-striking woes.

I personally fall into the camp of those who fight early dilation from time to time. To help with that, I enlisted the help of GOLF Top 100 instructor Tony Ruggiero to help me end the illness completely. Check it out in the video below.

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Setup errors cause premature expansion

Like most ball-striking woes, many of the causes of early extension come from poor positioning.

“One of the most important and often overlooked things is the foundation of your spine,” said Tony. “People are finding their backbone very strong [away from the target] at the address that makes them slide out from under it and slide [toward the target]. Because of that, they have to try to put the club in football.”

To correct this, Tony suggests that you feel as if you are finding the base of your spine under your spine. To do this, it will feel like your lead hip is slightly bumping towards the target at address.

It’s also important that you get the right amount of hip hinge when you talk to the ball, feeling like your shoulders are over your toes when you set.

“If you’re going to take a stick, put it on your waist and bend your back,” said Tony. “Now let your hands come to your knees. That would be a very good, athletic balance position.”

If you’re having trouble with an early extension, check your setup basics first. You can fix the problem without changing anything in your swing, but instead slightly adjusting how your body lands at address.

3 exercises to correct early dilatation

If adjusting your setup basics isn’t doing the trick, it may be time to change the way your body moves during the swing. This can be a challenge if you are going at full speed, because your body is used to moving in a certain way. This is where using drills to instill a new feeling comes in.

During my lesson, Tony showed me three different exercises that help strengthen the feeling of turning the ball without early extension.

1. Punch exercise

The first exercise Tony showed me was what I call the punch exercise. To set it up, ask me to step into my golf stance and let my foot back off the ball. Next, he told me to grab the exercise belt that was tied behind me and he pulled it to my chest with my arm following the lead. From there, he asked me to reach my hand around my body and hit in the direction I was directed as I turned my body.

“That’s pure spin,” said Tony. “That’s your rib cage going around your left leg. When you do that and distribute your weight over your left leg, it helps build stability.”

2. Rowing

The next drill was a rowing exercise. For this exercise, I got into my golf position again, but this time I held either exercise band strap in each hand with the center of the band tied down in front of me. From there, I make a backward rowing motion with my trailing hand, and when I turn to my lead side, I make a backward rowing motion with my leading hand.

“When you have to hear this objection you have to back off a little bit,” said Tony.

3. Exercise

For the last exercise, Tony forced me into my golf stance and my foot fell behind me. However, this time he ordered me to hold the handle of the cane on my shoulders. From there, he asked me to turn in the direction I was heading, leaning on my lead leg.

“Most people when they do that for the first time, they will feel like their foot is struggling to hold the ground,” said Tony. “That’s your body figuring out how to stabilize itself. Everyone talks about movement and strength, but I think one thing that’s often overlooked is stability. If you’re not strong enough in that leg, you’re going to want to stop.”

How to practice without getting too early

After doing exercises to train my body to stabilize, Tony showed me a good technique to use on the range when hitting balls to eliminate the stretch early.

In this drill, he asked me to tie a thick band around my legs just above the knees. Then, he told me to put pressure on the outside of my legs, feeling like I was pushing against the resistance of the given band.

“It involves your core stabilizing your lower body,” Tony said. “If you keep the tension and pressure on that team going, it’s very difficult to stand up.”

This is a great way to practice on the range when hitting golf balls. After a while, you can take off the belt and try to keep that feeling when you swing. If you can continue to feel that pressure outside of your legs, you will stabilize your spine and make it more difficult to stretch early.

“This is a great development plan for someone who is trying to end the expansion early,” said Tony. “You have a few drills that you can do off the range that you can combine with practice. Then you get a drill that you can do when you hit the balls. Then you have to get it out on the golf course.”