One of the best ways to lengthen your drives, improve your short game, and lower your score is by doing golf exercises. Especially exercises designed to strengthen your core! Ever wonder how even the smallest athletes on the PGA and LPGA crush the ball and send it fifty or so more yards than you can? Well, core strength is one big issue. Professional golfers have to have very strong cores in order to have the control and stability they need for accurate shots and for maintaining proper form when addressing the ball.

You don't have to be a professional, however, to develop this same strength. You just need to do the right golf exercises. Even after a few weeks, you'll start to notice a huge difference in all aspects of your game.

Let's look at some specific exercises, so you'll know what I'm talking about.

Golf Exercises: Crunches and Back Extensions

Two of my favorite exercises are crunches and back extensions. Crunches work your abdominal muscles and back extensions work the opposite muscles in your back.

We'll talk about how to do these in a moment, but first, let's talk about why you have to do both of them.

If you work out in a gym at all, I'm sure you've seen people do all kinds of crunches. You might not have seen all that many folks doing back extensions. Whether we're talking about golf exercises or exercises for other sports, you need to work out the muscles that work oppositely of each other equally. Your stomach and your back go together just as you triceps and your biceps go together. Work one out at the expense of the other and you're going to risk injury. So, do as many crunches as back extensions.

Here's how you do these:

Golf Exercises : Crunches

1. Lie on your back
2. Put your feet on the floor
3. Put your hands on the sides of your head (just to have somewhere to put them)
4. Pull your torso off the ground by rolling up toward your knees. Do this until your stomach muscles tighten. Don't do a full sit up!
5. You should start with however many you can reasonably do, and work your way up.

Golf Exercises: Back Extensions:

1. Lie on your stomach
2. Put your hands beside your head
3. Now, tighten your back and rear muscles so that the top half of your torso and your legs come off the floor.

You probably won't be able to do as many of these as crunches. Don't worry. It will all even itself out as you practice. You'll want to work your way up to three sets of each of these three or four times per week. It's best to alternate sets, crunches, back, crunches, back, crunches, back.

If you'll really do these on a regular basis, you should begin to see a real improvement in several aspects of your game in only three or so weeks. You're stability will increase, which will greatly help everything from your drive to your putting. There are other benefits to these golf exercises, too. Your stamina will increase because your back will be stronger. This will not only result in a lower score, but your enjoyment of the game will increase.