Engage Your Glutes!!!

Some experts refer to the Glutes (AKA your butt muscles) as the "king" of the golf swing.  Along with the core the glute muscles (Gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus) help to create a strong, stable lower body that the upper body can rotate around, allowing you to finish off a powerful, efficient golf swing.  Our Glute muscles help to provide stability in our body and generate power from the ground up.  This sequence happens in many actions: throwing a ball, punching, doing a power clean, hitting a hockey puck, and what we are talking about here, swinging the golf club.

Because of the lifestyle that many of us live this day and age, too many individuals are walking around with muscle imbalances and improper muscle recruitment patterns.  The "comfortable" seated positions that most chairs provide are keeping people in locked-up, undesirable positions for hours at a time throughout the day.  Posture is poor and flexibility/stretching drills are things that most people are not incorporating into their daily planners.  I understand that we cannot escape the seated positions that are common in so many functions that we do throughout the day; I'm guilty of it as well.  It's one of the reasons that fitness IS so important to me. I want a balanced body.  I am conscious of my posture as I walk down the hall, sit in a chair at work, or driving in the car.  It's awareness of how YOUR OWN body feels.  We must have that.  But people that lack body "feel" or awareness typically have inhibited neuromuscular systems or muscle weakness.  They suffer from issues like Lower Crossed Syndrome and instead of recruiting their Gluteus Maximus, which is inhibited or "turned-off'', they are recruiting their hamstrings and lower back for hip extension.  Other parts of their body are compensating for this physical flaw and it could eventually lead to injury and definitely affect the consistency in something like ball striking for your golf game.  This is where golf-fitness corrective exercise would come into play.  Once it's uncovered that an individual has weak Glutes or muscle imbalances in the pelvis and core, proper strength training and stability exercises can be put into place that will attack this weakness in their fitness/body that's affecting their game.
Here's a great test to determine if you have weak gluteal muscles:

http://www.mytpi.com/articles/screening/the_bridge_with_leg_extension_test#ooid=45a2hnNDqwajsfY-8oEd4ODXFVsmDKdy

Exercises like hip bridges, squats, and lunge variations are excellent ways to strengthen the glute muscles.  These muscles are incredibly important for your golf game and also for healthy movement throughout life.  Engage your Glutes!