Secrets of the Swing

Tiger woods has a power swing. So do Mike Piazza and Andre Agassi. You want one--indeed, need one--to hit 300-yard drives, homers and scorching forehands. The good news is, you don't have to spend long hours in the gym pumping iron. Speed, flexibility and coordination are as important as strength. Biomechanically, golf, tennis and softball swings are similar. Power starts from the ground up, in the big muscles of your lower body. Through proper hip and shoulder rotation, you coil your muscles like a giant rubber band. When you swing, energy is transferred from your arms to your hands to your equipment and into the ball. We asked a prominent coach from each sport to explain the nuances of the power swing and to offer the best training drill for getting those arms and hands moving faster. As you hone your swings, you'll also want to take advantage of technology with the latest power-packed gear on the market.

Softball "In softball and baseball, power starts with the right stance," says Charley Lau Jr., a former Chicago White Sox hitting instructor who now tutors many of the world's best batters. His advice (for righties; opposite for lefties): "Keep your left arm close to your chest--any time your hands get away from your body, your larger muscles can't help you. To start the swing, pull the knob of the bat toward the ball and don't swing in an arc. Keep your head still, always in the center of your body." Lau says a batter should "release the top hand from the bat after impact and extend through with just the left, or pulling, hand. That gives you 15 to 20 mph more bat speed." Other hitting instructors disagree, and tell you to use both hands to push the bat. "When you snap a wet towel, it's a pull that creates the snap, not a push," Lau says. We suggest trying both, along with Lau's drill: Assume a normal stance, take your stride, then stop. Start from this position, with your weight evenly distributed, your head centered and the bat in the ready position. Take your swing without moving your head forward. "It's difficult, because you don't have the stride, so you're forced to rotate your hips. If you don't start the swing with your upper body, this drill will teach you the correct movements to maximize power."

Golf Crushing a golf ball comes from the back-swing. "If you can get into a proper, fully loaded back-swing position, you've won the battle," says Mike Adams, director of golf instruction at the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. "The downswing is automatic. Anything you try to do on the downswing will inhibit power." When it comes to stance, flare your toes slightly to either side. This creates resistance in the lower body and allows you to coil the upper body to create torque. "On the backswing, swing the left arm across your chest and let it pull your shoulder behind the ball, winding your upper body against the resistance of your lower body," he says. "Keep your left arm against your chest. If it separates, there is no body behind the shot and you lose power." Adams' drill: "Start this strength-and-speed exercise by tying a towel to the head of a club. This adds resistance. Take 10 to 20 full swings as directed above. Then turn the club around and hold it by the head, because the handle is lighter and has less resistance. Do 10 to 20 more swings, fast. You're building and training muscles for strength, then working on speed. These combine to build power. You can start with 20 to 30 percent more weight and resistance than a normal club has, then 20 to 30 percent less."

Tennis In this sport, the challenge is that you don't know where on the court you'll have to hit your next shot. Balls hit hard at you tend to be easier to slam back. Those hit low are the best for power, because you can take advantage of your larger lower-body muscles. According to Larry Wolf, director of tennis at North Carolina's Pinehurst Resort and Country Club, power is generated by rotating your hips and shoulders during the backswing. For maximum intensity, you need to bend your wrist back, pointing the butt of the racquet toward the net as you rotate your shoulders. "Start with your shoulders parallel to the net, and on the backswing, take them just past perpendicular," says Wolf. "At impact hit straight in the direction you want the shot to go." Wolf's tennis drill: "Mimic your stroke using a dumbbell. Start with two pounds or less. Hold the dumbbell upright, with your wrist flexed back, keeping the dumbbell vertical. Begin with your shoulders parallel to the net, rotate your shoulders a little past perpendicular, then shift your weight forward, swinging from low to high, finishing with your hand above your left shoulder. Keep your wrist back through the point where contact would be made; it will release on the follow-through. Do this 20 times, gradually increasing the weight to five pounds."