Shortened Backswing

Garcia's short backswing.

One of my major problems is that my backswing gets too long; I learned this by studying video from a recent golf lesson. I can get the club to parallel, but the club ends up too close to my shoulders because my arms tend to collapse, decreasing width. This error causes many problems, including a tendency to cast from the top (as the left arm re-straightens) causing a loss of lag; this ironically slows down clubhead speed, even though the point of such a long swing to begin with was to increase speed and thus distance.

The cure? Shorten the backswing. Think short-slow back and then fast down. Maintaining connection is the best way to accomplish a short backswing; keep the upper arms pinned against the sides of the chest throughout the swing. A drill for this when the arms are at fault is to place a small rubber ball between the elbows and practice the backswing without losing the ball; another drill involves using a towel under both arm pits (or similar drills); those drills, however, don't address other ways the backswing can get long, such as too much hip turn, too much wrist hinge, grip coming apart, etc. Usually, it's an arm problem: The arms become disconnected and unsynchronized with the movement of the body.

Essentially, the arms should stop moving upward when the shoulders reach a fully turned position; there's no benefit to continue lifting the arms and club in order to get the club artificially to parallel. The right arm should not be consciously bent at the top; one should think of keeping it straight and pushing the left hand away from one's shoulder. The feeling is of using a 3/4 backswing and full downswing. In reality, the club will continue traveling backwards much further, even though the downswing has started, preserving lag. There's also a sensation that the elbows are staying oriented to the hips, keeping their downward orientation, even though the upper torso is turning away from the hips slightly on the backswing.

When pro golfers reach parallel (or even past it), photos show their hands are pushed well away from their bodies, and their left arm remains straight. Many amateurs--lacking the flexibility or ability of the pros--attempt to manufacture a parallel position by bending the arms or wrists too much, and as a result overswing and get the club off-plane. Instead of generating speed, this goofy looking position actually hinders speed. We long-swinging amateurs would do much better with a shorter backswing; speed and distance would actually increase for most of us, as would consistency.

What if too much hip turn is your problem or part of your problem? Too much hip turn has definitely been one of my problems; it may be yours too if you find your right leg straightening significantly on the backswing or if you notice you pull the ball (an excessively rotated hip turn in the backswing will lead to overly active hips coming down). Clay Ballard of RST has a great thought for limiting hip turn. Imagine your right knee has a laser pointing from it to the target line; try to leave that laser pointing at the target line as you go to the top of your backswing to feel a proper coil with minimal lower body movement. There are other similar ways, but this way definitely will get you coiling better. Another way to diagnose excessive hip movement on the backswing is to see yourself in DTL video; you will notice a gap appearing between your knees if there's too much movement.

All right, if you are still reading, you may want to brace yourself because your game is about to change forever. I know I shouldn't be doing this for free because it's probably the best tip you are ever going to get, but here it is anyway...SHORTEN YOUR BACKSWING!!!!! Probably not the first time you've heard this suggestion, but it is time to heed this advice.

A technician at a local electronics store once told me a truth about electronics that is very relevant to golf, "The more things that move, the more things that can break." Well, the same thing is true for your back swing. When you take a big back swing, your left arm breaks down at your elbow and at your wrists. Strange as it sounds, you also tend to under-rotate your shoulders. Both of these things not only cause you to be wildly inconsistent, but also actually cost you distance. That's right folks, too long of a back swing makes you hit it shorter, not longer. If you maintain a straight left arm, you will rotate your shoulders farther instead of bending your elbow and wrists.

When I tell people to take the club back to about 75% of their normal back swing, they almost all still take the club back past parallel! Parallel is the absolute maximum distance that your back swing should ever go. It is the MAXIMUM, not the GOAL of a normal back swing. You should only take the club back as far as your shoulders allow you to turn without bending your left arm at all.

Shorten Your Backswing For More Control

Most golfers have long swings because their arm swing continues to move after their shoulders have stopped turning. If this sounds like you, try to stop your arm swing once your shoulders have stopped turning. Doing this, you will be able to start your downswing with your lower body instead of starting your downswing with a "casting" motion of your arms and hands.

Local golf: Shorten your swing for better consistency

Slow down and limit the length of your backswing for more consistency.

You don't hit the ball with your backswing, you hit the ball on the downswing. A backswing that is too quick, or too long, can easily get the club out of position, and can prevent you from storing the energy needed for a powerful, consistent downswing.

Golf Swing Video: Shorten Your Backswing For More Consistency

Human nature says that the longer your backswing, the farther you'll hit the ball. But if this was true, why is it that I can hit a ball 300 yards with a three-quarters swing but I can't hit it 400 yards with a longer swing?

How a Longer Backswing Can Lead to Shorter Shots in Golf

It's really this simple: given that clubhead speed equals distance - with all else being equal - if my swing is long yet slow and yours is small but fast, you will get more distance than I will.

While a big backswing tends to promote deceleration, a short backswing does just the opposite.

A short backswing promotes acceleration. Your proverbial win-win. Mentally, it is almost like you don't believe the short backswing will do the trick, so you accelerate to make up for it.

Shorten Your Swing For More Power

Most golfers will gain distance almost immediately by shortening their backswing. A more compact swing not only give you more distance but it also give you more control over your swing and therefor better accuracy as well. The extra effort required to get the club past parallel , which is working against gravity, increases the chance of getting the club in a bad position.

Shorter Backswing

The solution is very simple: shorten up your backswing. Intuitively, golfers feel that this new position will cause them to lose power. But as a recent commenter posted"What I thought would result in a shortening of my shots actually gives me more distance."

The #1 Golf Swing Fault Golfers Over 50 Make

Now that you understand that you don't have to have a long backswing to generate power, how far should you go back? I tell my students that once their shoulder rotation stops, so should the club. You want the shoulder rotation to determine your backswing length instead of your club still going back long after the shoulders have stopped. At first, this shorter backswing will feel like you don't have a lot of power so it will be more difficult to do, but as you get used to it, you will soon see your shots fly just as far, if not farther, with half the backswing.

The Pro's make the golf swing look so easy!

Focus on your left arm. When you are making your backswing, feel like your left arm is going to stop parallel to the ground. In reality it will be further than that, but this is a good starting point.

Along with your left arm is your hands. Think of your hands only going slightly higher than your hip height. Again in reality it will be further.

How to Shorten Your Golf Swing

Jim McLean, currently one of the best teachers on the planet, has a great tip for the over swingers. As his teaching assistant, I saw first hand how effective this simple tip can be. Here it is: When the shoulders stop turning the arms stop swinging. This concept matches the body with the arms on the backswing. It also shortens your backswing for consistency. Most high handicappers allow their arms to continue even after their shoulders stop turning. This leads to a disconnect between the body and arms, and an extra long backswing. All potential for serious inconsistency.

A Shorter and Connected Backswing for Consistency

First and foremost, you are going to get more control by shortening your backswing. The second reason why a short backswing in golf is better has to do with an increase in overall distance. It seems counter-intuitive that a shorter backswing will produce longer golf shots, but that is precisely what happens with the average player. Shortening your backswing will enable you to avoid many back problems that are common to golfers.

Is a short backswing in golf better?

"I recommend that at some point, every golfer practice hitting balls with a three-quarter backswing," said Joe Hallett, the director of the PGA Center for Golf Learning and Performance in Port St. Lucie, Fla. "Then, when everything seems to be going wrong, you can fall back on the three-quarter backswing shot. It's a nice safety net, and it will solve a lot of problems.

Shorten the Backswing to Calm Things Down

Imagine your backswing as short, wide and tight. As you swing back, make sure your hands are outside your right shoulder halfway back (when your hands are waist high on the backswing). Also, in this position the wrists should be fully cocked.

Easy, Tiger! Shorten your backswing for more accuracy

I have sat on the range watching people hit on a launch monitor and seen this 1000 times if I have seen it once.

A long sloppy arm controlled backswing that produces 80 mph of club speed and 110 mph of ball speed.

Followed by a short compact shoulder controlled back swing, that allows the hips to clear and produces 95 mph of club speed and 140 mph of balls speed.

Then the proverbial, “That shorter back swing feels so powerless, I don’t think I can do that.”

It doesn’t matter whether it’s launch monitor numbers, or just eyeballing a drive that goes 10-20 yards farther, it’s all the same.

Almost every golfer has a backswing that is too long

To get an idea of what I mean by keeping your elbows in front of you, grab a club and take your setup. At this point your elbows are basically right in front of your stomach. From here they will go UP a bit so that they are out in front of your chest, but it's preferable that they don't go anywhere else relative to your upper body.

The Gateway To Better Golf: Elbows in front

Any attempt by the golfer to independently move the arms “around” the chest or “behind you”during the backswing will disrupt this proper V shaped up and down in front of the chest motion, and cause the golfer to “get stuck” with the arms too far behind the chest, i.e. too far to the right side. You will then “come over the Top” during Transition, trying desperately to get “unstuck”, and then of course the severe out to in clubhead path and early wrist cock release occurs, the signature start of the downswing move of the high handicap golfer.

Gotham Golf Blog: Mastering the Craft of Ballstriking By Jim Waldron

The best way to understand where your arms should connect to your body is to stand up straight in your natural posture, letting your arms hang down; if your posture is ok, you will find that you arms hang on the side of your chest. Try and feel where the connection point is because this is the same point when you take your golf address. Connection between arms and body at address should happen more on the side of the chest rather than on top of the chest, with the shoulders remaining back in the natural body’s posture.

Connection

There is a trend on the professional tours these days to shorten the backswing with all clubs. Surprisingly, there has been little or no loss of power in doing that. To shorten the backswing, have your arms stop going back when your left shoulder stops turning (for right-handers).

It is risky to keep the arms moving up and back after that shoulder has reached its flexible limit. And don’t consciously cock your wrists. They take care of that by themselves.

Golf Tip of the Week: Shortened backswing helps with accurate distances

 

Latissimus Dorsi Golf Swing

The golf downswing should be powered from the ground up. This is a near universally accepted fundamental in golf. And I don't believe it's wrong; however, it's possible that--like many things in golf instruction--it is misleading.

I am now a believer in pulling instead of pushing in the golf swing, and translated to TGM principles, I suppose that would indicate that I'm more an advocate of swinging versus hitting, respectively. What does this mean? Recall that pulling the right shoulder back in the takeaway and backswing is the correct pivot move versus pushing the left shoulder back behind the ball. Executing a pull takeaway and backswing engages a different set of muscles--muscles in the right side of the back that pull--a more efficient biomechanical motion. Pushing the club back uses a different group of muscles in the left chest and triceps; and this less efficient movement can introduce many errors into the pivot and torso turn. Likewise, pushing on the downswing can introduce errors and rob one of power.

For the backswing, concentrate on pulling your right latissimus dorsi or “lat” (the large wing-like muscles on the sides of your back) immediately back behind you and as far away from the ball as you can. In the downswing, do the opposite with the left lat; it moves first before anything else. I like to think of a “lat dowel” (a wooden dowel that extends through both lats) as powering the golf swing—including chips, pitches, putts, and bunker shots. Thinking of only the lats rotating and moving the arms and club gets you turning instead of swaying, and it really builds up tension across your back that you want to release. It also takes concentration off of your arms and wrists, which is a good thing in golf when you want to swing rather than hit at the ball. The motion gets your right side deeper on the backswing, making room for you to come from the inside, and prevents you from faking a “shoulder turn” using the very independent movement of the shoulders themselves.

Don’t worry about your hips turning as a result of this rotary lat motion—they should! Ignore those who tell you to keep the hips still, as I believe this advice gets more amateur golfers to sway than anything.

This “lat dowel” motion is not unlike trying to start a lawnmower; you would have to pull hard using your lats to get the engine to turnover. Rowing a boat with dual oars also illustrates the pulling-pushing difference: You would pull against the resistance of the water to propel the boat forward using both lats predominantly, and you would push using predominantly both chest muscles to get the oars back into position for the next pull. Trying to propel the boat through the water using a pushing motion of the chest and triceps would be less efficient, because those muscles aren't as big or strong as your lats and shoulders that are designed to pull. The physics of pulling trump pushing nearly every time. Have you ever seen a motorboat pushing a water skier? Have you ever seen a truck pushing its trailer?

So what about starting your downswing from the ground-up? Well, I've found that pulling with my left lat (or really releasing it) automatically engages me from the ground-up. I don't have to think about bumping my left hip and then turning my left hip back; all that happens without thought when you're telling your body to pull down fast with the left lat. You can't pull if you're not connected to the Earth, and you can't pull from the left side if you're not over your left leg.

As a right-hander, I personally like the golf feeling that my right-side Lat muscle is pulling on the backswing, stretching the Lat on the other side, which then pulls the downswing. (And, of course my external and internal obliques are aiding the rotation—it’s unconscious, and it’s called the anterior oblique sling.)

Bottom line: the conscious turning is accomplished from the sides and back, not from the front. And, it happens lower than shoulders, and higher than the hips (which are both just joints and bones, and are just along for the ride).

Guest Column #2 (The Biomechanics of the Golf Swing) | Monte Scheinblum's Blog

Your legs should play a supporting role, but the real key to starting down correctly is to engage the left side of your torso (for righties), particularly your latissimus dorsi, or "lat" muscle.

Smith: How To Control Your Power : Golf Digest

The correct concept involves “pulling” your arms down in front of you using the large muscles of your back and shoulders. You should feel as if there is a point just under your left shoulder blade (the opposite for left-handers) that is the center of this pulling action.

Put your back into it | Spotlight E.P. News

As you start down, make a lateral move toward the target with your left lat. Your left hip and entire lower body will support this move naturally. Now you're ready to unwind.

Rick Smith: How To Get Down : Golf Digest

The latissimus dorsi has the largest surface area of any muscle, and it is capable of producing tremendous power. By stretching it in the backswing and then quickly shortening it in the downswing, the latissimus dorsi transfers and amplifies power up the kinetic chain from the hips to the upper body.

Latissimus dorsi muscle | Golf Loopy

The target-side latissimus dorsi helps pull the golfer onto his target side while countering the force generated by the pectoralis muscles on both sides of the golfer’s body.

Generate speed and power with each swing

To get the feel of contracting the latissimus muscle, simply go to the top of your swing and pose, then drop your lead arm, feeling as if a point in the middle of your left scapula is actually contracting and pulling the left arm down.

Here's the big thought: You're not pushing the club down; you're pulling it down. And you're not using your arms, hands or any other part in the front of your body; you're using your back.

The age-old question is, "What starts the downswing?" Now you know the answer: In the upper body, the back moves the front.

It's good for your game

This feeling of having your lat muscles engaged is what you want to hold onto throughout the entire golf swing. That's what keeps the shoulders down and keeps you "in the box." It keeps you connected to your core muscles and all the muscles in the torso, allowing you to use your big muscles in the golf swing.

Learn How to Activate the Correct Golf Muscles in Your Golf Swing