The Backswing in Golf - Defines The Success of The Swing
The Backswing in Golf - Defines The Success of The Swing
The backswing of the modern golf swing is the most important phase. All of the parts of the swing that have been put in place up to this point are preparation of the backswing. All that follows is directly influenced by the quality of the backswing.
The following sequence sets up a good backswing
The first move away from the ball should not begin before you check your stance, your alignment, your aim, your ball position, and above all else mentally check your tension level and relax. The "waggle is a good tension relief mechanism and can act as the trigger that starts the backswing.
The first move of the backswing in golf should be to raise the club off of the ground slightly, or some other trigger move, this puts the body in motion and relaxes tension. If you were to start immediately into the swing without a trigger move the body and arms tend to be tight.
The next move is the much misunderstood "one piece takeaway". This move is initiated by starting to rotate the shoulders, keeping your arms connected to your body allows the arms to just go along for the ride without any independent movement until about 45 degrees, or 15 inches, back and slightly inside the target line.
With the shoulders continuing to rotate, the arms begin to raise, and the wrists begin to cock or hinge. When the arms reach parallel with the ground they will almost be shoulder high, the wrists should be fully hinged, the club shaft should be at a ninety degree angle to the arms and pointed straight up forming the letter "L". This is the beginning of the creation of "lag" which is one of the major components of club head speed.
The "lag" which is created by the wrist cock and the natural swing to the top should be held as long as possible, it should be released by starting to roll your right forearm over the left just before impact. This natural release and rolling of the forearms is what squares the club face, and creates a huge portion of the overall swing speed.
At the top your wrists are still cocked the club is pointed straight at your target and the toe of the club head is pointed toward the ground, the club face may be angled skyward. Your shoulders should have rotated a complete 90 degrees or more, your hips may have rotated 20 to 30 degrees. Your body weight is over your back leg. The resulting coiling of your upper body, and the eventual uncoiling is where most of the "big" muscle swing speed is generated.
The back swing is really all about coiling your body and creating the muscle tension or torque needed to release a powerful downswing. More specifically, resistance is created between the greater turning of the upper body and shoulders and the lesser turning of the hips and lower body.
Don't get in a hurry! A hurried back swing does not make the downswing any faster. In fact, it may be just the opposite. You've got to remember that somewhere at the top of that back swing, you've got to change and go the exact opposite direction. When the your swing begins to become erratic, one of the first corrections should be to slow you backswing down to restore the correct 3 to 1 swing tempo ratio.
Think swing tempo, no matter what your natural tempo is, as it turns out almost all professional and low handicap golfers have the same swing tempo ratio which seems to be 3 counts to one, 3 counts going back and one count going down.
The backswing should now be complete, there really is not a stop at this point just the start of a natural change of direction and the transition and downswing phases begin.
Jim Newell is a robust 66 year old retiree and a very zealous ametuer golfer and serious student of this great game. Once a mid handicap player he is on a quest to improve his swing and re-gain some of the distance he once had. His website http://www.golfdriverswingkeys.com is dedicated to helping him as well as helping other golfer's in their quest for increased golf club distances
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