How Far Back on the Backswing? Backswing Length
Original topic by Ross — 2022-12-15T23:37:49Z
EmailsToRoss — Apr 20, 2016
I find myself sometimes bringing the club too far back (too much wrist hinge). Should I be using more of a three-quarter swing? This is very troubling to me. Your thoughts, please. I know the wrists must hinge to some extent.
Chris
Hi Chris,
My thoughts on this could fill a book. FYI, there has already been quite a bit of discussion about this in the forum and blog.
In a nutshell… think about what “impact” needs to look like, and then work backward. Impact on a solid, square golf shot only looks one way. Now, there are many variations that cause different results, but essentially, the shaft will be in line with the front arm, maximizing its strength, and supported by the back wrist, with a square clubface at just the right point of the swing arc. All of that is being moved by the body’s rotation—the body is unwinding, moving that arm/impact shape around to the left for a right-hander.
So, how can we arrive at that position reliably and repeatedly? Well, the less we move, the better. We set up the shaft and hands as we need them to be at impact, and then move only the large muscles, hoping to maintain the integrity of the impact shape. That means the less hinging, elbow bending, arm separating, and arm lifting we do—all the fun things the arms, hands, and elbows instinctively like to do to try to generate a “hit-at-it” action at impact—the easier it will be to return to that impact position we started with.
Okay, that’s a mouthful, but what did we learn? The more we can return to impact with the shaft positioned correctly and the face square, the better!
Scenario: If you set up correctly, use your shoulders to move the arm template back two feet, and then rotate through without changing a thing, you get x: a straight shot that goes some distance. Now, we need more distance, so we go back a little farther, with the shoulders controlling the arm template, and get x+… great.
What this leads to is that, eventually, as you make your backswing longer and longer—trying to go farther and farther—your swing will start to break down as other body parts try to help. But they don’t help; they just break down the impact shape we need. Then we hope, magically, that everything will realign by impact… not going to happen.
PLUS, what good does hinging do if we need a straight line with the front arm at impact? Actually, it makes you FLIP instead, which changes the clubface loft and direction and most likely causes you to miss the sweet spot.
Sorry, I wish it were as simple as saying, “Do this,” so you’d know what to practice. But you have to find where your swing breaks down on the backswing, then learn to maximize the point just before that happens. If that is a three-quarter swing in your mind, then play that! It really is about efficiency on the backswing, not length. When in doubt… shorten it until you get solid, straight shots.
Oh, by the way… if you think about hammering a nail, using your wrist gets you x. If you use the wrist to “hold a shape” instead, as the arm controls the hammer, you get x+. Then, if you add the shoulders to control the arm that controls the wrist that moves the hammer, you get x++… you get the idea.
The most important benefits of learning to use the larger muscles are “control” and “repeatability.” This gives much more consistency in direction and centeredness of impact. We want to move the ball with our entire body mass accelerating, not just the mass of the clubhead flipping—or, occasionally, as with most pros, the club and arms moving the ball. But almost never do you see any pro using the entire body through impact on a full swing yet… it’s coming. Some have learned to use the entire body rotating through impact for short, controlled pitch shots rather than using their hands.
Original forum topic
Discussion (5 replies)
Reply 1
Ross — 2023-05-10T01:46:12Z
Ross, Jon Rahm’s swing is rather on the shortish side, but he hits it very far. Would you describe his motion as getting the club to impact in the same position it started in?
Reply 2
Ross — 2023-05-10T01:56:23Z
Yes, at least the clubface. Not all golfers set up with the shaft in line with the front arm or with the front wrist flat or bowed out slightly, but they do get to that position by impact. Jon does get the shaft in line and his wrist bowed by impact, with the face square… he may not always start that way.
Ross
Reply 3
Ross — 2023-08-17T02:14:17Z
Ross, I was watching a couple of your drill videos and went to the range. I kept the backswing relatively short and then rotated through the ball. I think my club was straight up and down at the top of the backswing, and my hands got no higher than shoulder height.
It seemed like I was compressing the ball, and the ball was going fairly straight. I then went and played nine holes and shot two over, with two three-putts. Is there a danger in using the short drill swing as my real swing? It seemed like the ball flight was lower, but my approach shots stopped on the green.
I’ve been in my typical midseason slump, and this almost seemed like a “Eureka!” moment. But I thought I would ask the expert if I’m playing with fire here.
Reply 4
Ross — 2023-08-17T02:22:57Z
No, you’re not playing with fire. The backswing usually feels short when the golfer does not “add” a little lift with the arms. Learning to let the backswing end when the shoulders have turned as far as they can go—and have turned the hips a little—takes practice, but the results are really good.
A couple of golfers come to mind: Jon Rahm and Steve Stricker (who is winning like crazy lately). They have ideal backswings, in my opinion. The backswing just sets up the downswing. That’s where the golf swing is!
Good to hear from you, Alan.
Ross
Reply 5
Ross — 2023-08-21T10:50:35Z
Thank you, Ross.