Play Better Golf Blog

In this article, I want to discuss with you the keys to creating a powerful and repeating backswing. I feel that once you learn how to turn your shoulders and torso properly, you have conquered over half of the battle when it comes to learning how to swing a club well. If you’re in a good position at the top of your swing, you’re going to greatly improve your chance of success with the downswing.

Everyone has a backswing position that is right specifically for them, so please understand that your physical abilities are going to affect how big of a shoulder turn you can make. If you have back, hip, neck or flexibility issues, please use caution when experimenting with your backswing. Only you can know what your limit is.

So now, behold! I giveth thee thy 5 key components to creating a great backswing. If a high handicap golfer can master the 5 concepts I’ve listed below, they should be able to greatly improve not only the look of their swing but, more importantly, increase distance and power.

Backswing Key Components

1. Full shoulder turn (relative to your physical capabilities)

2. Hands, arms, and shoulders connected

3. Straight or relatively straight left arm at the top

4. Turning into the right leg (for right handed golfers)

5. Wrist hinge

1. Full Shoulder Turn

This is the number one issue I see with beginners. Many of them think they’re turning their shoulders, but most of the time they’re simply swinging their arms across their chest. By doing so, they lose all ability to create any  power in their swing. A half swing with a proper shoulder turn is almost always going to go further than a full swing using just the arms.

The picture above shows a great drill to practice in order to make sure you’re turning your shoulders correctly. I simply get into my golf stance, cross my arms across my chest, and turn my shoulders so that my left shoulder tucks under my chin (right shoulder for lefties). If you can’t get your left shoulder under your chin, just go as far as your body will let you. Doing this in front of a mirror is a great way to get a sense for how a good shoulder-turn should look and feel. After doing this drill a couple of times, grab a club and try to recreate the same same shoulder-turn with your swing.

2. Hands, Arms, and Shoulders Staying Connected

Now that you know how to turn your shoulders correctly, the next step is to make sure your arms and hands stay connected while your torso turns.  An easy way to visualize this is to think of your shoulders, arms and hands as a triangle (see pictures below). If the arms, shoulders and hands move as one unit, then the triangle will stay the exact same shape until the right arm begins to fold against the body, which is around when the hands get to hip level. After hip level, the hands will still stay in front of the chest all the way to top of the swing.  If your hands get too quick and move faster than your shoulder turn, you will not only lose power and your connection, but it will also become more difficult to time your downswing sequence.

If you notice, my hands always stay right in front of my chest, represented by the blue line in the pictures above. If your shoulder turn stops, but your hands keep moving up or behind you, then you’re losing your connection. A good way to practice keeping your hands in front of your chest is to go through the motion in the picture below. Simply get in your golf stance, put your hands together in front of your chest. and turn your shoulders while keeping your hands in front of your chest the entire time. This will help ingrain the feeling of connection that I’m talking about.

3. A Straight Left Arm At The Top

An ideal backswing will have a left arm that remains straight at the top of the swing, but please don’t confuse straight with rigid and locked at the elbow. Tension and muscle clenching are not what we’re after here. However, there are some very good golfers (especially on the Champions Tour) who have a slight bend in their left arm at the top of their backswing, and that’s totally fine. As long as you’ve made a correct shoulder turn and have stayed connected through out the backswing, a SLIGHT bend of the the left arm at the top of the swing is not the end of the world if you lack the flexibility to keep it straight. If you feel you are capable of keeping your left arm straight, but are having trouble doing so, try feeling like you’re pushing the club as far away from your body as possible during the backswing. As your left arm stays straight, simply let your right arm bend towards your side.

4. Turn Into Your Right Leg (right handed golfers)

This is the part of the backswing that can really help improve your ball striking and consistency once it’s mastered. If you struggle with swaying your upper body during your backswing, then pay close attention to this. During your backswing, your right leg should be like a post that has been hammered into the ground. If you turn your torso INTO your right leg, there is no way your upper body can sway to the right because your right leg is absorbing your weight transfer. When done correctly, you’ll feel a stretch on the outside of your right leg, and you might even feel it go up your right hip to your lower back. This strecthing  feeling is torque, and torque means effortless energy and power when you start your downswing.

Many good players say that when they turn into their right leg at the top of their swing, they feel most of their body weight on the inside portion of their right foot. So if you start feeling your weight transfer to the outside portion of your right foot, there’s a darn good chance that you’re swaying your body too much.

It’s common practice today for competitive players to maintain the flex in their right leg that they establish at address all the way to the top of their swing. Guys like Tiger Woods and Adam Scott show almost no sign of their legs moving at all during their swings. This takes huge amounts of flexibility and athleticism, so if you can’t maintain the flex in your right leg, then let it straighten slightly during your backswing. It’s going to cause a bigger hip turn than most guys on tour nowadays would want, but Sam Snead straightened his leg quite a bit and he seemed to be able to play some decent golf.

5. Wrist Hinge

Wrist hinge is the last piece of the puzzle when working on the backswing. If done correctly, it will take all the power you’ve created with the first 4 components and multiply it even more. The first picture below is how your left wrist should hinge during your backswing. Notice how my wrist is flat (no forward or backward bend) in both pictures. I’ve pretty much just raised my thumb and the club up towards the sky.

The right wrist hinge is quite the opposite. You’ll notice in the picture below that my right wrist  actually bends backwards slightly.

When to hinge the club during your backswing is up to you. I prefer to let my wrists hinge naturally once my arms get to the top of my backswing, but many “early hingers” prefer a feeling of hinging the club once they get to about hip level.

Conclusion:

This might be a lot to digest for one article but, if you practice each backswing component starting with the first one, you’ll see drastic improvement in your ball striking. Feel free to send me any questions you might have.

As always, have fun practicing and good luck!

- Parker