Thinking of going to a shorter back swing

I am thinking of going to a shorter back swing. 2/3-3/4, basically just past arms parallel. I use this swing to warm up with my gap wedge, and I am pretty consistent with it. I use it on the course sometimes to get lower flights as well. It is also easier in my body, which is the main reason I am thinking about it. But I lose about 20yds per club, and spin and max height come way down. But on the positive side it is much easier to control.

Question I have is, has anyone gone this route and regained their distance, spin, and height back without going back to a “full” swing? I am pretty sure I waste a good amount of energy in a full swing, and possibly this may help to sync me up better and become more efficient, which hopefully will regain what I lose. Or should I go get fit for some SGI clubs like the Rogue X and try to make up some of the loss that way?

Do you get a full shoulder and hip turn with parallel arm swings? Make sure your turning fully before you settle for a sub-optimal shot. According to Monte, the only thing different between a left arm parallel shot and a full swing is completing your turn.

> @Fireballer said:

> Do you get a full shoulder and hip turn with parallel arm swings? Make sure your turning fully before you settle for a sub-optimal shot. According to Monte, the only thing different between a left arm parallel shot and a full swing is completing your turn.

I am not sure if I make a full shoulder or hip turn with the shorter swing. I would have to video myself to answer that, but at a guess I would say no. But this endeavor is really to help my left knee. With my full swing I put too much stress on my left knee, which causes a bit of pain. I am hoping the end result of this is to learn to sequence better to regain any distance lost, while at the same time being better on my body. My concern is that I won't gain any distance back, and I go back to my full swing.

How far are you carrying your 6 iron with the shortened backswing?

I'm not sure that making a shorter back swing will necessarily result in less distance. Many years ago I met a guy who was a teacher Bear Creek at the DFW airport. He had a very short back swing and absolutely murdered the ball. His theory was that if you swing back past the point where you can accelerate all the way through the ball you've wasted motion and probably begun to decelerate before impact. I had another way of swinging but did admire the way he could move the ball.

Steve

I have a tendency to let my backswing get too long and it leads to very poor contact throughout the bag. When I finally notice what I'm doing and make the change to go to about a 9-10:00 backswing my contact, ball flight, etc. immediately is better with no loss in distance.

To answer the questions as to how much I am losing right now. I lose about 20yds per club, I lose spin, and height as well. But at the same time, I don't go at it as hard either. Maybe trying to go full out from a shorter swing may produce similar results to a full swing. This is the beginning of the journey for me on this.

Shorter is better for most people. If you are losing distance it's probably because you haven't learned to accelerate your arms properly. Making half swings and swinging all out from there with a wedge as a drill should help. I have shortened up my swing as it used to get to parallel with short irons and once I learned to use my arms better got back to normal distances with more control. For me, shortening my swing has made further swing changes much easier and doable.

> @ferrispgm said:

> Shorter is better for most people. If you are losing distance it's probably because you haven't learned to accelerate your arms properly. Making half swings and swinging all out from there with a wedge as a drill should help. I have shortened up my swing as it used to get to parallel with short irons and once I learned to use my arms better got back to normal distances with more control. For me, shortening my swing has made further swing changes much easier and doable.

Thank you.

mine feels like a 3/4 backswing and goes just short of parallel and I hit it farther than I used to.

I went through this transition a couple of years ago and couldn't be happier with the results.

Rather than thinking of a 1/2 or 3/4 swing, I used my shoulder and chin as a measure of how far back I wanted to go. Once my shoulder gets under my chin, I know I have made a full shoulder turn, and the backswing is done. I also became acutely aware of my tendency to let the elbows and wrists collapse at the top of the swing - a common trait in the longer swinger. With the shorter swing a fewer moving parts, I hit the ball a heck of a lot better and with better consistency.

The biggest hurdle for me in this transition was timing. Once you get that figured out, you shouldn't be losing much, if any distance. I, in fact, picked up a few yards as a result of better contact and more efficient swing.

Couple of thoughts on the subject.

If the shorter swing results in a better top position it will be a good thing. If the shorter swing gets you in a worse position at the top it will be really bad because you will have less time to recover in the downswing.

I use to mess around on a launch monitor on ways to pick up speed, whats funny is I can start from basically hip high with the club and hit the ball and be about the same swing speed as full swing. Was pretty shocking to me.

When my backswing gets long, things start going left. Right handed

i feel like on the forums you always read about amateur golfers wanting to shorten their backswings because they're too long, yet if you stand on the first tee on the weekend and watch guys tee off all day the majority of golfers have a short swing with little hip depth and little shoulder turn.

> @HoosierMizuno said:

> i feel like on the forums you always read about amateur golfers wanting to shorten their backswings because they're too long, yet if you stand on the first tee on the weekend and watch guys tee off all day the majority of golfers have a short swing with little hip depth and little shoulder turn.

Personally I see a lot of both on the course. I actually see a lot of people with short arm swings but the club gets to parallel because they over hinge their wrists/let the club come off of their palm at the top. Or people who reverse pivot/sway trying to get a bigger turn.

I think shortening your backswing solves a lot of issues that most of us have had or do have.

If you look at John Rahm and Tony Finau they are great examples of a 1/2 - 3/4 swings used on tour and both of those guys consitantly crush it, their swings are compact and very efficient because their bodies don't have to work to hard to stay in sync.

They can still create crazy swing speed with a shorter backswing:

John Rahm- average 118.28mph

Tony Finau- average 122.15mph

I think Rahm and Finau can afford to lose 20 yards. They are both incredibly strong and athletic with lag the average player can only dream about. Rahm averages about 118mph clubhead speed which is roughly about the same as Justin Thomas but he's almost double the size of Justin. Both Rahm and Finau have nowhere near maxed out their speed potential but they are blessed with so much they can afford to lose some in return for a tighter swing.

The average player hitting 220 yards or less can't afford to lose 20 unless they are happy playing bogey golf.

Do you score better with the shorter swing (and still enjoy the game)? The score, in my mind, is what makes any swing change either worth it or not. I have taken lessons from Monte and Dan...both have given me the "shorten my swing" thought. I haven't "shortened my swing" as much as stopped my arm-overrun. I struggle with continuing to take the club back/up after my shoulders and hips have completed their full motion. This puts my swing at the mercy of timing and EEI to get the face on the ball with any consistency. Stopping my swing where I should (hands between hips and shoulders) brings a lower flight with hit and stop spin on my soft greens. Ball position starts to become key to hitting higher or lower shots...more so than with my overrun swing. My problem is that I start "short" but end up somewhere in the middle of the round overrunning my shoulders and spraying the ball. Solid contact with good direction and dispersion control helps my scoring...20 yards of distance loss only matters if your scores go up. I suspect that if you incorporate the "shorter move" into your game, your body will adjust to the new feels and your speed will come back. Center face contact with a square club face can really make up for a perceived loss of speed.

This is so much harder to do than I would have thought. It is easy for me to take shorter swings when the yardage calls for it, but trying to have a shorter swing, while still going all out on the downswing is extremely difficult. It seems that the intent of the down swing determines how far back I take it.

I guess since I am going to try this I might as well incorporate the zipper away drill as well. I just don't understand how it will produce any speed. I get that I perceive how the swing is powered incorrectly. I swing hard from the top, it feels powerful. This is going to be extremely tough to break...

I've found that if you just arbitrarily shorten your backswing, then the swing feels powerless (and the ball doesn't go anywhere). But if you shorten it by transitioning sooner -- that is, by getting left earlier and loading the shaft sooner by starting your downswing sooner -- then you'll realize that this is how the golf swing should be.

If the earlier transition intent isn't there, then I've found that I just tend to do an arms-swing with no real pivot, and then I jerk the club from there in an attempt to get some arm speed. It's a disaster.

> @HoosierMizuno said:

> i feel like on the forums you always read about amateur golfers wanting to shorten their backswings because they're too long, yet if you stand on the first tee on the weekend and watch guys tee off all day the majority of golfers have a short swing with little hip depth and little shoulder turn.

exactly! this always freaking amazes me. "shortening" the backswing is the new "strengthen" your grip. its like universal advice that doesnt make any sense for many golfers. in fact, most need to do the exact opposite.

shortening only applies to people whose arms keep going once their coil has stopped. The proper advice is that your arms need to stop when your shoulders and hips stop coiling. if you are doing that, you dont need to shorten anything else! it will only mess you up and cause all kinds of issues. make as full of a turn as you can while maintaining your balance. dont shorten just to shorten!

> @trilerian said:

> This is so much harder to do than I would have thought. It is easy for me to take shorter swings when the yardage calls for it, but trying to have a shorter swing, while still going all out on the downswing is extremely difficult. It seems that the intent of the down swing determines how far back I take it.

Perhaps, you have stumbled on the way to shorten your swing. Take extra club, it will shorten on it's own.

> @trilerian said:

> I guess since I am going to try this I might as well incorporate the zipper away drill as well. I just don't understand how it will produce any speed. I get that I perceive how the swing is powered incorrectly. I swing hard from the top, it feels powerful. This is going to be extremely tough to break...

If you are gonna try and shorten your swing, do so at the range or even at home in front of a mirror. Its gonna take 100+ repetitions everyday to ingrain your new swing thought or feeling of how far back you want your backswing to go. Don't even attempt the new swing out on the course until you have done 1400 reps ( two weeks worth of practice reps- advice from a old instructor I had.)

I've been struggling with an overswing for a few years now. I used to have a languid swing a la Johnny Miller but of late there's like a feeling I don't want to lose distance so I go way past parallel some days. I'm aware of it.

Now the first thing everybody tells you because they want to help is SHORTEN YOUR BACKSWING and right after that they'll say something like do 3/4 swing or stop at lead arm parallel to ground. It's ok but if the player doesn't feel the backswing motion is complete at some point it's real hard to hit a driver or a 6 iron. You'll naturally do ok with a PW or a 9 but that's it. So that's the genuine challenge when trying to control your backswing. And it's mentally tough to think shorter is longer because it's against logic.

And one other thing is we arm swingers find power in going back long to load so when shortening the swing you need a real engagement of your body to swish through the ball which is something you have to train a lot for. In my case, the days I do this I hit wonderful shots, the days I don't I need more timing than negotiating with my wife to achieve decent shots.

One of my cues to make a good swing is to think and "feel" short back swing but, in reality, it is a full or near full swing - feel is not real.

A lot of good comments here. I think it is important to know exactly what one means when they refer to a "long backswing." It can obviously mean different things for different people, and one long backswing might be helped by going shorter, where others won't.

For me, I never had trouble turning shoulders or hips. My problem was arm overrun. I developed the tendency trying to hit the ball _**hard**_ in my 20's. I was so, so stupid.

Like one of above posters mentioned, I would make a full turn with hips and shoulders, but my arms would keep going. Especially with a driver, I ended up looking like John Daly back in the day. This is a sloppy, inconsistent, and inefficient way to swing the golf club. I had to practice all the time to get even a little bit of consistency, and even then I never knew what kind of game I might have on any given day.

So, when I say I shortened by backswing, what I really did was stop the arm overrun. Whatever you want to call it, the change certainly helped me and I think it is a good thing for others who suffer from this specific condition (or disease if you will.)

A shorter backswing is clearly not for everyone.

> @aswile said:

> Do you score better with the shorter swing (and still enjoy the game)? The score, in my mind, is what makes any swing change either worth it or not. I have taken lessons from Monte and Dan...both have given me the "shorten my swing" thought. I haven't "shortened my swing" as much as stopped my arm-overrun. I struggle with continuing to take the club back/up after my shoulders and hips have completed their full motion. This puts my swing at the mercy of timing and EEI to get the face on the ball with any consistency. Stopping my swing where I should (hands between hips and shoulders) brings a lower flight with hit and stop spin on my soft greens. Ball position starts to become key to hitting higher or lower shots...more so than with my overrun swing. My problem is that I start "short" but end up somewhere in the middle of the round overrunning my shoulders and spraying the ball. Solid contact with good direction and dispersion control helps my scoring...20 yards of distance loss only matters if your scores go up. I suspect that if you incorporate the "shorter move" into your game, your body will adjust to the new feels and your speed will come back. Center face contact with a square club face can really make up for a perceived loss of speed.

Stopping arms from over -running and elbow -wrists collapse is exactly where I'm at ... hard to change but worth the effort . actually has helped my rotation

knowing I need to make a good turn without the ' false " feel of arms running on .

*With longer clubs I have been allowing the left heel [ target side ] raise if needed but still watch arms don't over run body

Don't like the term " Shorten swing " prefer to think Sync up swing