Shortening Backswing

[blademerchant]

Has anybody had any joy shortening their backswing?

 

I injured my shoulder from swinging too long.

 

I seem to have no awareness of how far the club is travelling, this makes things very difficult.

 

I can make what feels like a hip high backswing and when I watch it back on camera it will still be past parallel.

[Kuuuch]

check your wrist set, most folks who overswing have a late wrist set. pretty hard to overswing if your wrist set is around 90* by left arm parallel 

[TheDeanAbides]

Yes. First thing is correcting your sequencing. If you're making an on plane backswing with correct wrist conditioning it's a case of Monte's Nike Drill - Just Do It. 

 

That means that you have to make what feels like hip high swings until it begins to sink in. If you have to feel like you're making a knee high swing then so be it. You just have to keep doing it over and over and over until you rewire your brain to what a full swing is. 

 

Took me a couple thou swings. 

Edited March 28 by TheDeanAbides

[golferdude54]

Can you even see the ball from your front eye at the top? A lot of over-swingers rotate their head so much that they literally cannot see the ball from one eye. That's why Jon Rahm and Tony Finau have such short backswings, they don't let their head rotate at all.

[Nicknomates]

It might not (just) be your wrist set. Perhaps also check your width ..ie. you are not over bending your tail arm - at least not past 90 degrees, slightly less better.

[nvr3putt]

4 minutes ago, golferdude54 said:

Can you even see the ball from your front eye at the top? A lot of over-swingers rotate their head so much that they literally cannot see the ball from one eye. That's why Jon Rahm and Tony Finau have such short backswings, they don't let their head rotate at all.

If there was ever proof that one's backswing does not have to reach parallel or that the 'clock system' is useless in controlling distance...

[PedronNiall]

One, make sure you have a proper, technically sound grip. Not uncommon for people to have a runaway club that keeps the wrist set going well beyond what's needed, which then helps continuing to pull your club around, followed by your hands, arms, shoulders, back, and hips. Both an improper grip setup and one that doesn't apply sufficient force will allow for both more wrist set as well as a club that further loosens in the hands.

 

With or without a club hold either arm out parallel to the ground; if not using a club have your palm facing in front of you. Grip the club loosely or make a loose fist and see how easily the club moves, how easily it works your grip open, and in either case how easily you can hinge your wrist over its maximum range of vertical motion. Repeat with a firm grip on the club or a tighter fist and see the difference. Really think about how someone like Åberg can have a tempo that's hard to even clock and a swing speed capable of almost 400 yard drives in the right conditions yet control his backswing length and transition when many amateurs can't. 

 

 

Three of the longest hitters ever to touch the Tour, all with relatively quick tempos, yet all have a controlled wrist set and a controlled turn. I don't know of any way to do that other than a very, very slow swing or a firm, technically sound grip. The latter will create that desired outcome at any speed or tempo.

 

I'd be willing to bet if at a minimum you went to Rory's 7/10 grip pressure while using a properly formed grip your problems would disappear. If you by some magic have an even faster transition than Rory then up the pressure once you have ingrained a properly formed grip. Work on your grip while sitting around. Work on it while your popcorn's in the microwave. Work on it until your club feels in your control with unwavering certainty every single time you're over the ball.

 

Second, take a page from Tiger.

 

 

If you're Spieth or JT or Bobby Jones himself, feel free to let that lead heel dance. If you're not and your swing gets away from you, keep that left heel down like your life depends on it. This really is secondary to actually having control of your club, but if you're one of those uber rare souls who is actually just crazy flexible then use this to help better secure your hips and reduce their turn. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you make sure you have a proper, technically sound grip? Are you sure? Okay. If you're certain you can keep reading. If not, you know what you should be doing instead of moving on. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you do all of that and are 100% certain that you have a properly formed grip and the lead heel down still isn't enough then you can try something like this: 

 

 

If you've done what was mentioned above I doubt you'll need this. What's above is also far, far easier to get down than doing the reps to train your body to stop itself at a certain location. A spring hitting its proper winding point via the firm grip and planted heel is a much simpler mechanism than than programming in a stopping point and having your brain try and make your body stop and then go the other way once it hits it. Going to take a whole, whole lot of loading that to RAM before it gets written to the hard drive.

 

Pick your poison, but I recommend step one until it's locked in and step two if needed before going down the drill rabbit hole. The drill isn't something you can take into each swing to be certain you're sound, while the first two items are. 

[Soloman1]

 

 

[MonteScheinblum]

Like anything else, you have to attack the why.

 

Another one not mentioned is maxing out hip turn too early.

Edited March 29 by MonteScheinblum

[J13]

28 minutes ago, MonteScheinblum said:

Like anything else, you have to attack the why.

 

Another one not mentioned is maxing out hip turn too early.

You referring to maxing out hip turn early being a cause of a short backswing?

[MonteScheinblum]

1 hour ago, J13 said:

You referring to maxing out hip turn early being a cause of a short backswing?

Of a long backswing

[PedronNiall]

Two other things, though not going all out like I did prior. 

 

Hips & shoulders square at address. If you cheat the turn by starting slightly closed to the target it's easy to keep turning and turning and turning. Lead foot planted as in my first post and above can help, but best to start square regardless if you're turning too far. 

 

Make sure you haven't weakened your trail hand too much and that your trail elbow is relaxed at address. 

 

Since we have no pics of your setup or vids of your swing all anyone can do is give best practices & potential tweaks. The points I've mentioned seem reasonable as fixes as your inability to retain positional awareness of the club or to create a natural, tenable range of motion suggest to me most of what you have going on is best fixed by setup, not drills or intent during the backswing. 

 

Still guessing, though, with so little to go on.

[MoneyMan300]

This can be great for helping with sequencing and shortening a swing.  Also try taking swings where you feel like you don't bend your right arm at all (right handed)

[TheDeanAbides]

41 minutes ago, MoneyMan300 said:

This can be great for helping with sequencing and shortening a swing.  Also try taking swings where you feel like you don't bend your right arm at all (right handed)

Nothing like a bit of extensor action. 

[blademerchant]

On 3/30/2024 at 2:35 AM, PedronNiall said:

Two other things, though not going all out like I did prior. 

 

Hips & shoulders square at address. If you cheat the turn by starting slightly closed to the target it's easy to keep turning and turning and turning. Lead foot planted as in my first post and above can help, but best to start square regardless if you're turning too far. 

 

Make sure you haven't weakened your trail hand too much and that your trail elbow is relaxed at address. 

 

Since we have no pics of your setup or vids of your swing all anyone can do is give best practices & potential tweaks. The points I've mentioned seem reasonable as fixes as your inability to retain positional awareness of the club or to create a natural, tenable range of motion suggest to me most of what you have going on is best fixed by setup, not drills or intent during the backswing. 

 

Still guessing, though, with so little to go on.

 

Here's a short vid.

Steep/over the top yes, but mainly concerned about backswing length.

Edited April 8 by blademerchant

[iacas]

13 minutes ago, blademerchant said:

Steep/over the top yes, but mainly concerned about backswing length.

 

 

 

It's likely too long, yes.

 

(That's just the frame I was able to freeze on the first attempt — it may be longer than shown.)

[MonteScheinblum]

Step 1 is going to be improve the angle of you rotation.  You turn too flat relative to your address position.

 

 

 

[SNIPERBBB]

Best thing I did for my swing. Previously when I did a "full backswing" I was literally standing straight up at the end. 

[ShortGolfer]

I experimented with Callaway foam practice balls in my back yard.  It is easy to see how far the ball goes!

I bounce them off the trees so they more or less stay inside my yard.

I have friendy neighbors.  They love the flowers I grow in my yard. 

 

Shortening the swing didn't help me any.

Best results come from finding the right tempo for the swing. 

Swing hard doesn't help either.  That kills the distance.

But, after a week or two of trying different things, I think I found a combination that works for me.

Edited April 2 by ShortGolfer

[TheDeanAbides]

12 hours ago, ShortGolfer said:

I experimented with Callaway foam practice balls in my back yard.  It is easy to see how far the ball goes!

I bounce them off the trees so they more or less stay inside my yard.

I have friendy neighbors.  They love the flowers I grow in my yard. 

 

Shortening the swing didn't help me any.

Best results come from finding the right tempo for the swing. 

Swing hard doesn't help either.  That kills the distance.

But, after a week or two of trying different things, I think I found a combination that works for me.

Swinging hard has nothing to do with tempo. I'd guess from what you said that you have some sequencing issues that mean that you can't swing hard. Ernie and Freddie both swing very hard indeed. 

[DShepley]

Feel like your hands stop at the same time your shoulders stop turning.  You might try the Windmill drill that Tommy Fleetwood does.  He makes 3/4 swings feeling like he keeps both arms straight (you won't but it will feel like it).

Edited April 3 by DShepley

[Laaandry]

I often deal with the hands getting too high and subsequently my backswing getting too long. I saw an old video of @MonteScheinblum describing feeling like you're swinging from lead arm parallel and tried it out while filming myself. Turns out that I need to feel like my hands stop at hip height for it to be a "normal" backswing length--or to stop along with my shoulders.

 

Huge eye-opener for me so now I need to get that feel every time and like others said, make sure my wrist is hinged before then, otherwise the arms being overrun is inevitable.

[MonteScheinblum]

11 minutes ago, Laaandry said:

I often deal with the hands getting too high and subsequently my backswing getting too long. I saw an old video of @MonteScheinblum describing feeling like you're swinging from lead arm parallel and tried it out while filming myself. Turns out that I need to feel like my hands stop at hip height for it to be a "normal" backswing length--or to stop along with my shoulders.

 

Huge eye-opener for me so now I need to get that feel every time and like others said, make sure my wrist is hinged before then, otherwise the arms being overrun is inevitable.

That’s very normal.  The other funny issue is when I ask people to hit shorter shots with a club.

 

i ask them to hit their 150 club 100 yards, they hit it 145.  I asked them to hit it 50, they hit it 130.

 

Theres a good part of this too.  When golfers learn how to control speed at the low end, a light bulb goes off and they can hit the ball farther.  Their brain identifies what they had to do to slow down and hit it shorter and gives them a better understanding of what creates speed…..which helps them at the high end.  So learning to hit your 7-iron like a wedge, helps you drive it farther.

 

As backwards as that sounds it’s very common.

[skim4]

My backswing shortens when I grip the club tighter. Recently had a regripping issue that I thought was related to my left hand grip placement. But It was actually cause I grip the club with almost no pressure. For some reason when I hold onto the club much tighter - my swing shortens. Maybe look at that OP. 

[phillyspecial]

I struggled with this for many many years and a lot of the drills/feels above help attack the why.  

 

I finally fixed it by dedicating an entire year to it.  I didn't practice without viewing video of every single swing.  I ceased speed training.  I spent all winter doing only that - literally every rep.  And I still couldn't get great looking video at more than 80% speed.  I focused a ton on hitting short shorts with long clubs as Monte describes.  My sole goal was getting the look of my swing to be acceptable.  

 

Once I got out to the golf course in the spring, I just felt what in my mind were half swings.  I played a lot solo or just w my kids so I wasnt feeling peer pressure.  Only by doing the video work first was I even able to do this.  I took extra club and modified my game to fit what were slower swings, but significantly more controlled.  My distances on course did start coming back.  

 

This offseason, I have started work on merging the worlds of speed and better mechanics ( I had other goals there beyond just shortening, but they were aligned).  I speed train one day, do mechanics/video work the next.  I have learned how to better apply speed and sync things up.  I can get good video at 100% speed effort.  Im a better player now, but it took a lot of work and discipline.  And if I feel like its coming back in especially as I add speed, I know how to fix it.  

[mocokid]

How about shortening your left thumb?