Question:
For a while now I have been wondering why I was so relatively short with my irons when I am a reasonably long driver. Normally when I play, my drives are level or ahead of my playing partners, but I’m a club or two shorter with my irons. Our handicaps are all between 4 and 6, so it has baffled me why there was so much difference in our games. I think I have found some kind of answer to my problem. On the driving range last week I started warming up by hitting 1/2 shots with my SW. I notice that these 1/2 shots were flying further that my normal SW distance. When I checked my backswing position I could see that the shaft was almost horizontal, even though it felt like I was only swinging back 1/2 way. I started to work on this and these ‘restricted’ backswings were giving me at least 10 yards extra. When I took a ‘full’ backswing, the shaft position didn’t appear to be much further on than with the shorter swing, even though it felt like a much longer backswing. My interpretation is that I was getting to the correct position at the top of my backswing with a 90 degree shoulder turn and a 45 degree hip turn, then I was continuing my backswing by turning my hips further round. I guess this meant that I had no coil built up between my hip turn and shoulder turn. Anyway, restricting my backswing seems to have given me a lot more power and has helped me square up the clubface. I’m not sure why my driver seemed to work ok before, but I’m not worrying about that now. The first time I tried this new swing on the course I followed a 280 yard drive with a 130 yard PW to 5 feet and holed the putt! I hit a few more good shots after that, but then the wind picked up to its normal 20 mph, so it was hard to tell any distances accurately. Does this make sense to the swing gurus out there?
Response:
Anyway, restricting my backswing seems to have given me a lot more power and has helped me square up the clubface.
I was doing the same thing. Had a lesson and was told to stop the backswing a lot earlier (feels like the arms are pointing straight back — they aren’t). The pro said something about running out of acceleration by the time I’m getting to the ball otherwise. I was also having trouble with long irons — not low swingspeed, but hands well before the ball, leading to some serious delofting at impact. Maybe your loft at impact has changed with the shorter backswing — hands a shade more forward would add yards… Thomas Prufer
Response:
<snipped I think I have found some kind of answer to my problem. On the driving range last week I started warming up by hitting 1/2 shots with my SW. I notice that these 1/2 shots were flying further that my normal SW distance. When I checked my backswing position I could see that the shaft was almost horizontal, even though it felt like I was only swinging back 1/2 way.
<snipped I had this exact same problem for years and I still slip into it every now and then, especially when I try to kill the ball. My interpretation is that I was getting to the correct position at the top of my backswing with a 90 degree shoulder turn and a 45 degree hip turn, then I was continuing my backswing by turning my hips further round. I guess this meant that I had no coil built up between my hip turn and shoulder turn.
<snipped This is exactly what is happening. It took my teaching pro almost 2 years (I can be damn stubborn!) to beat it into my head that a long backswing does not mean a more powerful swing. The best indicator is actually the difference in turn between the shoulders and hips (relative to the target line). Ideally, you would turn your shoulders 90* and your hips wouldn’t turn at all, but in the real world a difference of more than 60* between the shoulder and hip turn is pretty good for an amateur. Of course, that doesn’t mean turning the hips 45* and the shoulders 105*, that would take you far past parallel and make it very difficult to get the clubhead back into the slot on the downswing. That’s kind of what John Daly does, so you can see that even a pro with 2 majors has trouble with a swing like that. It is better to keep the hip turn to a minimum and maximize shoulder turn. The first time I tried this new swing on the course I followed a 280 yard drive with a 130 yard PW to 5 feet and holed the putt! I hit a few more good shots after that, but then the wind picked up to its normal 20 mph, so it was hard to tell any distances accurately. Does this make sense to the swing gurus out there?
It make perfect sense to me because I went though a very similar process. — Dan Driscoll Member – NCGA RSG FAQ: http://ttsoft.com/thor/rsggolf.html RSG Roll Call http://rec-sport-golf.com/members/?rollcall=driscolld
Response:
I think I have found some kind of answer to my problem. On the driving range last week I started warming up by hitting 1/2 shots with my SW. I notice that these 1/2 shots were flying further that my normal SW distance. When I checked my backswing position I could see that the shaft was almost horizontal, even though it felt like I was only swinging back 1/2 way. I started to work on this and these ‘restricted’ backswings were giving me at least 10 yards extra. When I took a ‘full’ backswing, the shaft position didn’t appear to be much further on than with the shorter swing, even though it felt like a much longer backswing.
That is obvious to bad players such as myself when I get a chance to look at my full swing, my 3/4 swing, and my 1/2 swing on camera. I wasn’t aware that it was so obvious for good players. Are you looser with your drivers than with your irons?
Response:
That is obvious to bad players such as myself when I get a chance to look at my full swing, my 3/4 swing, and my 1/2 swing on camera. I wasn’t aware that it was so obvious for good players.
A few weeks ago I got caught on the edge of the fairway with a bush directly behind me. I could only manage a restricted backswing, about half normal. I was 120m from the green, and thought I’d need some extra club to compensate, so I took an 8-iron instead of a 9-iron. Punchy half swing, made perfect contact … airmailed the green by 15 metres! When I first started playing golf, I felt like my own backswing was naturally quite short. Then I saw my swing on video for the first time, and it was only about 10 degrees from horizontal at the top. So I stopped worrying about how far to swing back and concentrated on more important things, like alignment, rotation and swing plane. I swung much better for it. In some players, getting the shaft horizontal (or past it) coincides with the arms "collapsing" … they get there by arm bend, not by rotating properly. A shorter, punchy backswing doesn’t seem to affect a player like Peter Lonard when it comes to scoring. He’s been known for years as a very accurate iron player. He is not way down the bottom in driving distance either … 50th with 292.8 this year. Also, a few years ago there was a guy at my club, about my age, who took no more than what most of us would call a half swing. But it was very "whippy" … perfect release through the ball. He could easily outdrive me and played off 5! — Cheers Colin Wilson RSG Roll Call: http://rec-sport-golf.com/members/?rollcall=wilsonc Trentham Golf Club: http://www.trenthamgolf.com
Response:
It sure does, even tho a part, the important part, of the swing was not addressed, but come into play, made the difference between times discussed. Good luck, hope you can keep that shaft horizontal at the right time. —— Does this make sense to the swing gurus out there?
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