Backswing Basics: You Are Never Too Good To Brush Up On The Basics

For those of you who are having problems with your swing but cannot quite figure out the issue, perhaps it's time to get back to basics. Sometimes going back over the basics of the standard golf swing will do the trick, even if you are an experienced player like myself.

Information Overload

The problem comes from playing golf for a long period time and learning too much. Yes, you can actually have too much information in your head! It is the case of the classic saying “Information Overload” and you know as well as I do that there are hundreds of small tips and golf tricks that we all want to master.

Unfortunately, we can't be the master of every golf move. I'll leave that to the pros. But in the meantime, the one thing you can do today to improve your swing is to clear your head and take a trip back to the basic fundamentals of the standard swing.

Let's start with getting to know the backswing again. The key elements of your backswing are listed down in the following steps:

1) The club is drawn back from the ball, low to the ground and slow for the first few inches.

2) The clubhead should be traveling along an invisible target line, and for as long as possible.

3) As the club moves back, your right elbow should be folded into your side and the left arm should be as straight as possible (the opposite for left-handed golfers).

4) Your shoulders should begin to turn away from the target.

5) The shoulders should also coil up as much as possible, but never to the point of being uncomfortable.

A chain reaction will start and the club speed will build up, but the first six inches of your swing should be a slow movement from the ball, as noted in #1 above. After that point the chain reaction sets in with your hips, arms and shoulders.

The invisible line that you created should be one that is imagined as running from the middle of the golf ball all the way to the target you are aiming for. Now picture this line as you move the clubhead, keeping it on the line until your swing is well behind the ball.

Approximately 1-2 feet behind the ball your clubhead will start to veer off this line. It has to, as it is physically impossible to keep it on the line in the back portion of your swing (otherwise you would literally tip over). So when you cannot keep the club back on this line any longer, the coiling action begins as you wrap the club around your body.

Keep turning the shoulders. The hands should move back until they reach the height of your shoulders. The hands should not forced to get them further up. You just want them as close as you can possibly get them to the level of your shoulders without any strain. At the top of the backswing, your wrists should cock back, ready for the downswing to begin.

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Filed under: Golf Swing

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