California
"Joel, like Tiger Woods you can shorten your back swing
by resisting hip turn on your back swing and this should help.
Another thought is to change direction sooner with your lower
body. Joel, I hope this helps, please contact me if you have any
more questions." - Adam
Schriber, Teaching Professional |
California
"There are a lot of ways to cure the tension in your
shortened back swing (the best way is to check your grip
pressure). However, have you ever thought that the tension came
from doing something different? Something that "YOUR"
body (not Tiger's) is not comfortable with!?! Something that your
body might not be able to do repeatedly!?! Something that
your body says is not a "NATURAL" move or feeling!?! Do
you think that this might be where the tension may have come
from?? Have you ever heard of John Daly? If you want to fix your
long back swing watch a pro who has something similar to your
swing. If Daly can do it, anybody can. Study his swing a little
and I think you might have a chance to take your long back swing
and use it to your advantage. Hint: Coming over the top has
to do with the same concept and/or technique of swinging a
baseball bat."
- David
Ruvolo, Teaching Professional |
California
"Dear Joel: Don't let
your arms swing anywhere but UP. If you let your arms pull the
club away without your shoulders rotating, you over swing and lay
it off. The arms go up and down, the shoulders go round and round.
When the shoulders stop turning the arms stop and the wrists hinge
naturally. Be happy."
- John
DeSantis, Teaching Professional |
Colorado
"I can relate to your problem. I would suggest hitting
lots of "knockdown" shots successfully and then just
lengthen the swing gradually from there. Once you get a good feel
for short back swings you will start to relax.....once you have
success with it. Good luck."
- Paula
Adelman, Teaching Professional |
Florida
"Trying to shorten your swing can put a lot of tension in
the arms. Instead, when you turn away from the ball in the back
swing, feel as though the arms are staying in front of the body.
When the body can no longer turn, the coil, the arms should stop
as well with the right arm folding. The length of your back swing
is determined by how far you can turn your upper body without
swaying. This we refer to as connection. If the arms move across
the body in the back swing after you have completed your turn you
will then become disconnected and over swing. The body controls
the swing, not the arms."
- Roland
Stafford Golf School Staff Professional |
Florida
"Joel: If you are a 5 handicapper you have found some way
to get the ball in the hole. Great job there. If you watch golfers
on tour there are as many swings as there are golfers. Try to
explain how Daly has so much flexibility vs. Tiger, who seems to
coil with no wasted movement. Both swings are effective.
The first thing I would want to see is if you are becoming
"disconnected" at the top of your swing. In other words,
do your arms work away from your body causing this feeling of
over-swinging or casting. If the club is allowed to get too steep
in the swing you will have the feeling of loss in power and have a
hard time getting the club back on the ball. As Harvey Penick said
in Little Red Book, "Keep the club in front of you." Try
hinging your hands in front of your body at waist level, bend at
the hips and turn the torso to the top of your swing. This is the
position you are most likely looking for. Practice hitting balls
with this drill, focusing on turning the torso to make your swing,
and work to gain confidence in what will be a shorter feeling
swing." - Tony
Simpson, Teaching Professional |
Florida
"Go get a lesson at Smithtown
Landing." - Dave
Collins, Teaching Professional |
Florida
"Keep your left
hip quiet on your back swing. Try the test of keeping your left
toes in air on your back swing while looking in the mirror."-
Mike
Calbot, Teaching Professional |
Florida
"Just to clarify, the
back swing length is determined by the amount of shoulder turn
while maintaining the width in your arms. Think of your left arm
as the radius of a circle, you want to maintain that width from
address to the top of the back swing. You may
be feeling tension in your arms because you are using
muscles that you haven't been relying on before. I would also
point out that you SHOULD feel a certain level of tension at the
top of the back swing. You WANT to feel like you have coiled your
upper body like a SPRING and there
is the feeling at the top of the back swing that your
body wants to unwind back to the ball. You can make it easier to
shorten your swing and be more "Tiger-like" by improving the flexibility
in the area of your shoulders and upper arms. The Golf Channel
website has an article under instruction/fitness called
"Saggy Shoulder Solutions" that will give you some great
exercises to improve your flexibility." - Andrea
Drake, Teaching Professional |
Florida
"Stretch a lot, find a personal fitness trainer. In the
process of doing this (it will benefit you in the long term of
things) allow your lead arm at the top of your back swing to fold
a little bit, it doesn't have to be perfectly straight. The
connection you have is probably better so now try moving the ball
up in your stance (practice holding your angle) and see what
happens."
- Sean
Gorgone, Teaching Professional |
Georgia
"Joel: You WANT to add tension to your back
swing...that's how you shorten it. Otherwise you'll keep swinging
back too far searching for some sort of coil in which to produce
power. You're tension however is in the wrong area. I'm pretty
sure you are lifting your arms instead of coiling your torso
correctly. Try putting your hands together as in prayer, extend
your arms into a straight, elbow locked position then turn your
back to the target. Remember, the back swing is done with the back
muscles - not the shoulders. Too many people try to turn their
shoulders and they don't get the correct coil. Keep you arms
reaching and you will develop the correct coiling motion without
muscle tension in the arms. If you keep your arms extended you may
only "feel" as if your hands can get to waste high. This
is desired. When you place the club in your hands the momentum of
the club swinging and the hinging of your wrists will supply the
power needed to complete your back swing. Notice in Tiger's swing
- the first thing he accomplishes is winding his shoulders against
his hips. Tiger, Ernie, all of the better swingers wind up their
biggest muscles first. Any arm swing happens after the shoulders,
hips and weight transfer have completed their coil. One other
problem with over swingers - straightening their trail leg (right
leg for right handed swingers). If your trail knee straightens
this allows your hips to turn too far, which in turn allows your
shoulders to turn too far. Alas another over swing. So don't let
this happen. Practice with short irons off of tees until this
swing starts to feel more comfortable. In the beginning you will
feel as if you are turning your back and winding up your torso
TIGHT. But you will also fee as if your hand only get to waste
high. Go with this feel for a while, and I'm sure you will be
happy with your long term results." - Don
Peterson, Teaching Professional |
Massachusetts
"Joel,
I see this a lot with my students. A lot of players try to swing
their arms too much then use their wrists/hands late in the swing
giving them an over-swing. Some players will overuse their left
forearm at the start causing the club to get behind them then they
have to lift to get the club back on line. The following drill
will correct both in a hurry. Get a ball and place the ball
between your forearms. Make sure ball does not push arms away from
each other nor force you to put your arms closer than normal.
Now swing half way back and half way thru. Has your stomach/hips
rotated on the way thru? And is the grip of the club pointing at
your belly? Now play some short shots 20-40 yards trying to
achieve those two goals. You might hit thin and right shots at
first but stick with it. Checkpoint for back swing might be
the club is pointing up at half back. You will feel more hands
initially. Tell me how it went."
- Phil
Fecteau, Teaching Professional |
Missouri
"Joel: it is likely that if you over swing it is because
your lower body does not provide enough resistance. To feel what
the correct resistance feels like, just sit on the end of a chair
and put your hand together, then make as big a turn and back swing
as you can. You will find that it is really hard to over turn, or
over swing. As a drill hitting golf balls, once you have set up,
turn your left (or forward) foot straight toward the target, now
make a back swing while really resisting with your right knee
(keeping the knee the same as it was at address). You will find
that when the lower body provides the correct resistance, it is
impossible to over swing." - Terry
Grosch, Teaching Professional
|
Missouri
"Watch your grip pressure,
especially in your right hand (If your right handed). Also, when
you take the club back, be sure your using your shoulders. You
should have almost a full shoulder turn by the time your left
arm (which is parallel to your target line) gets to the 9 o'clock
position. From there, with your wrists only, take the club
straight up. Don't think past the 9 position, your shoulders
will take it from there. Goof Luck!" - David
Mulso, Teaching Professional
|
New York
"Joel: Try shortening your back swing using this piece of
information. When you take a back swing, both the torso and
hips turn. However, in the forward swing, the hips have to
"unwind" faster than your torso. If you look at any tour
player at impact, their belt buckle is not pointing to the ball,
but towards the target, while their shoulders are either square or
slightly open to the target line. This is called clearing
your hips. To shorten your back swing, try to initiate the
clearing of your hips earlier. The very process of your hips
rotating back to the ball will stop the turning of your torso in
your back swing, shortening how far you rotate. I hope this will
help. Good luck!"
- Sean
Kennedy, Teaching Professional |
New York
"To Joel: Before trying to control the length of the back
swing, what is happening to cause the longer swing? A long looking
back swing could be a result of a reverse pivot, where the upper
body tilts left at the top of the swing. Or is your RIGHT arm
braking down at the top of the back swing? (right handed golfer)
If it is the right arm breaking down, work on the idea of throwing
a ball. This is a similar (not the same) position I would like to
see at top. By controlling the angle of your right arm, you can
control the length of your swing without adding tension. If it is
a reverse pivot, then you just have to work on changing your spine
alignment during the back swing. One drill for that is to set up
next a wall within arms reach (no club) take a back swing an try
to touch the wall with your left arm. This will help create the
proper spine alignment going back. Good Luck!" - Tony
Luczak, Teaching Professional |
South
Carolina
"Hi Joel: Kings Park is one of my
old stomping grounds. To shorten your back swing, try this little
trick. At address, position the club head back about 1 to 2
inches. and slightly inside the line. Use only your hands to
achieve this, not body or arm motion. Then just swing. the body
and mind make the necessary adjustments. No tension." - Sean
Carey, Teaching Professional |
Texas
"Hit
balls with a glove under the left arm. Also, do not let the right
arm bend more than 90 degrees.
It should add tension, but not in the arms, in the back near the
left shoulder blade if you are right handed." -
Kim
J. Brown, Teaching Professional
|
Texas
"Try restricting your hip motion. Place a large ball
between your legs and practice swing to get the feel of less hip
rotation. Even hit ball with the ball between your legs. As
you do this swing with your arms relaxed and learn to shorten your
swing with less hip rotation."
- Fred
Collins, Teaching Professional
|
Texas
"Joel: We need to match the body movement with the amount
the club moves. Try to feel the upper body controlling the
movement of the club. The body and the club will move the same
amount. A great drill is what I call Winning with Wedges. Hit sand
wedges and see how well you can control the distance of the shots
with a half swing, then 3/4. Then try to do this with every club.
Good Luck."
- Dave
Baron, Teaching Professional
|
Wisconsin
"Joel: The long swing stems from the right hip position
at the top. If the right hip is too far to the outside of the
right foot then the body will counter-balance by allowing the arms
to swing to far up and in."
- Craig
Waryan, Teaching Professional
|
