Golf Lesson - Learning the Back Swing

In a previous article "Golf Lesson - Learning the Back Swing" I discussed my initiation into the game of golf and how I started on the wrong foot by trying to learn from non-professionals.

The first portion of that article discussed the proper way to create and proactive the "Takeaway" portion of the back swing and how critical learning this was to the entire game.

I also mentioned that when I began to really get serious about learning to play golf I had no idea that the back swing was one of the most (if not THE most) important things to learn. I said that if this portion of my golf swing wasn’t perfect, I would never be able to solve any of my problems.

In this article I will discuss the "Top Position" portion of the back swing and hopefully provide a guide to learning this portion of the back swing. At first some of the concepts may seem difficult, but stick with them and practice so you will get better.

The Top Position or Recoil

A key aspect of creating the Top Position is your weight distribution. Most of your weight needs to be on the right side (for right handed golfers) as discussed in the previous "Takeaway" article. Your hip tilt should be about 11? left where most amateurs have a tendency to lean backwards and create a greater tilt of about 14? to 20?. This is easily corrected by concentrating on moving your body weight to the right side.

The club head must stay on the swing plane and when parallel to the ground should create a small circle when drawn around your hand and the club head. Rolling your hands at this point will create a large circle and cause you to bring your hands a little bit inside the swing plane. This may seem to be a difficult concept to grasp, so you may want to have a friend stand to your right when you do this so they can see the position of your hands with the swing plane.

Body turn is also critical and the relationship between your hip turn and upper body turn should be about 1:2 (hip to body). Basically you want your lower body (hips) to stay still and just turn your upper body (shoulders) which will create the recoil. Again, this may feel very awkward at first so take your time and practice.

When your weight is maintained on the left leg, your lower body stays too high because your right leg begins to stiffen up. You must keep your weight on your right leg and keep your right knee flexed at all times. Not maintaining this knee flex will have a tendency to create a forward movement with your head towards the ball which you do not want.

Now let’s see what your club should be doing. The club shaft position should be pointed towards the sky (no more than 30? from your shoulders) and not more than parallel to the ground. Avoid the tendency to extend the shaft position beyond the parallel position at all costs. Remember that your wrists should be hinged keeping a 90? angle between the club shaft and your forearm.