Complete your backswing, but don't stop!

Seen a lot of threads lately about overswinging, coming over the top, and how to achieve an inside strike, and thought this might help.

You should realize that for good players (tour players, and all of the greats) there is no definitive mental point of "my backswing is done, let's start the downswing". The reason for this is simple. Whether you think of the swing as "dog wags the tail" or "tail wags the dog" in terms of the body versus arm relationship, one is always leading the other. It is very easy to get stuck on achieving the "correct positions" in the swing and forget that we are "swinging" the club like a whip, not putting it through positions like a geared leverage machine. The static "top of the swing paused" position is nothing more than the moment the momentum of the club changes and the shaft loads into the other direction. Call it the "golfer's slieght of hand".

I think we can learn something from the "old school" swing teachings. They use to teach controlling the swing with the hips, and allowing the arms and hands to remain passive. This is still a very viable way to swing a golf club because it creates a very smooth action (yes, with iron shafts too). By focusing on the hips creating momentum in the swing, your downswing (the return of the hips) actually starts as the hands and arms are reaching their apex at the top. The action creates a pulling sensation in the left arm, finishes cocking your wrists, and keeps the hands from taking over at the top of the swing (where they do the most damage to swing form). The club is pull into the slot, the right elbow returned to the body, and the club whips through with tremendous lag and hands in front of the club head. Now granted it is very easy to overdo this action and turn the hips too fast (out of tempo), but the feeling of lag from the body action must be present in the regular swing.

If you are having trouble hitting from the top, try the old school hip control for a while and feel the lag of the club, its momentum as a product of your turn, help you pull the club through impact on a inside-square-inside path. Ben Hogan's swing was a great example of this principle and is one of the reasons he created such tremendous power.

As Sam Snead said... "You swing easy, but hit hard!"

Nonsense. True, you should not be "thinking" about the mechanics during the swing. There has to be a sense of where and how you execute the turn-around from going back to forward again. This is where most people lose their swing plane. I prefer Ron del Barrio's "take-away, placement" to "backswing". Some others here are starting to see the difference as well.

SubPar

Well, you said nonsense, but then proved my point. It's fine to have an image of what the top looks like, but you can't be "thinking" of the mechanics as you are doing it (not when playing golf - target focus mindset, range practice is different). The swing is one total motion, not two steps with a pause in between.

Don't want to start arguing semantics, but developing fluidity in the swing in my impression (concurrent with a lot of very good sources) means melding the motion together to produce a smooth action.

I have noticed SEVERAL korean guys I've been paired up with that come to a COMPLETE stop on their backswing.

They draw back the club VERY slow, stop when the club is parallel and then come through with their swing.. The 3 or 4 guys I've been put with were all pretty good golfers... I know ANYONE can be a good golfer it doesnt mean their way is the best... But I've heard people say "you dont get ANY power from pulling the club back, you're just loading the spring" so why IS it necessary to not stop at the top?

(by the way I dont stop myself, i just am curious as to why it is important not to)

Well, from what I have read, been told, and experienced myself, stopping at the top can do several things.

1) Cause the body to have to exert an abrupt braking force against the club momentum, pulling the club off line.

2) Result in a loss of grip pressure at the top of the swing.

3) Encourage hitting from the top with the hands, rather than allowing the club to drop into the downswing slot and approach from an inside path.

4) Distort the tempo of the swing, resulting in poor consistency.

I too have seen people who stop entirely (usually making a REALLY slow backswing), and to each his own, they manage to hit the ball fine. Just wanted to point out that you don't see it among the best ball strikers, and historically it was thought to be a real killer move in creating a fluid swing and avoiding hitting from the top. Iron shafts forgive you more for stopping at the top (versus the old hickory) but the principle is still relevant.

In any case, something to keep in mind especially if you fight constantly hitting from the top.

It's all about grooving a consistent tempo that maximizes rhythm, ie synchronizes the top and bottom of your body.

The pros have a metronome built into their heads that took years to develop.

To short circuit this process, I have bought and tried a new, unobtrusive electronic tool that allows my tempo to be fine tuned as I play on the course.

I was having a little trouble figuring out your point, so I just went with the headline. Lots of great players hesitate slightly at the top which gives the lower body a moment to take over the move down and forward. Most people who do not stop, or nearly stop, at the top end up with a very arm-dominated down move.

By the way, a "loss of grip pressure" is exactly what you want. It is not commonly discussed, but grip pressure is a devil in the details when trying to generate clubhead speed and maintaining a smooth acceleration. Grip pressure leads to forearm tension, which leads to loss of speed and also steers the club off line. One of the best ball strikers and longest hitters, Fred Couples , holds the club lightly and has a distinct pause at the top before he fires his lower body to start the down move. SubPar

Please spend your evenings away from the range and course using weighted clubs, slow motion drills and tempo training. Every evening (unless we played that day), my son and I (I am a 5.5, he is a 9.0) do weighted club step drills (take club to waist high, check shaft position, take club to top, check and make sure chin is over front shoulder, then feel the weight of the club swinging it down and into the slot with a good, slow, solid finish), then we do take away drills (address a ball, put another ball 6 inches behind that ball and drag it back until it knocks the back ball out of the way and swing club to top of swing and repeat) this helps promote a slow, steady takeaway. Then alot of smooth tempo swings. Once you step onto the range for pre game warmup, no mechanics should be thought about. Tempo only. Good tempo will help all of us out quite a bit. Before every shot in a round, take a simple tempo reminder swing, slow, smooth and easy. Then step into the ball, no swing thoughts except for tempo and hit away. Good luck.

They way your playing partners do it seems pointless, Although the backswing doesn't generate all the power, it starts the momentum to pick up the speed of your swing, what they are doing gains them no momentum at all, they might as well just start the club behind their shoulders and swing down without a backswing.

It also shows they have no tempo whatsoever.

My apologies that the original post was unclear.

Just to be clear this time around, I was referring to losing the proper grip pressure to maintain club control. You want to fight excess tension in the swing, however, you cannot let the club fall out of grip position in your hands. Your body's CNS will take care of grip pressure if you let it (it will increase pressure as you approach impact), but if you think of letting go of the club entirely (rather than just remaining passive with the hands, which I will insist is different), good luck having that club face come back to square without some later manipulation (usually resulting in excess tension, loss of tempo, poor contact etc). I fully agree that excess tension results in lost clubhead speed - no argument there, fully proven fact. But you wouldn't build a swingset with a set of faulty hinges would you? No, you want that action to be distinct, repeatable, and smooth. Proper form, preserved, without excessive tension. Hopefully you and I aren't unknowingly arguing the same side of the coin here. I have read several sources about that distinct pause you see at the top of many pros swings, and I agree with their analysis and perspective. As stated in the original post, it is really a sleight of hand type visualization. The club stops only for a fraction of a second, but the lower body is already moving (when the tempo and sequence are smoothly applied). The pro's rhythm is not back - stop - forward - finish. It's back and through, back and through, back and through. Now, in training, a drill might have you take the club to the proper top position and practice the transition (Ron's back and stop, turn through drill???) but the full swing is a rhythmic melding of the action into an athletic poised movement. The most time tested drill of all time in fact is the feet together swinging drill (taught around the world since the 1900s), reason being it teaches to stay in balance and swing the club along with gravity and the club's inertia, not place to strike, then assault the golf ball. If golf clubs were redesigned to hit the ball from stationary positions, most likely you would see XXX stiff shafts (no pun intended) because flex in the shaft would be unimportant. The rhythmic action of the swing used the shaft flex to build club head speed, store energy, and release it through the ball to the target! You also stated "gives the lower body a chance to take over". This is really another debate entirely, but some would argue the lower body should be in control from the start, and the hands and arms reacting to the momentum (think crane and wrecking ball). Another school of thought is arms and shoulders on the backswing, the pause often appears accentuated and this, according to proponents of lower body method, makes timing more difficult, then lower body on the downswing. And yet another school of thought is arms and shoulders all the time, and just let the lower body do its thing. The original article was aimed at helping people who constantly swing out-in avoid a common fault, which is starting from the top with the hands and throwing the club out (casting the club, etc). By feeling that you stay in motion, you can breed a swing that is rhythmic and applies the tempo to the right body parts at the right times. The swing doesn't have to feel like "take the club back, hit the ball, pose for the camera". There really is a much more consistent way to strike the ball with much more effortless power. Like anything with the swing though... hey, if it doesn't work for you, don't do it! Heck, the game is only supposed to be what... 95% mental, 5% physical?