Swinging Past Parallel

Ok, I need some help. I admit I overswing. I keep noticing the clubhead out of my left peripheral vision. Probably going about 15-20 degrees past parallell. I think the left wrist is collapsing at the top of the swing. As a result, my long clubs are very inconsistent (read - horrible off the tee) and I frequently rush the downswing. I know what I need to do, but how do I train to make a shorter backswing? I even take 8 irons and occasionally wedges to parallel or past. I know I would do 1000 times better with a shorter swing, but for the life of me I can't get my brain to accept that short position as the "stop" position at the top of the swing. I always bounce past it. Slow backswing, fast backswing, doesn't matter. As you can imagine, this also throws off my balance, tempo, etc.

I thought it was just a grip issue as I noticed wear on the heel pad (a sign of losing my grip at the top). Even with fixing my grip and firming it up, I still loose the club at the top. This bouncing the club at the top has to stop. My driver is getting horrible and even the 3 wood is unreliable.

Suggestions, ideas? I have one of those hinged trainers in the mail, so i am hoping that will help with smoothing the top of my backswing. Going too far back though, wow this is frustrating. Practicing in front of a mirror over and over again is the only thing I can think of at the moment.

Bump. Anyone have any ideas?

I take my club pass parallel also, but when I want to shorten my backswing to parallal or shorter than parallal, I make sure that my right arm is straight and remains straight on the backswing this will limit the distance of your backswing, also, a slight tilt of your right or back shoulder will help you will a shorter backswing and might help you generate power.

I don't know if this would help or not, but it's something I do with my wedges. Think of your left arm as a hand on a clock. Take a few practice swings and watch your left arm and try to keep at like 9 o'clock and not much passed, just for simplicity. Take a few swings until you can consistently stay at that 9:00 range, then go up to like 10 and see if you can work your way back into a full swing, just not so full. If you do try this, hopefully you don't smack yourself in the back of the head with the clubhead.

I suffer from this on occasion with the driver when I'm trying to hit it to the moon. As we've all heard, golf is 90% mental, so I'll give you that part first. The most important part of your swing is rhythm, so focus on a slow, consistent backswing. Most of the time golfers break parallel because they take the club back way too fast. Take note of that when you make some practice swings.
The other 10%: Make sure your wrists don't break at the top. I've been told to focus on the position of your hands at the top of your backswing. At the top, you should be able to open your right hand (if you hit righty) and hold a tray like a waiter would. On the practice tee, work on taking the club back with good tempo, stop at the top and see where your hands are.

Try losing your grip eariler during backswing so that at the top of backswing, the club is like floating in the air. Over controlling the club by hands will give rise to overswing to help get that shot distance back. I also found the L-drill helps becasue when swinging my hands to the 9 o'clock position, the momentum of the club will rest it to top just before parallel.
Hope this help.

I am in the same boat and in the process to "re-train" my body to make a 3/4 swing.....now a 3/4 swing for me is almost parallel. That is my way of tricking my mind. My first round after some driving range work was this past weekend. I played well in the front 9 but the swing began to unravel. 3 triples in a row on 10, 11, and 12 hurt. LOL. But, it will come around and I am hoping that once I get my swing groove back....I can get down into the low 80s due to more consistency. That is the goal anyway.

With your handicap I proably shouldn't be questioning you but do I don't understand the concept of keeping the RIGHT arm straight on the backswing. Conventionally the right arm folds and the left arm stays straight for a righty. Either that or you have a very abbreviated swing. I am not sure how I could keep the club on plane without folding the right arm a bit. As for being past parallel, some people are just very flexible, going past parallel for some people is not big deal I think. Now if you are one of those who who drop the shaft over your back shoulder where it is nearly vertical, that is different. Seems like those people just let the left arm bend 90 degrees or so at the top and get in a slight reverse pivot.

I think he was talking about keeping your width in the takeaway. Fooled around with a few things yesterday. I am a two-plane swinger, using the left arm for control, and relying heavily on good rythym. I realized yesterday I was setting my wrists way too early without moving the club back enough in one piece to really get myself set in the backswing over my right foot. To put it in more popular terms, I was doing too much one plane body rotation action (swinging around, instead of back and up), for a two plane swing. Once I started taking a wide takeaway and feeling like I got loaded and turned behind the ball, the overswing almost dissappeared. The only other focus was to not allow the right arm to collapse at the top beyond 90 degrees (which consequently helped me have more control at the top and stop breaking the wrists too much). Once I started doing this, my swings were much more fluid, controlled, and balanced. I could finish in a nice pose without feeling like I was going to fall over or that I had torqued my back out.

Another thing that seems to be helping is a quote I saw from Padraig Harrington about his swing. He said in the backswing, he feels as though the left side stretches, not the right. His swing and mine share many similarities including the left heel raise, and I find it a good model. This is what I felt yesterday - a turn behind the ball, in balance, with the left side stretched.

I'll head to the range on Friday and report back.

I was just about to say that I've suffered from similar recently and how I fixed it....exactly as you describe. Satisfying eh?

Let's hope so, because the only thing saving my handicap right now is my short game. Anything beyond mid-iron has gone horrible. Seriously, watching me on a course, you would wonder how the hell I manage to shoot to 18. It's all in recovery shots and getting to the green to save bogeys. My mentality is once you missed the shot for GIR, just get on the green. Whatever you do, next shot must make the green so you can putt. Last round I shot 85, a new low, but I was HORRIBLE off the tee. Even on par 3s, HORRIBLE. I just managed to scramble like crazy and catch a few easy breaks (topped 4 iron on a par 3 rolled up the green to within 2 feet - almost felt like cheating).

Can't wait to start hitting more fairways and greens. Maybe then I won't feel like I'm constantly playing rescue golf. I know I can play much better than this. I go home and hit the range with my Dad and he watches and just shakes his head. "And... why are you not shooting below 80?" It's like my Michigan swing, and my Texas swing, are two different animals.