Do I have to be parallel at the top?

[TourSpoon]

I was reading in Snead's book that if he wanted to hit it farther he would slow his backswing down which would allow him to get a better turn and to be in a good position. Commenting on guys that did the opposite and jerked the club back he said, "You don't hit it with your backswing".

[neudi]

If I am going to hit the ball farther I will usually move my right foot back a little more which puts my head behind the ball a little bit more than usual and this helps me get through the ball with a faster swing.

[Pimpslap]

I don't even come close to parallel and never have. I must not be flexible enough to do so because I've tried and it hurts my body. And I'm only 23 for crying out loud!

Excellent point. I was going to recommend to Maverick he go to Youtube and search "swing vision Zach Johnson". If Maverick does read this, please stop trying to attain a 'pretty' swing. If Zach Johnson doesn't have a pretty swing then Tiger would have a 5th green jacket. There are some swings on the champions tour that are not what you would refer to as pretty, but i'm sure they would give you and me both a sound whoopin. My only suggestion for swing improvement would be to worry less about positions and more about sequence (the order you move your body throughout the swing). good luck, play well.

[bret_gessner]

No you do not have to be parallel at the top. In fact, I would suggest shortening your golfswing to 3/4 backswing. When I played on the college circuit, I am not sure if I ever saw a swing hit parallel at the top. Except for this one bloke who enlisted the John Daly technique and sprayed the ball all over the place.

I am a firm believer, like Leadbetter, that power comes from lag, not the length of the backswing. Look at Tiger, Sergio, Michael Campbell - all short backwings. More control. If you want power, enlist some lag drills like hitting 3/4 knock down shots. You'll be surprised just how far they carry.