How Does Your Backswing Feel?

[damnitdave]

lol nice one erik... i hear that all the time at the range... and when i watch them... they just roll #3 so hard the club head is behind them...

[iacas]

there may be another element in this equation, but its harder to create room if you come back too far inside.

I think you've missed my point - your hands can NOT come back "too far inside." Your body would literally get in the way. "Depth" is created via pressure point 4 (PP4) - squeezing your left arm (high, towards the armpit) against your chest. You can't go "too far in" because your body gets in the way. That's why the list I posted earlier will never have a name on it.

Your hands don't stay "in front of your chest." They may feel as if they do but they don't - they get to roughly the side of your chest at the top of the backswing. If you're somehow pulling your arms back without rotating your shoulders early on in your swing, that's bad, yes, but a slightly different topic and it wouldn't qualify as getting the hands "too far inside."

lol nice one erik... i hear that all the time at the range... and when i watch them... they just roll #3 so hard the club head is behind them...

Yeah, that's what people typically do - they roll #3 and the clubhead's way too far inside, but their hands aren't.

[CarlSpackler]

I try not to think about my swing on the course. I will dance with the beast that I brought that day. On the range or doing slow motion drills at home, I focus on a slow and controlled back swing with little to no activity in the forearms manipulating the club. Left shoulder is rotating underneath my chin and my right hip is rotating around (back and towards the target), not sliding away from the target. My right elbow comes away from my torso a bit, but not too much. The back swing is finished when the club slowly comes to rest as my weight is coiled to the inside of my left foot. At this point, I am ready to fire my left hip starting a smooth chain reaction that will deliver a 460cc titanium club head into a little white ball resting innocently on a wooden peg.

[saevel25]

Thats pretty much my issue, i roll my hands over in the backswing, so my hands are not to far inside, i cause the club and clubhead to get off plane, flat and deep.

[RC]

The bad idea of rolling the hands to the right and flipping the club inside has been such a hard thing to explain and for people to understand. Another statement frequently made by Erik is to get the hands deep on the take-away... and so many get confused about this simple idea. So I want to describe a drill that almost anyone would get. It is not a perfect explanation, but you should get the idea.

I wear baggy Nike shorts so my pockets are large and I can sort of twist them so this little drill works for me and I've used it to explain the inside hands -- outside club idea. Take you grip, and extend your right pinky finger so you can hook it into your right pants pocket. I know, it is not perfect but pull the pants around so you can line up as if the ball is in the middle of your stance and you are hitting a wedge. Now, simply start your turn away from the ball and do not change anything about your hands. Notice something: your hands cannot go out, they work inside. A few feet back from the ball notice the club has turned so the shaft is pointing left of the target line when your hands, with your right pinky still in your pocket, are about to the middle (bisecting) of your body in the direction of the target line. It is simple to see that if you then unhook your pinky and bend your right arm to 90 degrees while keeping the left one straight and continuing your turn that you will wind up with the club in front of your right shoulder (what people mean when they say keep the club in front of your chest -- they do not mean centered) and the club at no time got inside ahead of your hands. Your hands worked inside, the club started back turning with the body and coming inside the target line, but not flipped over leading the hands. Those first couple of feet are done with your hands not changing angle to your body.

I know this is not perfect, but maybe it will make sense if you try it and see -- the hands work inside, the club stays in the same relative position to the hands, and then the right elbow bends and up the club comes. The right pinky finger in the pocket drill does not work with tight pants (blue jeans, etc.,) but with baggy shorts it does a pretty good job of showing how the start of the backswing, the hands and the club all work on plane. For those that don't quite get it, maybe this will start you on your way to a better take-away. It is not a perfect drill, but the concept is not bad -- you stay connected and move the club away without the push out and flip in.