Help! Shorten my back swing!

[Mugs050]

My golf season just started two weeks ago where I live. This year I have vowed to not worry about score and worry more about improvement. The two biggest issues in my game are my putting and the biggest issue is my long back swing. I have been resistant to change because I have been able to get to a single digit handicap with my swing but its mentally exhausting and I have plateaued as far as how much I can improve with it. Here is a link to my swing from a golf tech swing evaluation session (this is actually the after with improvements).

https://thesandtrap.com/forums/topic/83582-my-swing-mugs050/#comment-754897

The main problem is consistency. Yesterday I played, hit 8 out of 14 fairways long and straight but due to violent hooks took 10 penalty strokes on the rest of the tees. This mostly happens off the tee but I can get them on approaches as well. Its like because of the timing with my exceptionally long swing I am playing duck(good shot) duck(good shot) Goose(huge penalizing miss). I need to make my misses less severe and I think the best way to do that is to shorten my swing.

My questions to the community is the following:

Help me develop a practice plan to shorten my swing by the end of my golf season beginning of October. How many times should I practice? What should I practice? Any training aids? Any drills? What kind of data should I track when I play?

 

Thanks All.

Sincerely,

Tired of being compared to John Daly.

 

[Jeremie Boop]

I have, and still do, struggle with an overly long backswing. The best thing I've done to tone it down is to use video to learn what the feel is for a backswing that stops at or just before parallel. I'll record myself taking the club back and stopping it where I think it's stopping short of crossing parallel then check to see where it actually ended up. Typically, for me, if I feel like I'm stopping my backswing with my arms 90* to the ground the club shaft is actually right at the top/parallel with the ground. This is obviously different for everyone, but that's what I've done. It's working pretty well, most of the time. Some people do the same thing with a full length mirror, but I like to do it with video because I can transition straight into a full swing to make sure I can carry over the shortened backswing into a full swing motion.

[chspeed]

14 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

I'll record myself taking the club back and stopping it where I think it's stopping short of crossing parallel then check to see where it actually ended up. Typically, for me, if I feel like I'm stopping my backswing with my arms 90* to the ground the club shaft is actually right at the top/parallel with the ground.

I record too. I'll also practice in the mirror. For me, I try to feel the swing stop when my right arm folds 90 degrees. Feeling like you keep the right arm straight also helps sometimes.

The biggest challenge for me is taking the short backswing to the course. When on the course, my body sort of panics that the club will get back down too fast and seems to jump out of the way too early, leading to all sorts of problems. Even when I do it successfully on the course, the swing gets longer as the round progresses. Swing length is a very hard thing to change IMO.

Edited April 20, 2016 by chspeed

[rehmwa]

26 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

I have, and still do, struggle with an overly long backswing. The best thing I've done to tone it down is to use video to learn what the feel is for a backswing that stops at or just before parallel. I'll record myself taking the club back and stopping it where I think it's stopping short of crossing parallel then check to see where it actually ended up. Typically, for me, if I feel like I'm stopping my backswing with my arms 90* to the ground the club shaft is actually right at the top/parallel with the ground. This is obviously different for everyone

I worked all winter on shortening my backswing.  The payoff is great.

Jeremie's notes above are exactly what I did.  Use video to see how what you 'feel' relates to 'reality.  Then practice.....repetition is king.

If I 'feel' my club is vertical, I'm almost to parallel - my feel is not anywhere near reality.  (I also 'show' a little more swing as my wrists cock a bit)

[Tim Arnold]

Your driver shaft sounds either too flexible at tip, shaft too long, or maybe too heavy a swing weight? You should always get fitted by a pro for: length, lie, loft, shaft weight, shaft bend point, and club swing weight (which most don't do).  You should always be able to feel the club head on the down swing with any club.  Look up you driver specs: grip weight (low good), shaft bend point (high good), club swing weight (D2-5 good) , & shaft length (44-45 more accurate).  You can go to the range to figure out club swing weight. Add lead tape near the grip = lowers SW, or add it to the head properly for increasing SW.  You have to be more fit to swing higher swing weights, they will tire you out more over 18. Good Luck.

[DaveP043]

Just now, Tim Arnold said:

Your driver shaft sounds either too flexible at tip, shaft too long, or maybe too heavy a swing weight? You should always get fitted by a pro for: length, lie, loft, shaft weight, shaft bend point, and club swing weight (which most don't do).  You should always be able to feel the club head on the down swing with any club.  Look up you driver specs: grip weight (low good), shaft bend point (high good), club swing weight (D2-5 good) , & shaft length (44-45 more accurate).  You can go to the range to figure out club swing weight. Add lead tape near the grip = lowers SW, or add it to the head properly for increasing SW.  You have to be more fit to swing higher swing weights, they will tire you out more over 18. Good Luck.

Its not always the arrow, sometimes its the archer.  Sure, its easier to buy equipment to try to fix things, but the easy choice isn't always the right choice.  In this case, based on the video, and based even more on the advice he got from @mvmac, I think @Mugs050 is quite correctly trying to fix the "archer" first.

[Tim Arnold]

12 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

Its not always the arrow, sometimes its the archer.  Sure, its easier to buy equipment to try to fix things, but the easy choice isn't always the right choice.  In this case, based on the video, and based even more on the advice he got from @mvmac, I think @Mugs050 is quite correctly trying to fix the "archer" first.

You can't fix the swing, if your not swinging the properly fitted club in the 1st place; your just creating more bad habits to fix later.  Most people don't realize off the shelf clubs from the MFG, might not fit them to hit it straight down the middle. That's why you can hit some clubs better than others at the range by checking the ball flight.

[Tim Arnold]

I shortened and slowed my drivers backswing by changing the shaft to a heavier one at 45" and re-adding the swing weight back to the club by changing to a lighter grip and adding lead tape to the bottom.  Now using 80% power and a shorter back swing,  I am hitting it more square in the center, resulting in straighter and 20-30 yards longer than before.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Tim Arnold

[colin007]

feel like your right arm is staying straight throughout the swing. when you feel it start to bend, start your downswing.

[Ernest Jones]

4 minutes ago, colin007 said:

feel like your right arm is staying straight throughout the swing. when you feel it start to bend, start your downswing.

This is what I do too. Works perfectly for me, as long as remember to do it! But I know lot's of people for whom this does not work. I recommended it to @14ledo81 when he was struggling with keeping his backswing from running away and it did nothing for him. As with all golf feels, YMMV.

 

[Lihu]

Do a lot of half swings.

Start with the club parallel to the ground at A6 then turn your hips and let the hands drop naturally through impact. Eventually, you'll feel a lot more power just from the hip and shoulder turn rather than the arms. @chspeed is right that as the round progresses your swing reverts back to the long back swing, and to mitigate this I do a bunch of half swings in between holes or instead of my usual "practice" swings.

[Dave2512]

I do the address the ball cock the wrists up to where the shaft is parallel (or close) to the ground and turn until my left shoulder is pointing at the ball drill. Not sure what it's called but damn near every instructor I've ever seen has had me do a variation of it and that's where my BS should complete. 

I do it in front of the mirror, actually I do it when I can see myself in the office window. Anyway if I stop when the shoulder turns down and points at the ball my left arm is straight and it's way short of parallel. If I feel my left arm start to break down I know I am getting into arm swing territory. I like to feel my left bicep snug to the pec as well.

[rehmwa]

I see a lot of guys at the range swing to the top and stop, and then look up at their hands:

I've messed with this.  I find it gives me a lot of good info:

1 - It tells me if I'm wearing a glove

2 - it tells me if I'm still holding the club

3 - I can check the weather

4 - I can see what color my grips are

I guess one could do it a few times and check their club's angle to the ground, but I suspect that with an uninterrupted swing, one would likely go past what they observe in the drill.....Still, do that three or four times as practice swings to get the reps in muscle, then step up (don't hesitate) and hit the ball if those reps are correct (reward yourself for the good practices.)  Repeat, a lot.

Ok, the last two sentences were serious.  (But I still think it's funny to see people stop and look up at their hands).

[Mugs050]

I like the stop when the right arm breaks idea. I find I need a trigger for my swing so this seems beneficial. I also like the half swing idea. I remember a drill my dad told me about I forgot who he told me used it I think Sam Snead but it was hitting your driver 150 yards, then 200 yards, then 225, then 250 then 275 etc until you ramped up to full speed. Some food for thought.

I'm actually excited to start this process. I am worried about my timing but again this year I don't care if I creep up to an 18 handicapper as long as I fix my major flaws. Time to go two steps back and three steps forward. I asked my main golf buddy to let me know every time my swing is to long either on the practice range or on the golf course.

[Jeremie Boop]

1 minute ago, Mugs050 said:

I like the stop when the right arm breaks idea. I find I need a trigger for my swing so this seems beneficial. I also like the half swing idea. I remember a drill my dad told me about I forgot who he told me used it I think Sam Snead but it was hitting your driver 150 yards, then 200 yards, then 225, then 250 then 275 etc until you ramped up to full speed. Some food for thought.

I'm actually excited to start this process. I am worried about my timing but again this year I don't care if I creep up to an 18 handicapper as long as I fix my major flaws. Time to go two steps back and three steps forward. I asked my main golf buddy to let me know every time my swing is to long either on the practice range or on the golf course.

That's a great attitude to have, being willing to get worse to get better. I have a lot of trouble doing that, if I start playing worse I get discouraged and try to fix my score instead of my swing.

[rehmwa]

1 minute ago, Mugs050 said:

I like the stop when the right arm breaks idea. I find I need a trigger for my swing so this seems beneficial. I also like the half swing idea.

Whatever 'feel' works for you is the one that's good.  Good luck.

But validate your improvements with video - there is no better feedback than reality.

[Emtee]

I shortened my backswing by making a more "steep" backswing. I did this by bending my right elbow earlier in the backswing (as soon as my hands get near my right leg I begin to soften up my right arm). Before that I was really flat which I believe caused the long backswing. Overall I would really just focus on having a more technically sound backswing because these problems kind of take care of themselves when you do. There's no point in shortening a bad backswing, it would make more sense just to focus on the underlying problems that are causing your backswing to be too long.

Edit: After watching your swing video I think you can benefit from a steeper backswing, and I think part of what is allowing you to go that far is the fact that your right arm is virtually straight pretty late in your backswing. Once I steepened my backswing it got a lot shorter naturally and I was able to really slot the club more on the downswing because now I go steep to shallow rather than shallow to steep if that makes sense. Check this video out: look where his right elbow is at 1:22, I don't think it would be physically possible to have a really long backswing from that position.

 

Edited April 20, 2016 by Emtee

[Lihu]

Not sure that he has a "fundamental flaw" that can't be only slightly modified.

His swing looks really good all the way up to here:

He could just do what @mvmac suggested flaring out the feet and maybe flatten the wrist***, but it looks pretty solid to me.

 

***Looking at other people's swings is easy, fixing your own swing is a painful and lifelong endeavor.