Shaft Position During Takeaway

[Foot Wedge]

I started revisiting my takeaway in some of the practice video I took and noticed something in the takeaway of my better shots.  It looks like at the point that the club shaft is parallel to the ground, it is also running parallel to my target line.  Is this something I should try to keep doing?  The strange part (to me) is that it only happened because I was focusing on feeling like my club was coming up more vertically, specifically less shallow.  I just happened to notice that in video, the club head was covering up my hands which I hadn't seen before.  I've attached an example picture, what I'm talking about is seen in Frame 1.

Edited August 10, 2017 by Foot Wedge
Removed duplicate picture

[saevel25]

1 minute ago, Foot Wedge said:

I started revisiting my takeaway in some of the practice video I took and noticed something in the takeaway of my better shots.  It looks like at the point that the club shaft is parallel to the ground, it is also running parallel to my target line.  Is this something I should try to keep doing? 

If it produces better shots, then sure.

2 minutes ago, Foot Wedge said:

The strange part (to me) is that it only happened because I was focusing on feeling like my club was coming up more vertically, specifically less shallow.

This is not surprising, especially if you had a tendency to roll the club head inside your hands at A2. For some it could feel like standing the club straight up in the air gets them closer to that position in the backswing.

 

[Ernest Jones]

You don't hit the ball with your backswing, so there are many ways to do it. However, your backswing does get you to the top (also known as A4), and being in a bad position at the top makes it very hard to play good golf. In other words, don't worry about your backswing unless you have a bad position at the top.

[billchao]

1 hour ago, Ernest Jones said:

In other words, don't worry about your backswing unless you have a bad position at the top.

There's a little more to it than that or there would be no reason we couldn't just pose A4 at setup and go right into the downswing.

The path the sweet spot takes and how you load combined with how the forces you exerted on the club continue to travel as you transition all affect your swing. There's a reason most people find it's easier to shallow the club by going steep to shallow rather than shallow back and keeping it on that plane.

[Foot Wedge]

1 hour ago, Ernest Jones said:

However, your backswing does get you to the top (also known as A4), and being in a bad position at the top makes it very hard to play good golf.

Yup, I can kind of tell if I'm in for a good or bad swing based on how I feel at the top.  I was just thinking that this club orientation during the takeaway may get me to the right position more consistently.

 

13 minutes ago, billchao said:

There's a reason most people find it's easier to shallow the club by going steep to shallow rather than shallow back and keeping it on that plane.

This may be the reason why the days that I'm grooving my swing better are when I feel like I'm taking the club back almost vertically, which I'm not if I see video, we all know about 'feel'...I was just wondering if this is the right thing to do so I can focus on repetition rather than hoping I feel right at the top.

[Ernest Jones]

27 minutes ago, billchao said:

There's a little more to it than that or there would be no reason we couldn't just pose A4 at setup and go right into the downswing.

The path the sweet spot takes and how you load combined with how the forces you exerted on the club continue to travel as you transition all affect your swing. There's a reason most people find it's easier to shallow the club by going steep to shallow rather than shallow back and keeping it on that plane.

Agree with all that. Point being, unless it's negatively affecting your swing, don't worry about what the backswing looks like. 

[nevets88]

Some pros have it at the classic, broadcaster announcing touted position, Koepka and Fowler point it outside, others point it inside, Jiminez - The Mechanic? On the full swing, if your pieces match up, then no worries, a trained eye will tell you that.

What you want to watch out for on video is when the position veers very much outside the norm. And on shorter swings, where it's pointing at first parallel (A2), I think that's when it might be something you might want to look into.

[Foot Wedge]

@nevets88 and everyone else, thanks for the insight.  It makes sense that some variation doesn't matter all that much as long as you get into a good position at the top.  I do a little of it all on the takeaway as can be seen in my swing thread progression.  I'll try to find out what feels best and gives me more consistency at the top and stick with that.