I have just started playing and have a really slow backswing mainly due to ensuring the club head is in the correct position at top. Is this a problem or should I try and speed it up. Lots of faults in game at present so not sure if this could be contributing, have tried speeding up with terrible results.

The late, great Harvey Penick said that he had never met a man whose back swing was too slow.

Remember that the back swing is a positional manoeuvre only and it is the down swing that actually delivers the club head into the ball.

Work on starting your down swing slowly, with a view to really cranking up your maximum speed from hip high, right side, to hip high on the left.

Make that club swoosh as it passes through the ball and not before.

My amateurish impression is that you can certainly be too quick or too slow – there’s a whole chain of body movements (hips, shoulders, arms, etc) that need to be coordinated on the backswing and downswing.

The pause (change of direction) of the club at the top needs to be coordinated with a little bump of the hips towards the target, which helps clear room for the club to swing back inside and help you finish with the weight on your front foot. If everything moves too slowly going back and comes to a grinding halt before the downswing, my impression is that it can be hard to start the downswing smoothly and in sync.

When I’m swinging well, I need a bit of rhythm to swing smoothly – being too slow and static on the backswing tends to lead to me jerking the club back at the ball on the downswing – with “over the top” moves, reverse pivots and power leakage.

jack nickalus says’ the rate the club is taken back should feel the same as the rate the club comes thru’.’ of course it isn’t but that’s the feeling. rythym & tempo.

master muntz has a good point too

i tried a very slow backswing and it feels weird and out of sync !

Doesn’t matter as long as you load the downswing correctly. That means you keep an even pressure through the overtaking process.

How many golfers load their swing correctly on the downswing? How many golfers keep an even pressure through the overtaking process? I have my calculator on hand.

You should have your calculator in your hand, pressure points to be exact.

if you train slowly, the muscles will be slow anyway, so i doubt much will change with regard to clubhead speed. if it’s too slow, there’s no velocity or force in the stretch of the muscles when the direction of the club changes either. a slow backswing will probably allow you more time to manipulate the club also, instead of allowing it to move on its natural arc or angle.

it’s probably a mindset with regard to how you view a shot. with a driver for instance, are you trying to pound it out there or control it? a slow backswing would seem to thwart the attempt at getting out there far, but would probably make you sense you have more control over the shot, which is probably not true, but at least it’s a comfortable sense.

The common sense idea of having a slower backswing is helpful to those who lose their balance, and spine angles within a messy backswing action. Those that use a slow back and quick down have to be aware that the transition can become jerky using that method. Jerk and you are not creating an overall rhythmic motion.

How many golfers load their swing correctly on the downswing? How many golfers keep an even pressure through the overtaking process? I have my calculator on hand.

Dida,

There is no reason but ignorance that we can’t get that % from 1 to 10.

It is the simplest and most useful thing to learn although it can be a little illusive at times.

It deserves constant attention but in most cases gets none.

Work on starting your down swing slowly, with a view to really cranking up your maximum speed from hip high, right side, to hip high on the left.

Burner-

While I usually agree with your posts, doesn’t this quote violate the “endless belt”? I was always taught that the endless belt requires you to maintain constant hand speed from downswing to finish.

Maybe he is considering his belt starts at the transition as a non jerky motion to keep the belt attached to the pulley?

Work on starting your down swing slowly, with a view to really cranking up your maximum speed from hip high, right side, to hip high on the left.

Burner-

While I usually agree with your posts, doesn’t this quote violate the “endless belt”? I was always taught that the endless belt requires you to maintain constant hand speed from downswing to finish.

Guru said:-

Maybe he is considering his belt starts at the transition as a non jerky motion to keep the belt attached to the pulley?

That is, largely, what I had in mind fuelled by thoughts of down swing black out, club head throwaway, casting and the like, which are all bi-products of a heave from the top with a view to hitting maximum speed within the first six inches of the start of the down swing.

A slow back swing and smooth transition sets everything up nicely to my mind and does not violate the endless belt principle.

The cranking up of the speed between parallel back and parallel forward, to which I referred, is achieved by the lever assembly being brought into its in line condition rather than any acceleration of the belt of the pulley. Uncocking and rolling of the wrists does the trick and the later the better.

Back to the start down; Homer says something like “all quick and jerky motions lead to improper execution” and I, for one, have no desire to argue with him.

Courtesy of Lynn Blake Forum

Spike,

What a super idea this is. I wish Jeffman could see that.

I works like magic.

I have recently slowed down my back swing too after my pro suggested I should….I would say it is more of creating a good tempo so that when I am ready to initiate my downswing, I can accelerate through…..it has worked so far.

Of course my back swing is not ‘dead slow’....just ‘controlled’.......I realise most gals in the LPGA have a controlled back swing too. I saw it for myself when I was a volunteer at the HSBC Women’s Champion in Singapore