Perform Better Golf Blog

The No Backswing Golf Swing. What the heck? I thought the Stack and Tilt Golf Swing was the new, whiz bang golf method taking the golf community by storm. Is golf now getting like dieting? There’s a “new way” every week.

This no backswing approach is one that’s been used as a golf drill by golf instruction professionals for years, so it’s kind of comical this is the new craze in golf swing improvement.

It has a lot of merits to consider. The short backswing makes your transition and sequence of motion in the downswing much easier. It enhances solid ball contact which maximizes distance; so what you think you might lose from backswing coil, you gain in ball/clubface contact.

Unfortunately the negative is the golf swing requires a take-away. This no backswing golf swing removes that, so you might have a difficult time carrying over from the drill to can actual swing from address.

This may or may not be an issue, but I think doing the No Backswing Golf Swing is worth a shot. Who knows…you may dramatically improve your golf swing consistency and mechanics.

To achieve maximum power in your golf game, you must be able to fully hinge, unhinge and rehinge your wrists. A lot of clubhead speed comes from this wrist action, especially through impact. Hingeing (or wrist cock) your wrists, creates lag. Lag enhances power. Power means LONGER drives!

When I think of lag from the wrists, I think of Sergio Garcia. He has the most impressive, nearly impossible wrist lag (delayed wrist cock) on tour. It’s absolutely amazing to see him with his hands near impact, and his wrists still fully cocked.

One of the LONGEST hitters on the PGA Tour is JB Holmes. He is another perfect example of gaining maximum power through your wrists.

Hinging and unhinging (rehingeing) the wrists is ONE motion. This is where golfers get it wrong!

I took a quick picture(s) to show you the very SIMPLE motion of the proper wrist hinge.

I’m hinging, the second picture is unhingeing, and the third is rehingeing. That’s it!

Another common term for wrist hinge is wrist cock. Look how my wrist is bending only ONE way! This is SO important. It doesn’t break side-to-side, only up and down. Combine the turning of the shoulders, dropping of the arms, and this hinge, unhing and rehinge of the wrists at the right time, and you’ve got a TON of POWER!

The game of golf, and the golf swing are evolving. The modern golf swing has become the ideal for most amateur golfers. With tour players like, Adam Scott, Aaron Baddeley, and now the emerging star Anthony Kim, you’ve got a level of golf that is nearly untouchable for 85% of the tour players. Even Tiger Woods has a run for his money.

Can any golfer emulate the modern swing? I’m not sure it’s possible, unless the golfer improves both golf specific flexibility and strength with golf swing exercises that allow them to make full shoulder turns with no tension.

For the senior golfer, the modern golf swing may not be attainable. The key to good golf as you get older is “swinging within yourself”. You’ve got two choices as the years go on. Accept your physical decline and make compensations in your swing, or buck the curve and start fixing the machine and watch your game go to a new level.

Anthony Kim had a phenomenal year in 2008 and I look for him to do even better in ‘09.

Look at Anthony’s impact position! Most amateur golfers could not get their bodies to do that. Have their hips this open at impact. The core strength and flexibility to do this, is way above average, and can ONLY happen with golf-specific training.

Talking about these young golfers does not mean that there is no hope as you get older. It just means you need to adjust your golf improvement approach to enjoy your golf for years to come. The best way is to create a program that slows the aging process, and helps you maintain (or improve) a level of golf specific fitness that enables you to make more of a modern golf swing.

Golfers want to know the “magic bullet” for a better golf swing. What if I told you the most important thing in golf swing theory was some simple tip that any golfer could apply and see results? I hate to tease you like that, but I can’t do that!

Nobody can! Doesn’t matter if you pay $30 for a lesson, or $500. You have physical issues that are different than the golfer standing next to you. What will work for him may not work for you.

The root cause of your swing faults can be linked to a physical limitation or just bad swing mechanics, due to a lack of understanding of the proper golf swing sequence. Learning the golf swing fundamentals is the first step in understanding the correct golf swing.

Grip, stance, ball position and posture could easily be considered the most important thing in your golf swing, as if they are wrong, you will have no chance at creating a repeatable and sound golf swing.

Once you get the fundamentals down, you should break your golf swing into parts, and completely learn these movements before you move onto the next part (phase).

One-Piece Takeaway

The initial move in your golf swing is your golf swing takeaway. Take the club back in one piece with the hands, arms, shoulders and club handle move together the first 2-3 feet. This will promote a repeatable golf swing with no additional moving parts, like a wrist break or lift of the clubhead too early.

9:00 O’clock Position

When your club gets parallel to the ground on your backswing, it must be also parallel to your target line, and the toe nearly facing towards the sky, but not quite. With the checkpoint, you are on plane and on your way to a solid golf swing.

Top Of Backswing

There are many different ways golfers get to the top, and based on your current physical restrictions, you’ll either get in the ideal position or something hopefully close to it. This position is a 90 degree shoulder turn, with a 45 degree hip turn; the club is again parallel to your target line; your right elbow is pointing down, not out; right knee has same flex in it as it did at address.

Golf Swing Transition

This could be considered a very important key to a good golf swing that you can repeat for 18 holes. Your golf swing transition should start from the ground up. Your weight moves from your back leg to the front. This is not a lateral slide, but there is a definite shift towards the target. The upper body is held back at this point for a split second.

9:00 O’clock Position

We’re back to the 9:00 O’clock position like in the backswing. And we should be in almost the identical spot. Club parallel to your target line; toe of the club facing nearly skyward; right knee kicking inward toward the golf ball; your weight is now 50/50 at this point.

Golf Impact Position

Some of the top pro’s when asked what the most important thing in the golf swing is will say IMPACT. That answer makes a lot of sense, because this is the ONLY time your club contacts the ball, and the result is what your golf ball will do.

Your golf impact position should be as similar to the pro’s as possible. Shoulders back to square (or slightly open); hips rotated open quite a bit; hands ahead of the ball (unless it’s your golf driver); descending blow into back of ball; weight is 80% on your left leg; clubface is square.

Golf Swing Follow-Through

Just past your impact is the 3:00 o’clock position in your follow through. In this position, it should mirror your 9:00 o’clock one. Your club shaft is parallel to your target line; the toe of the club is up; your hands have turned over because you’ve released your club through impact; your hips, chest and shoulders are now facing the target; and your weight is now 90% on your left side now.

Balanced Finish

If you’ve done everything right, you’ll be balanced and completely on your left leg. Everything is facing the target. Your arms are relaxed with your golf club resting over your left shoulder. You’ve just hit a great golf shot!

So given all of this, you make the decision as to what the most important thing in your golf swing is.

I just got done watching The Golf Channel’s Playing Lessons With The Pro’s. They had JB Holmes on it, so since I’m a big believer in the advantages of power in your golf swing, I watched it (Tivo of course).

Look at his address position above. A really strong grip with his left hand turned over the top of the club quite a bit. Also, notice his ball position. Off his left foot instead of the heel. This could be the camera angle, but I’ll bet it’s pretty accurate.

What I see immediately in his swing (this is with a golf driver) is the minimal wrist cock at the top of his golf swing. So many teaching pro’s advocate a full wrist cock for maximum power, but he’s proving them wrong isn’t he.

But…what he does do is a FULL shoulder turn with a restricted hip turn creating maximum torque in his core area. This is the engine to his golf swing, and creates a tremendous amount of golf swing speed.

Notice on the way down, JB has a tremendous rotation of his lower body. His teaching pro on the show mentioned this is his power in his golf swing. The aggressive move of his lower body starting his downswing. He mentioned on the show, he feels like he pull’s down from the top. No wrist release (casting) of the club.

Please take note, it is not a slide of his lower body, but a rotation. He quickly follows his hips with his core, chest and shoulders aggressively turning through impact.

One thing he mentioned that I thought was interesting, was his “hands getting ahead of the ball” even with a driver. I had never heard of that before. He says it gives him that whipping effect very late in the swing maximizing his clubhead speed through the ball and not before it. He also, said it delofts his clubs making the ball fly lower and run after ground contact.

I find it interesting to see all the different golf swings on tour and how any of us can find a tour player to emulate with our particular body structure.

If you are not a full wrist cock kind of golfer, JB Holmes might be a swing you’ll want to try.

The full golf swing is something that should be a major focus for any golfer at any level. If you can’t make a repetitive swing that holds up for 18 holes, you’re in for a long round that ends up in frustration and unhappiness.

My personal golf instructor has agreed to provide some valuable golf swing tips right from his Golf Swing System that I’ve personally used to add 15 yards on my drives, and lower my score by 5 strokes, and I was a single digit already.

There are so many components to a good swing, that many golfers get overwhelmed and frustrated, never to improve. This golf swing system I’m talking about is simple, effective, easy-to-implement, and better yet…I’ve used it personally with awesome results.

I spent the past 10 years looking for a golf professional who could help me with my game. Thousands of dollars later, I finally found MY PRO! Not only has Bobby helped my golf swing immensely, he REALLY cares about me. I have NEVER met a golf instructor with SO much passion and care.

The moment of truth in golf - impact position! It really doesn’t matter what you do unless you get back to impact with a square clubface. I was watching the Natalie Gulbis show on The Golf Channel, and some guy asked her what the most important thing in the golf swing was, and that is exactly what she said. “Square impact!”

If you look at Tiger Woods impact below, you’ll see that his hands are ahead of the clubhead and he is compressing the golf ball. I got this off YouTube so it’s not a really good picture, but you can see what I’m talking about.

Impact position is different with your driver as you need to sweep the club into the ball, not hit down on it with your hands ahead like with this iron shot above. But with most, if not all your irons, and even hybrid clubs, you should have your hands ahead at impact.

Head

Your head should not slide laterally towards the target during the downswing. Tiger’s head actually is further back at impact than when it was at address. This takes a tremendous amount of core strength  and flexibility, and most golfers (especially senior golfers) don’t work on their core, and could not achieve this position with the head.

Shoulders

Here’s a secret golf tip Ernie El’s gives about the shoulders in the golf swing. At the start of your downswing, get the left shoulder moving away from your chin as soon as possible. Look at how far Tigers chin is from his left shoulder at impact. A flaw I currently have is not clearing my hips, and getting “jammed up” at impact, and you’ll see my chin is still quite close to my left shoulder. I am working on getting those shoulders to clear through at impact.

Hips

Your hips are definitely starting to clear at impact. The are aggressively rotating to the left to get out of the way for the club to freely swing at optimum speed through impact and beyone. I have a swing fault where my hips don’t clear as much as they should, and I fight and grind through impact. I am working on golf swing drills as we speak to correct this.

Knees

You can see how Tigers right knee has really “kicked in” towards the golf ball, and his left knee is starting to straighten (but not lock). You know you’ve rotated your hips if that right knee is more kicked in that when it was at address. Your knees will show you a lot if you ever get on video.

Feet

The feet believe-it-or-not play a key role at impact. The weight in the feet has changed from address to impact, and the right foot is really starting to “kick in” resulting in the right knee kicking in as mention above. The downswing should start from the ground up, and the first move is with the right foot pushing off. Now don’t think this is a lateral push, but more of a rotational one. The left foot has more weight on it at impact.

I truly believe impact is EVERYTHING in golf, and if you don’t get it right, you’ll be one heck-of-a frustrated golfer for a long time.

If you’re looking for a more powerful golf swing you must use your hips. Look at how much Tiger Woods uses his hips in the downswing? In fact, most of the touring professionals utilize their hips to create more power, especially with their driver. On tour, hitting it at least 275-280 is a must, as most of the golf courses play well over 7100 yards, making even a standard par 4 over 440 yards.

In my golf swing, I connect my upper body and hips together (one plane golf swing) to generate a HIGH amount of clubhead speed. For many senior golfers having the strength and flexibility to generate hip rotation separate from the upper body is almost a physical impossibility. You have got to have a level of hip flexibility that will allow you to powerfully rotate them first at the initial part of the downswing.

Many golfers can’t get the sequence right coming down. Usually they fire the upper body first, getting the golf club off-plane, creating a steep, out-to-in swing resulting in a big slice. Being able to initiate the downswing with the lower body first is critical to longer golf drives.

Look at the picture to your left. You can see the golfer has definitely fired his hips first, while keeping his upper body back to apply a powerful blow behind the golf ball.
If you’re like me, I have struggled for years trying to get my hips to clear, but not from lack of strength or flexibility, but from the wrong move coming down. Once I figure it out, and now swing around my body, my hips clear easily allowing me to really fire my right side through impact.

So if you want more power and distance, you need to use your hips in your downswing. If you can’t physically do it, you might want to look at my Effortless Golf Training System to improve your golf swing biomechanics through muscle and joint mobility training with EASY golf swing exercises and stretches right in the comfort of your own home.

After all these years of struggling to take my game to the next level (low single digit) I had a HUGE revelation yesterday, so of course I ran to the range to try it. Wow! This could truly change my game forever. Let me explain, and maybe it can help you with your golf swing.

I have been a student of the golf swing for over 15 years now, and have studied every inch of the swing. I own every instruction book ever written, and I have golf swing sequences of all the greats in the game.

I am a VERY analytical person, so I tend to “over-analyze” everything, which for golf is not typically a good thing.

Well…one flaw I had in my studies of the swing was to try to mimic the downswing from the front angle. So looking straight into the mirror. I found out yesterday that it has been misleading me for ALL these years! You see…the golf swing is NOT just a down movement, but more importantly an “around” movement. The golf swing is a BIG continuous circle around your body.

The HUGE mistake I was making was focusing on “coming down” and not around! This was an epiphany for me. This down motion all these years was not allowing me to clear my hips and swing to the left after impact. I would come down steep on the ball, my left shoulder (and hips) would get jammed up, making me come up at impact, then I would just muscle it through to “hit” the ball not swing through.

And another very exciting thing is I hit the ball a LONG way with that BIG technique flaw. Once I’m able to FREELY swing around my body, I can confidently predict my drives will be over 330 yards, as I now drive it 300 quite a bit of the time.

You can bet one thing for sure!

I’ll be banging balls for the next few days ingraining this AROUND feeling. In fact, yesterday after I had this epiphany, I went out and hit 100 balls with my wedge and it was AMAZING! It was working. It was such a different feeling for me after all these years swinging the OTHER way.

I am SO EXCITED about this and I hope you can take something away from this as well.

The journey continues!

Your golf swing transition is one of the MOST important aspects of your golf swing. Many golfers (including me sometimes) get this wrong. The sequence of motion that occurs from the top of your backswing going into the downswing is critical to maximizing optimal golf swing power and distance.

As seen in the picture above with Ben Hogan, you can see a big emphasis on the lower body from the top. I don’t really like the angle of his shoulders in the second picture, or his right elbow so “stuck” to his right side, but I think you get the idea.
Many golf swing faults like over the top (slice), casting and a “hit” mentality are a result of an improper transition from the top of your golf swing.

One very important move is the transfer of weight from the right side at the top to approximately center very quickly. This is nearly a 50/50 balance of weight at this point. As you can see with hogan, there is not a big lateral slide of the hips from the top, but a little bump and then an aggressive rotation of the left hip to get out of the way so the right side can fire as hard as it wants coming into impact.

This golf swing transition move is one I work on daily in front of a mirror, and still have a hard time doing it correctly on the course.