The Backswing

Take a look at these pictures of current PGA Tour players:

Almost all of them have the golf club set in a different position at the top of their backswing; Tiger has his set in four different positions. With the players above there are 109 PGA Tour wins and 18 major wins, Tiger accounts for 71 and 14. With that being said, it amazes me how much emphasis teachers and players put on the takeaway and the backswing. If taking the club back on a certain path and setting it in a certain position at the top is so important, then how do we explain the pictures above of all those PGA Tour winners?. The answer…We don’t hit the ball on our backswing! Yet if we saw the players above at the moment of impact, they would look very similar.

How the club is taken away and the position it is in at the top of the swing is a matter of style. The function of the takeaway and backswing is to set and load the club so the player can deliver that loaded club into the golf ball. When players learn the feel of impact and a correct downswing path, the takeaway and backswing will more times than not take care of itself. The players will learn to find a takeaway and backswing that fits that feel.

There is a mountain of information out there about the takeaway and backswing, but all of that information forgets to mention the most important part of it all…impact and the path through impact. All great players have their own swing style, but their intentions are the same where it counts, the impact zone.

The #1 dynamic in golf…The Flat Left Wrist at impact. You can have the so called “perfect takeaway”, “perfect backswing” and “perfect position at the top”, but if a player can not arrive at impact with a flat left wrist, they are just wasting their time. When the impact is learned, the backswing is earned.

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