Lesson 3 --The Back Swing. --- (Changed - 06/07/2008)

Although a combination of the muscles of the left shoulder and the left upper arm push the passive arms to the end of the back swing movement, it is absolutely vital that you simultaneously force the shoulders to rotate around the central core of the spine in complete synchronisation with the movement of the arms, thus ensuring that the whole upper body unit rotates into the back swing movement as a solid compact one piece unit - but importantly, whilst keeping the left arm perfectly straight and without consciously allowing the forearms to rotate.

However you must make sure that the lower part of the body puts up a much resistance as possible to the rotational movement of the upper body unit during the back swing movement.

The hips must only rotate/pivot away from the frontal facing position as a direct result of the rotational movement of the upper body unit.

Upper Body set up

At the address position the elbows must be drawn as close together as it is physically possible which has the effect of pulling the uppermost part of the arms closer to the body, but importantly it bonds the shoulders and the arms together as a single unit and assists in keeping the arms in a totally passive condition and the chest muscles must be formed into a taut condition which pulls the upper arms closer to the body.

However the most important point to make is that once the upper body unit has been formed into this very compact unit, it must remain in this condition throughout the complete golf swing movement.

Once you have pulled the elbows in close together, you must then tilt the upper body to your right, using the waist as the pivotal point, but ensuring that the left shoulder is slightly higher than the right shoulder.

Check to see if the shoulders are parallel to the target line, with the head positioned so that it is slightly behind the ball and finally check to make sure that the uppermost part of the right arm is pulled against the upper body.
(Once you set the upper body in this position, it must be maintained until well after the ball has been struck.)

You cannot hold the upper body unit too firmly together as you perform the back swing movement. Therefore whilst holding the compact upper body unit this condition you may feel that the back swing is restricted, but I can assure you that the tighter you hold the upper body unit together and also totally resisting the urge to rotate the forearms, the better.

Therefore do not fall lifting the arms to the end of the back swing movement, simply use the rotational movement of the very compact upper body unit to push the passive arms to the end of the back swing movement, but importantly, whilst keeping the left arm perfectly straight and without consciously allowing the forearms to rotate.

Lower Body set up

It is vital that you form the muscles of the legs, the thighs and the buttocks into a firm condition so that the lower part of the body totally resists the movement of the upper body and and you must keep the heel of the left foot firmly on the ground.

The Back Swing.

Before I begin the back swing movement, I go through a small routine of first ensuring that I have taken the correct grip on the golf club and then ensuring that the first finger and the thumb of the right hand holds the golf club very firmly, I then place the club head directly behind the ball and fully focus directly on the back of the golf ball.

Therefore the back swing movement is simply rotating a very compact upper body unit, as described above, thus literally pushing the passive arms/golf club to the end of the back swing movement, but importantly, whilst not consciously rotating the forearms.

During the back swing movement the arms are also pushed with slightly upwards motion, so that if you view yourself in a mirror at the end of the back swing position, the arms will appear to be quite upright in so much that if you extended an imaginary line parallel to the left arm, the line would point directly to the ball.

Therefore it is important that as the back swing movement is performed that the upper body remain firmly held together as a very compact unit, whilst the left arm must remains fully straightened and the forearms are not consciously rotated.
( As the back swing movement is performed the right arm will gradually begin to fold, which automatically causes the forearms to rotate in a clockwise motion - no other action is required.)

But importantly, at the end of the back swing movement, the right thumb must be directly under the golf grip.

Back Swing Sequence.

Whether it is me or the professional golfer performing the back swing movement, what you cannot see is how tightly the upper body unit is held as it rotates to the end of the back swing movement, but I can assure you that the whole upper body unit is moving as a very solid one piece unit but importantly, whilst keeping the left arm perfectly straight and without consciously allowing the forearms to rotate.

However, notice how the head is positioned so that the left eye is slightly behind the ball throughout the back swing movement. - But equally important, as the back swing movement is performed, the hips follow the movement of the compact upper body unit and eventually rotates/pivots away from the frontal facing position, so that at the end of the back swing movement the whole body has achieved a twisted condition whilst importantly, the left arm remain fully straight and the forearms have not been consciously rotated.

I.e., the heads remains held firmly in position so that the left eye is slightly behind the ball, the heel of the left foot remains firmly on the ground whilst the hips have swayed very slightly to the right thus moving the weight of the body slightly onto the right leg, but importantly, the elbows remain held close together.

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Therefore whilst the back swing is performed you must adhere to the following points:-

1) The upper body unit has remain firmly held together as a very compact unit, one piece solid unit.

2) The head must held so that the left eye it remain slightly behind the ball.

3) The left arm must remain as straight as possible at all times.

4) The forearms must not be consciously allowed to rotate.
( As the right arm begins to bend, the forearms will automatically begin to rotate.)

5) The heel of the left foot must remain firmly on the ground.

Do not worry too much about achieving the perfect back swing position of having the golf club pointing to the target area, simply rotate the very compact upper body unit as far as it is physically possible without allowing the arms to move independently of the shoulders.

But you must ensure that the right thumb is directly under the golf grip at the end of the back swing movement.

All of the above is performed the heel of the foot remains firmly on the ground.

Hips.
Whilst performing the back swing movement, although you must initially use the hips to resist the movement of the upper body unit, the hips will automatically follow the movement of the upper body unit and will be forced to rotate away from the frontal facing position, thus leaving you to concentrate solely on performing a pivotal movement of the hips, but as the hips rotate/pivot they must also sway slightly away from the ball in order to maintain the balance of the body.

(At the end of the back swing movement, as long as you keep the muscles of the legs in a taut condition and the left foot firmly on the ground, the compact shoulder/arms-unit will rotate about 80/90 degrees away from the address position, however the hips will only rotate approximately 35 degrees away from the frontal facing position.)

Although the wrists have fully cocked, the forearms have not been consciously rotated.
The forearms will automatically rotate in a clockwise motion as the right arm gradually begins to bend - no assistance is required.

It is absolutely vital that these actions are performed without any independent movement of the arms - simply hold the upper body unit together as a very compact unit and use the lower back muscle to rotate the compact unit as far as possible, because when the correct back swing movement is performed, it allows the down swing sequence of movements to be performed in the correct order.

I can assure you that I have fully tested this theory, because I have noticed that when my shots become wayward, it is because I have slipped into the habit of allowing the elbow to come apart, however as soon as I correct the situation the accuracy of the shots improve immediately.)

The most obvious problems that will prevent a successful back swing movement are:-

a) Not keeping the upper body unit firmly held together as a very compact unit at all times, thus allowing the arms to move independently of the shoulders.

b) Lifting the arms to the top of the back swing movement instead of using the rotational movement of the compact upper body unit to literally push the passive arms to the end of the back swing movement.

c) Consciously allowing the forearms to rotate.

d) Allowing the heel of the left foot to lift off the ground.

c) Having an incorrect golf grip.

d) Not /pivoting the hips as the back swing movement is performed.

e) Not holding the shoulders at the end of the back swing movement whilst the hips begin to rotate/pivot towards the target area.

Body Position at the End of Back Swing.

As the end of the back swing movement the body position is as follows :-

1) The whole body has adopted a twisted condition with the arms in an upright position.

2) The heel of the left foot remains firmly on the ground, regardless of the torsion of the body trying to lift the left heel.

3) The rotation of compact upper body unit has forced the hips to rotate/pivot away from the frontal facing position.

4) The upper body unit remains tightly held as a very compact, solid one piece unit whilst the arms and the muscles of the arms remain in a firm but totally passive condition.

5) The muscles of the legs, the thighs and the buttocks continue to resist the rotational movement of the shoulders, but importantly the right leg remains in the original address condition of being slightly bent, the left leg is slightly more bent than the original address position, thus ensuring that the hips have pivoted to their maximum.

6) The forearms have rotated in a clockwise motion, but this has not be a deliberate action, it is simply caused by the folding action of the right arm.

7) The wrist joint of the left hand has been fully cocked, but the back of the left hand and the left forearm remain in a straight line.

8) The hands are positioned so that the thumb of the left hand is directly under the golf club and the golf club is parallel to the ground.

9) The head remains firmly positioned slightly behind the ball with "pinpoint accuracy".

( I cannot over emphasis the need to keep the head firmly positioned behind the ball at all times.)

10) The upper body angles have been strictly maintained.

11) The weight of the body is balanced slightly in favour of the right leg but the head remains held so that the left eye is slightly behind the ball.

In order to perfect the correct back swing movement I suggest that you begin by using a nine iron.

Develop the correct back swing movement with this short iron and slowly move through the clubs, perfecting the technique with each different club until you are using the same technique with the driver as you were using when using a nine iron.

I can assure you that as the shafts get longer, there is a tendency to swing the golf club with a much flatter swing plane and also force the forearms to rotate, rather than pushing the arms upwards and resisting the urge to rotate the forearms, therefore you must learn to push the arms in a upright motion and place the hands in the correct position so that the left thumb is directly under the golf grip, even when playing a driver.

Please Note.

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