Lesson 3 --The Back Swing. --- (Changed - 06/05/2008)

It is absolutely vital that the back swing is performed so that the upper body unit rotates around the central core of the spine as a solid one piece unit and importantly, without consciously allowing the forearms to rotate.

This will allow the movement of the hips to rotate the twisted body unit, (whilst still held as a solid one piece unit) back to the original address position, thus automatically returning the club face square to the ball.

Upper Body set up

At the address position the elbows must be drawn as close together as it is physically possible, thus forming the shoulder/arms-unit into a very compact unit.

These actions have 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, whilst the rotational movement of the shoulders push the arms to the end of the back swing movement.
( Imagine the shoulders and the arms and the hands fully encased in a plaster cast - this is how firmly the shoulders and the arms must be held.)

Once you have formed the shoulders and the arms into a very compact unit, 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 shoulders and the arms too firmly together as you perform the back swing movement and whilst holding the upper body unit in this condition you may feel that the back swing is restricted, but I can assure you that the closer you keep the elbows together and totally resist the urge to rotate the forearms, the better.

However the most important point to make is that you must not fall into the trap of lifting the arms to the end of the back swing movement as this will only produce very erratic golf shots.

Therefore in order to make a correct back swing movement it is the use the rotational movement of the shoulders that push the arms to the end of the back swing movement.

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 of all gripping the golf club correctly but 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 performed very slowly whilst holding the shoulder/arms-unit very firmly together and simply using the left shoulder to control the movement of the shoulder/arms-unit as it rotates around the central core of the spine (until the golfer`s back is facing the target area) thereby using the rotational movement of the shoulders to literally push the passive arms/golf club to the end of the back swing movement whilst not consciously rotating the forearms.

But importantly, 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 whilst the shoulder/arms-unit to the end of the back swing movement, you must ensure that the elbows remain held as close together as it is physically possible, however the muscles of the arms must remain in a totally passive condition throughout the back swing movement and importantly, the forearms must not be 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.)

Back Swing Sequence.

Whether it is me or the professional golfer performing the back swing movement, what you cannot see is how the left shoulder controls the rotational movement of the shoulders thus pushing the totally passive arms to the end of the back swing movement very slowly - no other action is used to complete the back swing movement.

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 shoulders rotate to the end of the back swing movement, the hips rotate/pivot away from the frontal facing position so that at the end of the back swing movement the whole body has achieved a twisted condition.

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 slightly to the right thus moving the weight of the body slightly onto the right leg.

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

1) The head must held so that it remain slightly behind the ball.

2) The arms and the muscles of the arms must remain totally passive to the rotational movement of the shoulder/arms-unit.

3) The elbows must remain as close together as is physically possible.

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 use the left shoulder to control the very slow rotation of a very compact shoulder/arms-unit until the torsion of the muscles force you to stop.

As the shoulders rotate to the end of the back swing movement, the upper torso will also fully twist, thus achieving a full rotational movement of the shoulder/arms-unit so that at the end of the back swing movement, the whole body has been formed into a twisted condition.

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

Hips.
Whilst using the left shoulder to control the rotational movement of the compact shoulder/arms-unit as it rotates around the central core of the spine, the hips will automatically follow the movement of the shoulders 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..

It is absolutely vital that you use concentrate on the left shoulder to control the rotational movement of the shoulder/arms-unit as it slowly rotates around the central core of the spine, thus literally pushing the passive arms with a slightly upwards motion to the end of the back swing movement, however as the shoulder/arms-unit rotate to the end of the back swing movement, you must also ensure that the elbows remain as close together as is physically possible, thus maintaining the upper body as a very compact unit.
( Most high handicapped golfers lift the arms to the end of the back swing movement.)

But importantly, as the shoulder/arms-unit rotates to the end of the back swing movement, it is vitally important that the hips remain firmly held over the centre of the stance whilst they rotate/pivot and that you keep the heel of the left foot firmly on the ground in order to build up the torsion of the muscles to their maximum.

Therefore it is absolutely vital that these actions are strictly adhered in order to perform the perfect back swing movement because when the correct back swing movement is performed, it allows the down swing sequence of movements to be performed in the correct order.

(You must ensure that you concentrate on using the left shoulder to force the shoulder/arms-unit to slowly rotate around the central core of the spine and thereby use this rotational movement of the shoulder/arms-unit to literally push the passive arms to the end of the back swing movement, because if your golf shots are erratic it is probably because you are incorrectly lifting the arms into the back swing.

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 lifting the arms instead of using the rotational movement of the shoulder/arms-unit to move the arms, however as soon as I correct the situation and use the rotational movement of the shoulder/arms-unit to literally push the arms to the end of the back swing movement, the accuracy of the shots improve immediately.)

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

a) Not keeping the elbows held as close together as is physically possible, thus allowing the arms to become uncontrollable.

b) Lifting the arms to the top 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) Allowing the arms to move around the body in a flat-ish plane, rather than making sure that the arms are in an relatively upright position at the end of the back swing movement.

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

f) Not pausing as the shoulders reach the end of the back swing movement.

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 a very 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 hips have been forced to rotate/pivot and also sway away from the frontal facing position as the shoulders reached the limit of the back swing movement.

4) The elbows remain held as close together as it is physically possible , thus holding the shoulder/arms-unit firmly held together, but importantly, the arms and the muscles of the arms remain in a 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 conscious 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 left thumb is directly under the golf club and the club face is perpendicular 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 swing movement with this 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 rather than pushing the arms upwards, but you must learn to also push the arms in a upright motion, even when playing a driver.

Remember, you must ensure that the rotational movement of the shoulder/arms-unit push the passive arms to the end of the back swing movement in an upright manner -- failure to do so will only result in very erratic golf shots.

Please Note.

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