Back swing is way too long. Help!

[jtj74]

Looking for any tips and tricks you guys have to help shorten my back swing. It gets very steep and long and that causes me to swing way too outside in. Let's get this part out of the way: "take lessons"

Without having to explain myself as to why........No. Not an option at this time. 

 

Any advice?

[johnrobison]

My advice: Post a swing video from DTL and from FO.

 

Myriad things could lead to your issue and without seeing the swing all anyone can do is make guesses.

[Valtiel]

1 hour ago, jtj74 said:

Looking for any tips and tricks you guys have to help shorten my back swing. It gets very steep and long and that causes me to swing way too outside in. Let's get this part out of the way: "take lessons"

Without having to explain myself as to why........No. Not an option at this time. 

 

Any advice?

Assuming that you've already tried or considered it....what do you feel like is stopping you from simply making a shorter swing? If you've tried, what was the outcome? If you haven't, what do you feel like stopping you?

[ShortGolfer]

 

[sundaypins]

2 hours ago, jtj74 said:

Any advice?

 

The quickest route would be don't take one.  Just place the club and arm assembly properly up top where you want, give a small little momentum pump, then go.  Problem solved. 

[golferdude54]

take lessons

[getitdaily]

Long backswing fixes...

 

1. Late wrist set often causes arm overrun. Set earlier if you set late now. Checkpoint is you should be close to 90 degrees with club to lead arm angle at p3 from face on

2. Stop the arms when the lead shoulder reaches your chin in the backswing

3. Try to stop the backswing when your hands reach hip height in the backswing

4. Hit 1000 3/4 shots 

 

These are some potential helpers.

[rsballer10]

18 hours ago, jtj74 said:

It gets very steep and long and that causes me to swing way too outside in. 

 

Any advice?

post a DTL and FO.

 

General advice. Just stopping your swing short won't fix the problem. Lots of overswinging happens because of a lack of structure in the arms/wrists & an improper pivot/ weight shift. I'd worry about fixing your backswing, because the length is usually a symptom and not the cause.

[DaveLeeNC]

For me focusing on finishing my swing with turn rather than arm/wrist motion is helpful. 

 

dave

[jtj74]

17 hours ago, Valtiel said:

Assuming that you've already tried or considered it....what do you feel like is stopping you from simply making a shorter swing? If you've tried, what was the outcome? If you haven't, what do you feel like stopping you?

I'm not sure what stops me. I can shorten my iron swing but with driver I just cannot make myself not take the club way beyond parallel.  

[Valtiel]

31 minutes ago, jtj74 said:

I'm not sure what stops me. I can shorten my iron swing but with driver I just cannot make myself not take the club way beyond parallel.  

That is part of why "taking lessons" sometimes isn't even the right solution, because if you think about it simply/logically.....why would this be? Why is it that a stick with a piece of metal on it seemingly has so much control over *your* body? Rhetorical questions obviously, and there are many reasons for this, but it's good to ask yourself what your part is in all this in a Four Stages of Competence kind of way. 

You'll need to post a swing to narrow this down further, but a vast majority of the time when the golf swing has a "I just cannot make myself" thing going on it's because you *have* to do that thing in order to make contact. Broken stuff piled on top of broken stuff that needs to be worked back through in order to make improvements. With the driver and overswinging, it's normally because the club and/or your body is out of position in such a way going back that you need to buy time by swinging longer to give yourself the window you need to compensate. It could be anything (or everything) from bad/late wrist set, poor hand path/arm swing going back, incorrect sequencing of weight shift causing you to get stuck on your back leg....all of these things can incentivize overswinging as a means to buy time to compensate. The common trifecta of all these combining gets people arriving at the top of the swing with so many things in the wrong place that they physically can *not* make a swing without going way beyond parallel to buy time to unwind them. If that's the case then you need to start addressing each of those issues until you start to gain control of the club. How many of these apply to you and to what extent needs to video to confirm. 

Edited July 16 by Valtiel

[sundaypins]

20 hours ago, jtj74 said:

Any advice?

 

...as an addendum to a prior comment, from momentum's point of view it won't be stopped on a dime so if transitioning out of P3 instead of closer toward 'the top',which will probably feel tremendously short and awkward for many players during initial staging, but when momentum pauses for the return swing that pause will be from a 'shorter top' because transition engaged earlier.  Same idea as #3 from @getitdaily   

[getitdaily]

15 minutes ago, sundaypins said:

 

...as an addendum to a prior comment, from momentum's point of view it won't be stopped on a dime so if transitioning out of P3 instead of closer toward 'the top',which will probably feel tremendously short and awkward for many players during initial staging, but when momentum pauses for the return swing that pause will be from a 'shorter top' because transition engaged earlier.  Same idea as #3 from @getitdaily   

Adding on this this...OP, as you start working on shortening up know this 1 thing....

 

You'll feel.super rushed. 

 

Watch out for the lower body to run away because You'll feel like you need to "give it more" hit. Shorter will feel less powerful until you've grooved the change. You may also rush the hit from the top...again, because shorter will feel less powerful and You'll think you need to give it more.

 

Stay patient in transition...

[Pnwpingi210]

2 hours ago, Valtiel said:

That is part of why "taking lessons" sometimes isn't even the right solution, because if you think about it simply/logically.....why would this be? Why is it that a stick with a piece of metal on it seemingly has so much control over *your* body? Rhetorical questions obviously, and there are many reasons for this, but it's good to ask yourself what your part is in all this in a Four Stages of Competence kind of way. 

You'll need to post a swing to narrow this down further, but a vast majority of the time when the golf swing has a "I just cannot make myself" thing going on it's because you *have* to do that thing in order to make contact. Broken stuff piled on top of broken stuff that needs to be worked back through in order to make improvements. With the driver and overswinging, it's normally because the club and/or your body is out of position in such a way going back that you need to buy time by swinging longer to give yourself the window you need to compensate. It could be anything (or everything) from bad/late wrist set, poor hand path/arm swing going back, incorrect sequencing of weight shift causing you to get stuck on your back leg....all of these things can incentivize overswinging as a means to buy time to compensate. The common trifecta of all these combining gets people arriving at the top of the swing with so many things in the wrong place that they physically can *not* make a swing without going way beyond parallel to buy time to unwind them. If that's the case then you need to start addressing each of those issues until you start to gain control of the club. How many of these apply to you and to what extent needs to video to confirm. 

This is all good stuff.

 

I use pretty heavy components, and as long as I keep my fitness and strength program up and running I’m fine. If those start to lax my I lose some strength and my equipment gets heavy feeling and my backswing starts to lengthen.  It’s worse the longer the club and particularly with driver.  I also noticed if I try something significantly lighter, like a friends club, my backswing is shorten.  YMMV

 

in summary it could be how your reacting to equipment that is not optimal

[jtj74]

1 hour ago, getitdaily said:

Adding on this this...OP, as you start working on shortening up know this 1 thing....

 

You'll feel.super rushed. 

 

Watch out for the lower body to run away because You'll feel like you need to "give it more" hit. Shorter will feel less powerful until you've grooved the change. You may also rush the hit from the top...again, because shorter will feel less powerful and You'll think you need to give it more.

 

Stay patient in transition...

I think that is part of it. My body or muscle memory does not know how to time it up and when to start the downswing and rotation.

[getitdaily]

1 minute ago, jtj74 said:

I think that is part of it. My body or muscle memory does not know how to time it up and when to start the downswing and rotation.

Yeah, it will mess with all.of that. But you'll hit it better once you've corrected things.

[Pepperturbo]

22 hours ago, jtj74 said:

Looking for any tips and tricks you guys have to help shorten my back swing. It gets very steep and long and that causes me to swing way too outside in. Let's get this part out of the way: "take lessons"

Without having to explain myself as to why........No. Not an option at this time. 

 

Any advice?

All I can share is if my backswing reaches the top, the result always 🥺 stinks, so I don't do it. 😅

[Jayjay_theweim_guy]

The "Hit your 7-iron only a 100-120 yards, but do it solidly," drill has been helpful in my case.  For Irons and FW anyway.  Helps me firm up tempo, transition, while minimizing the "Kill!" impulse.

[johnrobison]

How do you know that your backswing is too long and causing you to be steep?

Edited July 16 by johnrobison

[alittleoverpar]

If you feel like the length of your backswing is causing an outside to in swing path, it is probably because you are losing your spine angle at the top of your swing due to lack of flexibility.  This almost always gets you across the line and causes an out to in path.  Try to focus on your spine angle and stop your backswing when you start to feel it change. 

 

I am tall and have a very long swing, but fortunately I am also still pretty flexible.  I've tried to shorten it over the years, but it doesn't really provide me any improvement so I just go with the long swing.  

[virtuoso]

Pinata much anyone?

[MonteScheinblum]

There are two answers to this question.

 

1.  Address why the swing is long.

2.  Feel left arm parallel swings on every shot you hit until you can actually do it on call.

 

Without video it’s #2

[sundaypins]

11 hours ago, virtuoso said:

Pinata much anyone?

 

Starting to seem like it. 

[slytown]

Don't think of the backswing as getting deep. Think of it as setting the arms in a good position to move laterally and turn. If you are swinging too long, you are probably all arms. A long backswing can be good for driver, but you will really struggle on wedges.

 

A good drill to do is just set the arms and wrists at P2 and just move laterally. You need to get used to putting force into the club with the body. People with long swings tend to turn too much and pull the arms behind them. Try and set the club and just do subtle weight shifts. You should hit chippy cuts. Then you can ramp up the speed and pressure shift until you get the club moving into a more full swing. Use the same small arm movement to P2 but just move the body more.

 

Drew Cooper, one of the longest amateur hitters, feels his backswing ends at P2. He is mostly referring to how he actively moves his arms.