Club Position

Position the Club Properly on the Back Swing for Forward Swing Success.

By: Bruce Munch
Head Professional, White River Golf Club

There is an interesting phenomenon that occurs from time to time when you teach golf for a living. Most of the time, over a week of lessons I will see a variety of problems in my students. Every so often a week will occur where it seems that every student seems to have the same problem. When this happens it signals to me that maybe I should address this occurrence and share it with you.

Over the past few weeks most of my students had reasonable grip, stance, posture, alignment and ball position. What has been consistently incorrect has been the position of the club at the top of the back swing, relative to the target line.

Now we are not talking here how long the back swing is as in short of parallel or past parallel when viewed from a position facing the student at address. This represents the vertical aspect of the back swing. Naturally, a back swing that ends parallel to the ground or just short of that point is desirable. A back swing that goes past parallel, with the head of the club pointing to the ground that is usually a result of excessive bend in the left elbow, for right handed golfers, is not desirable for a number of reasons, one of which is that from that position we must lift the club head against the force of gravity before we can begin dropping the club, with the aid of gravity, back toward impact.

We are talking here about the horizontal aspect of the back swing. By this I mean where is the club pointing, at the top of the back swing when viewed from behind the student, looking down the target line. If you are familiar with the ball flight laws, that is the forces that make the ball go where it goes, you will recognize that the first aspect of the ball flight laws deals with the path of the hands, through the hitting area, relative to the intended target line. There are only three paths possible. The hands in the hitting area can be traveling left of the target line, down the target line or right of the target line. With a hand path left of the target line, the ball will start left of the target, down the target line the ball starts out toward the target and right of the target line the ball starts right of the target. What the ball does later, draw, fade or straight is a function of the face angle at impact, relative to this hand path, but we will deal with that later.

Once we have reached the top of the back swing we want to release the club through the ball to a complete finish WITHOUT manipulation. By that I mean drop the hands and turn through the shot. If the first move with your hands from the top of the back swing is not down, that is taking the butt of the club toward the ball, you have more basic problems that must be corrected first. For those of you who do this correctly, proper position of the club is critical. Here is why: I want you to envision a hula-hoop, seven feet in diameter. (There is such a device that used to be called the Sam 2000) Imagine taking the seven-foot hula-hoop and place the bottom or southern point of the circle just inside the ball. Now tilt the ring back so that the plane of the circle would lie just above the shoulders so North would be behind your head and the East, West plane is pointing toward your target. We have now created a tilted plane that represents a good golf swing. If you place the club at the top of the back swing so it points toward the target, you will be swinging on this plane. Now imagine that as a right-handed player, the club at the top of the back swing is pointing left of the target and turn the ring so the east, west line matches this line. You will clearly see that the ring will point left of the target and so your swing must also have a left of target path through impact. This is the classic pull swing in golf.

Conversely, pointing the club right of target at the top of the back swing and matching the ring to this position will cause the club to be passing right of target at impact. This is the classic push swing.

Now, since we know that proper position of the club will lead to the ability to release the club down the target line and improper position will make proper path difficult, and since the positioning of the club is the final part of the back swing, a process that we should be doing slowly and carefully, why do we do it incorrectly?

One classic problem is leaving the club pointing left at the top or as we call it laid off. This can be caused by an inability or unwillingness to complete the turn on the back swing. If you only turn your shoulders 45 degrees instead of the preferred 90 degrees, the club will likely be 45 degrees left of target, a major cause of the classic pull or slice swing. Even players who typically do it correctly on the range may find that the tension of the golf course prevents them from completing the back swing and causing an improper path.

The problem of point the club right of the target at the top of the back swing is indicative of a different problem. This problem is usually caused by a fast back swing that slings the club across the line or a flying right elbow, or both.

So, how do you fix this problem? One of the best ways is to stand in sideways to a full length mirror, (upper body only will do) then using a yardstick as a club, make your turn and at the top of the back swing, look in the mirror and see if the yardstick is pointing to the mirror. If it is not, correct it. Do this repeatedly and try to memorize how you muscles feel when in this position. Remember at the top of the back swing the muscles are stretched. This stretching of the muscles is stored energy we are about to release in the forward swing so embrace the feeling of stretched muscles, don’t eliminate it. After you have mastered it in the living room, take it to the range and see if you can duplicate it. As always, a video of your swing, taken from behind, looking toward the target will show you exactly where you are finishing your back swing.

Remember, you can play with a fast back swing, you can play with active feet, you can even play with some hinge in the lead elbow, but you cannot play with the club in a bad position at the top of the back swing. So work on your back swing position and you will enjoy your forward swing much more.