On a long car ride back from a concert, my wife and I were discussing the differences between potential and kinetic energy (it's a bit of a story how we got there). Anyway, we started discussing kinetic energy and how it relates to the golf swing - and it ended up in a revolutionary thought from a purely physics point of view:
"The backswing has no bearing on your ability to hit the ball with any force."
Translated, the backswing adds no power to your swing - therefore there's no need to have a quick takeaway. On top of this, we hypothesized that the backswing often compounded problems - leading to a poor 'top' position (ready to start the downswing), and recognizing that if your starting position is wrong, you need to compensate on the way down.
So, predicating on the knowledge that the backswing has no bearing on my ability to hit the ball, I headed into the backyard after getting home to put theory into practice (and I thought Jim Furyk had a weird looking swing). After addressing the ball (to get the proper angles for my hips, knees, etc), I purposefully bent my elbows to move my club away. While keeping my hips on the same plane, I set them up first. Then, I rotated my shoulders to as close to 90 as I can get, and adjusted my arms into place - putting myself into my 'picture perfect' backswing finish position - hips at 45, shoulders at 90, club shaft parallel to the ground.
Once I was convinced I was in great position at the 'top', I swung the club. I ended up with 34 great contact swings (one swing totally missed - the first one, and the 2nd swing was topped due to 'standing up' over the back leg). After the first dozen swings, I was concerned - every shot had great trajectory, but was drawn. The problem? Intentionally closing the clubface (which has been a compensation of mine). A dozen more swings with a square clubface produced straight flight paths - no deviation. A third dozen was taken with two different clubs (I used a PW, 8i and 4i).
It was unbelievable - I could take aim at anything, and be literally +/- 6" off target (I realize that short flight practice balls aren't going to exaggerate problems) but I figure that this has got to make even full flight shots much more on target.
Next on the checklist is to see if this theory applies with my woods (which I slice regardless of wood)... then on to the golf course to see if I can reproduce. (And report my findings).
This brings me to my thought: Is there a point to having a backswing if one can put themselves into a top position without it? (ie is there a benefit to using a backswing that we failed to look at in the car?)
"The backswing has no bearing on your ability to hit the ball with any force."
Translated, the backswing adds no power to your swing - therefore there's no need to have a quick takeaway. On top of this, we hypothesized that the backswing often compounded problems - leading to a poor 'top' position (ready to start the downswing), and recognizing that if your starting position is wrong, you need to compensate on the way down.
So, predicating on the knowledge that the backswing has no bearing on my ability to hit the ball, I headed into the backyard after getting home to put theory into practice (and I thought Jim Furyk had a weird looking swing). After addressing the ball (to get the proper angles for my hips, knees, etc), I purposefully bent my elbows to move my club away. While keeping my hips on the same plane, I set them up first. Then, I rotated my shoulders to as close to 90 as I can get, and adjusted my arms into place - putting myself into my 'picture perfect' backswing finish position - hips at 45, shoulders at 90, club shaft parallel to the ground.
Once I was convinced I was in great position at the 'top', I swung the club. I ended up with 34 great contact swings (one swing totally missed - the first one, and the 2nd swing was topped due to 'standing up' over the back leg). After the first dozen swings, I was concerned - every shot had great trajectory, but was drawn. The problem? Intentionally closing the clubface (which has been a compensation of mine). A dozen more swings with a square clubface produced straight flight paths - no deviation. A third dozen was taken with two different clubs (I used a PW, 8i and 4i).
It was unbelievable - I could take aim at anything, and be literally +/- 6" off target (I realize that short flight practice balls aren't going to exaggerate problems) but I figure that this has got to make even full flight shots much more on target.
Next on the checklist is to see if this theory applies with my woods (which I slice regardless of wood)... then on to the golf course to see if I can reproduce. (And report my findings).
This brings me to my thought: Is there a point to having a backswing if one can put themselves into a top position without it? (ie is there a benefit to using a backswing that we failed to look at in the car?)
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