Backswing and Shoulder Turn

[pnearn]

Went for a video lesson today and was told I turned my shoulders too much on the backswing

The pro basically told me to turn my shoulders to get the club to where it is parallell to the ground. ( and square to the target line, across your feet ). From there he said just set your wrists, no more turn. In his view youve turned your shoulders nearly fully anyway by half way and turning them more leads to very flat top position

Seemed to be much more compact motion with less extension but I started hitting the ball a lot further ( worth the 20 quid then ! )

Anyone else feel their backswing like this .. everything ive read seems to suggest turning to the top ?

[gord962]

Re: Backswing and Shoulder Turn

Your shoulders should only turn to 90* in relation to the target line. Also, your hips should not rotate more than 45*. To rotate your shoulders more than 90*, you would probably have had to rotate your hips more than 45*. In doing this, you would not be building coil by turning your upperbody against the force of your lower body trying to stay still. Without maximum amount of coil, you would not be reaching your maximum power potential.

[pnearn]

Re: Backswing and Shoulder Turn

Your shoulders should only turn to 90* in relation to the target line. Also, your hips should not rotate more than 45*. To rotate your shoulders more than 90*, you would probably have had to rotate your hips more than 45*. In doing this, you would not be building coil by turning your upperbody against the force of your lower body trying to stay still. Without maximum amount of coil, you would not be reaching your maximum power potential.

I certainly feel my hips move less with this method. Its like hip and shoulder turn in the takeway and then set the club with wrists and hands (which does turn the upper body some more )

[gord962]

Re: Backswing and Shoulder Turn

There shouldn't be a conscious turning of the hips. The shoulders turning will turn the hips by the way of resistance. You can increase resistance by trying to keep your left heel on the ground during the backswing. Alternatively, if you find that you don't have enough flexability to make a full shoulder turn, raising your left heel off the ground during the backswing will reduce resistance.

[pnearn]

Re: Backswing and Shoulder Turn

Interestingly the pro said the same thing and advised me to try and keep the lower body as quiet as possible, even thinking about keeping the belt buckle facing forward for as long as possible during the takeaway. Feels strange but it seems a lot easier to get back to the ball

When he showed me the swing sequence of Ernie you can see this too, how his whole trunk hardly moves at all, its just his shoulders and hands that move. Its only halfway into his backswing that his hips start to turn