How Much Would You Pay?

[Arthur Wedge]

How the club is coming down and the face on impact will always be key

I know Atleast one amateur with a fugly swing that plays off low single figures

It’s not that bad - just short

 

[jim8flog]

£50 to my chiropractor

 

[Orikoru]

Backswing's largely irrelevant, it's all about what the club does through impact.

I think this is more true for pros and less true for amateurs. Pros have that understanding of where they should be at impact and they can get there. For us amateurs though, the way you take the club away has an enormous impact on where you end up sending it on the downswing.

I mean, I've found in my own game that the takeaway and backswing is pretty much the only part I can influence. The rest of it happens too quickly to even think about - even with my swing being on the 'slow' side it's still a fraction of a second from top of swing to striking the ball. I need the backswing to be broadly correct to have any chance.

 

[Golf is fun]

I think this is more true for pros and less true for amateurs. Pros have that understanding of where they should be at impact and they can get there. For us amateurs though, the way you take the club away has an enormous impact on where you end up sending it on the downswing.

I mean, I've found in my own game that the takeaway and backswing is pretty much the only part I can influence. The rest of it happens too quickly to even think about - even with my swing being on the 'slow' side it's still a fraction of a second from top of swing to striking the ball. I need the backswing to be broadly correct to have any chance.

The backswing is easier to influence, but you can still have an intent for the downswing.

I agree it's possible to get so out of position on the backswing that you can't hit the ball well, but I would also suspect the pros with funky backswings spent hours on making what comes naturally to them work, rather than futilely trying to fight it.

 

[Orikoru]

The backswing is easier to influence, but you can still have an intent for the downswing.

I agree it's possible to get so out of position on the backswing that you can't hit the ball well, but I would also suspect the pros with funky backswings spent hours on making what comes naturally to them work, rather than futilely trying to fight it.

Yeah, but they are the best players in the world - that doesn't happen unless you have some natural flair for it, in my opinion. I doubt there's many pros out there who were naturally cupping the wrists and swinging wildly over the top with a massive slice when they started the game, for example. Except maybe Bubba Watson.

 

[Deleted member 36735]

Sounds like a variation of "you don't hit the ball with your back swing"
Another meaningless saying that should be consigned to the bin of golfing platitudes. Of course the back swing influences your downswing.

That is mis-informed nonsense.
Each individual player may well have a certain position that is best "for them" in order to assist them having the best chance of their best downswing, but there's no "one position". It's so obvious, just watch any pro tour on TV for more than 5 minutes.

It's all about what happens from the start of the downswing, and why every single good player does exactly the same thing with the club on the way down and through, ie gets it on-plane.

 

[hambugerpete]

That is mis-informed nonsense.
Each individual player may well have a certain position that is best "for them" in order to assist them having the best chance of their best downswing, but there's no "one position". It's so obvious, just watch any pro tour on TV for more than 5 minutes.

It's all about what happens from the start of the downswing, and why every single good player does exactly the same thing with the club on the way down and through, ie gets it on-plane.

You said the backswing is largely irrelevant, now that is misinformed nonsense.

 

[Deleted member 36735]

Not having that, you can influence a lot of good moves in a golf swing with the way you take the club back.

Each individual may well have their own "best" backswing moves for themselves, but it's pointless trying to get Daniel Berger to swing it back like Adam Scott just because it looks pretty in a photo.

It's all about the forwardswing.

 

[Mel Smooth]

Each individual may well have their own "best" backswing moves for themselves, but it's pointless trying to get Daniel Berger to swing it back like Adam Scott just because it looks pretty in a photo.

It's all about the forwardswing.

Respectfully disagree. The positions and tempo of the backswing dictate huge influence on ball striking.
Likewise, what happens in the swing after the ball has left the clubface will influence strike.

 

[hambugerpete]

Each individual may well have their own "best" backswing moves for themselves, but it's pointless trying to get Daniel Berger to swing it back like Adam Scott just because it looks pretty in a photo.

It's all about the forwardswing.

If this were true we'd all simply pre set ourselves in a static position at the top of the swing and go from there, but as the backswing plays such a key role we obviously don't.
No one's saying you can't have a funky looking backswing but to dismiss it as "largely irrelevant" shows a clear lack of understanding of the backswing as part of the overall dynamic movement.

 

[Deleted member 36735]

Respectfully disagree. The positions and tempo of the backswing dictate huge influence on ball striking.
Likewise, what happens in the swing after the ball has left the clubface will influence strike.

Sorry but you're only talking about what might affect one specific individual, and as I said we are all different with different bodies that all move individually.

And to say that anything that happens after the ball has left the club has any influence on it's own is just la la land... How on earth can a ball be influenced by a golf club when it's already in the air and gone? Possibly what you're alluding to is that positions after impact can represent the club movements and positions just pre-impact, but the delivery of the club is the only thing that influences ball flight obviously. The positions after impact do not AFFECT anything, they just SHOW what has happened before the club has hit the ball, eg for me a higher follow through is a result of a shallower delivery more from the inside, a low follow through sometimes means I've chopped down a bit too much.

 

[Golf is fun]

Respectfully disagree. The positions and tempo of the backswing dictate huge influence on ball striking.
Likewise, what happens in the swing after the ball has left the clubface will influence strike.

This is where I think a lot of golfers go a bit wrong, the backswing shouldn't influence the strike, the strike should influence the backswing, it's a subtle difference that could be mistaken for semantics but it makes a big difference in how you approach things.

If you took a skilled golfer, you could call shots midway through their backswing and they could hit them, if the backswing was so important to the strike this wouldn't be possible.

 

[Orikoru]

This is where I think a lot of golfers go a bit wrong, the backswing shouldn't influence the strike, the strike should influence the backswing, it's a subtle difference that could be mistaken for semantics but it makes a big difference in how you approach things.

If you took a skilled golfer, you could call shots midway through their backswing and they could hit them, if the backswing was so important to the strike this wouldn't be possible.

Not sure about this - I mean maybe, but surely their set-up is different for different shots before they even pull the club back.

 

[Deleted member 36735]

You said the backswing is largely irrelevant, now that is misinformed nonsense.

OK for people like you, let me tweak my comment:

"The natural ability to get to a generic, pretty, textbook-looking backswing position ala Adam Scott is largely irrelevant, the only thing that matters is how the club is delivered to the ball. Some people will have" pretty" backswings but might play off 10 because their ability to deliver the club on plane is very low. Some people might have traditionally funky backswing positions, eg Rahm, Kuchar, Furyk, Berger, Wolfe, but they are world class golfers as their delivery of the club is near perfect most of the time. "

 

[hambugerpete]

This is where I think a lot of golfers go a bit wrong, the backswing shouldn't influence the strike, the strike should influence the backswing, it's a subtle difference that could be mistaken for semantics but it makes a big difference in how you approach things.

If you took a skilled golfer, you could call shots midway through their backswing and they could hit them, if the backswing was so important to the strike this wouldn't be possible.

I think theyd more likely hit a bad shot if you tried this. I'd be amazed if they could pull this off with any great success

 

[Golf is fun]

I think theyd more likely hit a bad shot if you tried this. I'd be amazed if they could pull this off with any great success

Loads of good players can do it.

What about if you change the backswing but try and get the same result instead?

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[hambugerpete]

Loads of good players can do it.

What about if you change the backswing but try and get the same result instead?

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That's not the same though. You can make all manner of backswings with good results if that's what your intention is., but calling a type of shot halfway through ?

 

[Golf is fun]

That's not the same though. You can make all manner of backswings with good results if that's what your intention is., but calling a type of shot halfway through ?

Why do you believe it is any harder? Have you never seen a trick shot show, or highly skilled players?

Think about a bunch of other sports, where you hit a ball with an implement, you may have to start your backswing to hit the ball before even knowing exactly where the ball will be and where you will need to hit it, not to mention you don't want to signal your intent through obvious setup changes to you opponent(s). Why would golf be magically different that this couldn't be done? You don't even need to worry about where the ball is going to be, it's fixed.

Try it, have a range session and purposely try to hit draws and fades without changing your setup (imagine how you'd hit top spins or cuts in tennis), or try to purposely hit heel and toe, you may not be perfect the first time you try it, but if you persevere you might be surprised how much you can develop this skill, and how much it can carry over to playing good golf.

 

[garyinderry]

As long as they haven't started down it's possible to decide at the top of the swing what way you want to come into the ball.

You could swing to the top then decide to drop it inside or swing it out side in.

I've tried it. It's not pretty sometimes, it doesn't work every time but it is possible for someone to call the shape as you reach the top of your swing.

 

[hambugerpete]

As long as they haven't started down it's possible to decide at the top of the swing what way you want to come into the ball.

You could swing to the top then decide to drop it inside or swing it out side in.

I've tried it. It's not pretty sometimes, it doesn't work every time but it is possible for someone to call the shape as you reach the top of your swing.

Yes possible , but with limited success