Backswing vs. Follow-through

[wilwin]

Just picked up Harvey Penick's Little Blue book (The Game for a Lifetime) and in the chapter "To the Finish" Penick talks about the emphasis high handicapers put on their backswing, but forget their follow-through.

Go to any driving range and you will see a lot of golfers make a backswing then look back and check their swing path, angles, hands, elbows, maybe do the pump drill and countless other things. Yet after checking to make sure everything looks right, they still manage to hit it fat or thin. I'm as guilty as anyone for this and it has really haunted me recently.

After reading the chapter, I headed to the range to work on exactly what Penick was talking about. "A proper finish is the bookened to a good backswing. If you swing to a nice balanced follow-through, what happens to the ball in the hitting area will be a success."

Trying really hard not to think about my swing, I just focused on a good follow-through, I was hitting balls at the range much better than I have been in quite some time. I could feel my hips rotate correctly and the clubhead accelerate through the ball.

Hardly anyone asks for tips about the follow-through, yet I am starting to believe that it may be more important than the backswing. "You don't hit the ball with your backswing...the good finish has shown you what has gone before it."

Just something to think about next time you're at the range.

 

[Jman]

Excellent post.

I myself LOVE Mr. Penick's books. So many things he thought/believed/taught were so simple and so true. The Red book should be mandatory reading for serious golfers IMHO, the Blue book is one heck of a read as well.

Good, good stuff.

 

[KellyBo]

I'm in the middle of a series of 6 golf lessons. That is one of the major flaws I had with my swing. I now go to the range and practice a lot and that one change has made a huge difference in my game. The importance of a good follow through cannot be stressed enough!!! In fact, I shortened my back swing and lengthened my follow through and hit the ball so much better now.

 

[China Cat>Rider]

good stuff! I will keep this in mind at my next range session...I have been focusing so much on my back swing lately that I am sure I am neglecting the follow through

 

[JPsuff]

A wise old man once said that if your backswing is longer than your followthrough, you're just headed for trouble.

I believe that this particular bit of wisdom ought to be a first-ballot inductee to the "Wise Old Man Hall of Fame".



This once again proves that the simple advice is often the most valuable.



-JP

 

[JB]

A wise old man once said that if your backswing is longer than your followthrough, you're just headed for trouble.

I believe that this particular bit of wisdom ought to be a first-ballot inductee to the "Wise Old Man Hall of Fame".



This once again proves that the simple advice is often the most valuable.



-JP

I think Arnold Palmer would disagree.

 

[Golf Chick]

During my lesson yesterday, he kept working with me to have a strong follow-through and a balanced one at that.