Question for Freddie. Is there such a thing as a backswing that is too slow??

radiman

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I have been hitting the ball reasonably well lately. My distance has dropped a bit from last year. I am still hitting it sufficiently long, but not as long as I once was. The swing through the impact zone feels slower. I was watching some pro swings on YouTube just to see their overall tempo. I watched some swings of pros with similar speed to my own and noticed that it looks like they are swinging way harder than me. Breaking it down even further, it was really just the backswing that seemed to be the biggest difference. Their overall tempo is much quicker while our speeds are very similar. I then watched a video of my swing from many years ago and noticed that my tempo used to be that fast. It has morphed into what it is today. Probably me trying to control the club more and get into a position to swing at it. I now feel kind of rigid, like I am forcing my swing instead of just letting the club do the work. Sometimes, it works great and I score pretty well. But, when I am off, I am really off.

I did some swinging indoors the other day where I forced myself to swing back faster and noticed that my arms seem to get into position pretty naturally, but transition seems a little awkward. It's pretty late in the season now and I don't know that I want to take on any major swing changes.

This is my driver swing from about a month ago for reference. I just look at it and think my tempo could increase on the backswing. It looks slow and rigid to me. I am not normally concerned with how my swing looks. But, the rigid feeling I have been having seems to match that visual to me.

 
i'm not freddie, but there's not much about that backswing that looks slow to me. looks nice and rhythmic, and in balance. only downside i've seen from people with an overly slow backswing is that they feel like they have to pull the club down hard from the top to get any speed. when i think of the long hitters like woodland, mcilroy, bubba, brooks, and dj, those guys have a pretty deliberate takeaway.
 
i'm not freddie, but there's not much about that backswing that looks slow to me. looks nice and rhythmic, and in balance. only downside i've seen from people with an overly slow backswing is that they feel like they have to pull the club down hard from the top to get any speed. when i think of the long hitters like woodland, mcilroy, bubba, brooks, and dj, those guys have a pretty deliberate takeaway.

That's a feel that I think I have developed. My miss has turned into a cut/slice and I feel like it's almost impossible for me to hit a draw. I had a pretty good range session the other day where it kind of seemed to click. But, it took me altering how I aligned the ball on the club face. I also tend to get over the line at the top (frame doesn't really show that in this video), with a little Jim Furyk club loop. Really high hands and I kind of drop my arms down to where they should probably be in the first place.
 
Take a look at Inbee Park. I don't think a backswing can get any slower. Yet she pounds the ball. Effortless comes to mind as well.
 
I wanted to add to this thread some thoughts after my last couple of rounds. This past Thursday I went into my round wanting to have some sort of quicker takeaway and transition to see what my results were. Thursday went terribly. I felt like I could take the club back much quicker until I hit about parallel in the backswing. Then, it would feel like things slowed down, but then I felt a quick transition as the club was reaching the top of the backswing. I was hitting these hooks. Couldn't shake it. But, I hadn't been able to consistently draw the ball all season. The positive was that I was hitting the middle, and I was hitting the ball hard. It felt great. Just didn't look good watching my ball sail OB, lol.

Fast forward to yesterday and I had changed my driver to it's standard settings and switched back to my HZRDUS Smoke Green shaft. Keeping those same feels, I proceeded to have probably my best day driving the ball that I can remember. After a couple of holes of well struck bombs, I was brimming with confidence and it just got better from there. I doubt my swing looks any different. Heck, my tempo is probably exactly the same. But, feeling like I am speeding up my takeaway has me getting the club in a better position in a lot more fluid feeling manner.
 
Check out "Tour Tempo". They say it is not about the speed but the ratio of backswing to downswing. I used the concept with great success many years ago and I think the only reason I got away from it was lack of practice time at that point.
 
Check out "Tour Tempo". They say it is not about the speed but the ratio of backswing to downswing. I used the concept with great success many years ago and I think the only reason I got away from it was lack of practice time at that point.
Is that the system where you use actual audible noises to get your optimal tempo?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
Is that the system where you use actual audible noises to get your optimal tempo?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

You can practice using tones or voice commands. The ratio is 3:1 and the pace can be as fast as 21/7 or as slow as 30/10. Amazing what you see when you hit that ratio perfectly. There is also music that can be used.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Check out "Tour Tempo". They say it is not about the speed but the ratio of backswing to downswing. I used the concept with great success many years ago and I think the only reason I got away from it was lack of practice time at that point.
I've always wanted to try that, but at $25 for the app I can't bring myself to do it.
 
I've always wanted to try that, but at $25 for the app I can't bring myself to do it.

I originally got the book which came with a CD. I copied the voices/tones over to my computer and eventually to a Ipod and eventually over to my phone. I don't recall what the cost was back then. You might check eBay. You can get the book with CD for a little less that that.
 
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