Faster Backswing = More Club Head Speed?

[GolfLivesMatter]

I came across the video below about how a faster backswing increases overall club head speed. The concept is if the hands are moving faster going back then on the down swing the club head has more stored energy on the down swing. Alternately, taking the club to the top and effectively "stopping" or pausing, then starting the down swing takes too much time to increase speed, if I'm interpreting the crux of the instruction. This kinda seems like how Nicklaus would talk about transitioning his lower body into the downswing while the club was still traveling to the top.

I'm curious if anyone else has tried this and seen similar club head speed gains. It makes sense, but I personally have never thought of this aspect.

 

[Desmond]

From talking with instructors, it has merit. The clubhead may look paused at the top but the lower body is moving and if you think about it, the clubhead should be the last to move.

That last swing was still short. That is the issue with getting fast is not finishing the backswing. Of course, you're reading a post from someone who is slow and training to get faster. But first I need to control my club face, which is what I'm working on now

 

[Snickerdog]

Faster speed is useless if you cannot control it. I will take a lower swing speed for the control and hitting fairways.

 

[Desmond]

Faster speed is useless if you cannot control it. I will take a lower swing speed for the control and hitting fairways.

I think speed for me is evolutionary - I've got to have control of club face at impact and a sound or repeatable swing that works. Then I work on speed, and at first, it is not pretty. In fact, I can't even work on speed until I can take my hands out of the backswing going fast. Not there yet.

 

[blugold]

inb4 "Sung-Jae Im and Hideki Matsuyama have slow backswings!"

I am a believer that the "swing slow enough that the ball goes straight" teaching hurts more golfers than it helps.

Swing fast, get distance, then dial in accuracy. Golf instruction is too focused on getting beginners hitting it straight.

More people need to swing faster.

 

[Tevenor]

When I swing fast as I can in my backswing, my sequence goes out of whack and I actually lose club head speed. Specifically in the driver. I've done the test. I lost 3-5 mph CHS ( ~105 mph vs ~108 mph ) by trying to go to fast and then losing my swing shape and body motion.

If you can keep your sequence consistent and your swing timing in line, then I think a faster backswing could increase CHS speed properly and with control but that's a lot ot ask out of most amateurs.

 

[GolfLivesMatter]

inb4 "Sung-Jae Im and Hideki Matsuyama have slow backswings!"

I am a believer that the "swing slow enough that the ball goes straight" teaching hurts more golfers than it helps.

Swing fast, get distance, then dial in accuracy. Golf instruction is too focused on getting beginners hitting it straight.

More people need to swing faster.

I'm more in your corner on this. I'd rather have 120 driver swing and work on accuracy than 85 and be more accurate. That said, a 100 mph driver with excellent impact angles, center hits will provide plenty of driver distance to play most tee boxes.

 

[Duffer Seamus]

The concept is if the hands are moving faster going back then on the down swing the club head has more stored energy on the down swing. Alternately, taking the club to the top and effectively "stopping" or pausing, then starting the down swing takes too much time to increase speed, if I'm interpreting the crux of the instruction.

Well, kind of.

A pause at the top of the back-swing means it takes less energy to get the club head moving in the direction of the down-swing, so less club head speed. Faster back-swing, no pause, is almost like slingshotting the club head. Problem there, of course, is control, since it takes more force to change the direction of the club head than to start it moving from a stop.

If you've got yesterday's 4th round of The Masters recorded, go to the 8:30 mark and watch Sungjae Im's swing. It's fascinating. He moves very slowly through about one-third of the way into his back-swing, even pausing slightly, then completes his back-swing and goes into the down-swing without pause.

I'm going to try that

Conversely: Watch DeChambeau's swing. He is really moving during his back-swing.

 

[GolfLivesMatter]

When I swing fast as I can in my backswing, my sequence goes out of whack and I actually lose club head speed. Specifically in the driver. I've done the test. I lost 3-5 mph CHS ( ~105 mph vs ~108 mph ) by trying to go to fast and then losing my swing shape and body motion.

If you can keep your sequence consistent and your swing timing in line, then I think a faster backswing could increase CHS speed properly and with control but that's a lot ot ask out of most amateurs.

I get what you're saying. It seems like maybe the upper body wants to take over when the back swing gets faster, at least for me. I tend to think it might be better to think of initiating the downswing slightly earlier, or as the club nears the top to create more stored energy.

 

[OITW]

Faster speed is useless if you cannot control it. I will take a lower swing speed for the control and hitting fairways.

^^^^ This and center face contact should be better for distance as well as control with all the tech OEMs put into equipment these days.

 

[jvbart]

Anecdotally I tend to hit the ball further when I slow down my backswing. I think that is mostly because I get wild when I move too fast and lose whatever fluid motion is creating power for me.

 

[Tevenor]

I get what you're saying. It seems like maybe the upper body wants to take over when the back swing gets faster, at least for me. I tend to think it might be better to think of initiating the downswing slightly earlier, or as the club nears the top to create more stored energy.

When most people think "swing faster" the naturally gravitate to the upper body instead of being more explosive with the lower body. WHen you start trying to swing the arms/shoudlers harder than your hips will take you, you have screwed up your swing plane/sequence.

 

[blugold]

I'm more in your corner on this. I'd rather have 120 driver swing and work on accuracy than 85 and be more accurate. That said, a 100 mph driver with excellent impact angles, center hits will provide plenty of driver distance to play most tee boxes.

I firmly believe too many people focus on hitting it straight when they should be focused more on hitting far and straight enough. Tee to green isn't where most people lose strokes.

 

[GolfLivesMatter]

Well, kind of.

Aa pause at the top of the back-swing means it takes less energy to get the club head moving in the direction of the down-swing, so less club head speed. Faster back-swing, no pause, is almost like slingshotting the club head. Problem there, of course, is control, since it takes more force to change the direction of the club head than to start it moving from a stop.

If you've got yesterday's 4th round of The Masters recorded, go to the 8:30 mark and watch Sungjae Im's swing. It's fascinating. He moves very slowly through about one-third of the way into his back-swing, even pausing slightly, then completes his back-swing and goes into the down-swing without pause.

I'm going to try that

Conversely: Watch DeChambeau's swing. He is really moving during his back-swing.

Slingshot is a great way to put it, like a whip action of snapping a wet towel. As the wrist of the hand holding the towel bows back, the towel goes back, but just before the towel goes too far back, the wrist snaps in the opposite direction.

 

[blugold]

Conversely: Watch DeChambeau's swing. He is really moving during his back-swing.

I believe more amateurs would get better at golf if they stopped watching the PGA Tour and using those players as examples of what needs to be done by amateurs to get better.

I mean, how many people watched this past year and thought, "you know I need a hard forward press before I start my takeaway, close the club face on the way back and stand my trail leg to dead straight on the top. That's obviously the key to being a good golfer."

 

[GolfLivesMatter]

I firmly believe too many people focus on hitting it straight when they should be focused more on hitting far and straight enough. Tee to green isn't where most people lose strokes.

Yes. I mapped-out the par 4's on some of the courses I play in terms of the differences in 2nd shot irons. Just a 20 yard gain in driver results in a 124 yard average 2nd shot vs. 144, or hitting a PW vs. an 8 iron....that's a huge difference, at least for me. If folks are playing really tight fairways with 3 inch rough then I can see the mindset to throttle back and be more accurate, but I play some pretty tough courses in OC and PGA West and have yet to see rough that's thick enough to be of major concern. The only tough course to miss the fairway is the Norman Course with desert scape. Yikes! Other than that the courses don't want 5.5 hour rounds with people looking for their balls all day!

 

[WLG1952]

I can see where a faster back swing, delivering a faster club head into the ball has some merit. I just don't think it's the right way to go for all golfers.

When it come to swing speed I always go back to the old swing guru's opinion that an individual, amateur golfer can only swing so fast, and still maintain control of the club head at ball impact. In other words not everyone can swing a driver 100+ mph.

I think amateur golfers can learn to swing faster, but only to point that their body will allow. Everyone is different.

 

[GolfLivesMatter]

I believe more amateurs would get better at golf if they stopped watching the PGA Tour and using those players as examples of what needs to be done by amateurs to get better.

I mean, how many people watched this past year and thought, "you know I need a hard forward press before I start my takeaway, close the club face on the way back and stand my trail leg to dead straight on the top. That's obviously the key to being a good golfer."

Personally, I think watching the LPGA is better because they (most) are highly efficient in creating a lot of club head speed vs. the men who are often taller and of course stronger and can get away with brute force swings. I saw Lexi on the range some time ago and she's nearly off the ground upon impact with her driver. Astounding use of the ground and lower body.

 

[pinseeker]

When I swing fast as I can in my backswing, my sequence goes out of whack and I actually lose club head speed. Specifically in the driver. I've done the test. I lost 3-5 mph CHS ( ~105 mph vs ~108 mph ) by trying to go to fast and then losing my swing shape and body motion.

If you can keep your sequence consistent and your swing timing in line, then I think a faster backswing could increase CHS speed properly and with control but that's a lot ot ask out of most amateurs.

speed and tempo are co-joined twins

 

[Duffer Seamus]

I believe more amateurs would get better at golf if they stopped watching the PGA Tour and using those players as examples of what needs to be done by amateurs to get better.

Personally: I don't generally do that. I'm certainly not going to try to emulate BAD , except I did experiment with SPS and found it worked for me.

Trying to emulate something like Im's back-swing is more me wondering "Hmmm... I wonder what would happen...?" as much as anything else. I certainly wouldn't expect it to produce magical results. In fact: I suspect trying it may do me more harm than good. But, as I noted in the "Did Byson mess himself up...?" thread: I tinker a lot.

 

[skujan]

It looks like Im speeds up dramatically after about a quarter of the way back.

 

[DataDude]

If you do not let your backswing finish currently then trying this will lead you down a trail of extreme frustration. If you are not sure whether you finish your backswing currently I believe that coming over the top and pull hook misses are evidence of the fact that your transition is happening to early already. If you increase the speed it's only going to get worse. I would not try this unless you already have a good transition right now. If you don't work on that first IMO.

 

[pinseeker]

Personally: I don't generally do that. I'm certainly not going to try to emulate BAD , except I did
and found it worked for me.

Trying to emulate something like Im's back-swing is more me wondering "Hmmm... I wonder what would happen...?" as much as anything else. I certainly wouldn't expect it to produce magical results. In fact: I suspect trying it may do me more harm than good. But, as I noted in the "Did Byson mess himself up...?" thread: I tinker a lot.

I have three distinct golf swings and in as much as conventional wisdom would dictate that is not what one should do, I can switch without any detriment. The reason is that it often helps when a particular swing goes awry. I believe that what happens is I get too sloppy or lazy and the change brings me back for a time. I recently started practicing with SPS with very good results, but also my version of S&T, but I really don't want to use the latter for personal reasons even though it seems to produce more consistency. besides......conventional wisdom is an oxymoron.

 

[Tevenor]

speed and tempo are co-joined twins

Agreed. And pulling one twin in one direction while holding the other in place makes for unhappy twins.

 

[Chef23]

When my backswing is faster I hit it farther but my dispersion goes up. It is a balance for me. I believe a faster backswing can make you hit the ball farther but I am not as accurate.

I do at times on the range look for more speed then at the end of the session throttle it back to something I can control.