You're probably more right than wrong. There was a certain professional, whose name shall not be mentioned here, that was WWAAYYY past parallel that did ok. Won a couple of Majors.
Bubba Watson, John Daly, Martin Kaymer (not way past, but still past)
 
This has been a flaw since I started and still is today. One thing that helps me some is focusing on my right arm more than the left to limit the backswing. If I keep the right elbow more connected, it shortens my swing. I struggle with it more on driver than irons.
 
i would consider selling an organ just to GET to parallel let alone past parallel
Me too. On my best day, I can get the clubhead to a little past 2 o'clock.
 
Speaking from personal experience, you may have to feel like your left arm is parallel in the backswing to actually end up with the club being parallel.

Shortening the back swing will help your OTT move. You have to have the OTT or a flip that far past parallel because you’ve turned the path so far right at the top.
 
Now in my mid-50's, my swing is pretty much parallel up top. When I was much younger, I had a very upright swing that went way past parallel. I only considered it a flaw if there was a gap between the grip and my left palm pad that allowed the club to really get away from me.

I am probably more accurate now than I was before, but swinging past parallel made it very easy to time my swing better and transition to the downswing better.
 
I'm the opposite....wish my swing was a bit longer.

They say a long swings tend to stand the test of time.....,so you've got that going for you.......which is nice.
 
Last edited:
  • Thread starter
  • Moderator
  • #33
I was going to say, here in about 10 years it will fix itself @Canadan
I've been sitting here all day stewing on it, honestly. If I'm not at the range within the next half hour 'fixing' it, send rum because I'm going to be a mental puddle.
 
I've been sitting here all day stewing on it, honestly. If I'm not at the range within the next half hour 'fixing' it, send rum because I'm going to be a mental puddle.

Long fluid swings hold up over longer over time. Ask Brandel!
 
I used to do it too. When it was at its worst I would sometimes even feel the club bounce on my shoulder. Fixed it through lessons and hitting what I thought were punch shots / half swings that were how I was supposed to swing.
 
I fought past parallel for a while when I was taking lessons. I could swear I was not even reaching parallel, but on camera it was clear that I was way, way past it. I just think to swing 3/4, and now I am only a little past parallel on most swings. It's a tricky flaw to work out, from my experience, especially when you are between clubs and tell yourself "I need to hit this 100% full to make it." Almost a guarantee that I will be past parallel when I have that thought.
 
I struggle with it occasionally with driver. I don't have the flexibility to get to parallel in a good position so it's a bad mistake for me that usually causes me to dip my left shoulder down and throw my whole swing off. I have the same issue where a full backswing feels abbreviated to me and a real abbreviated backswing feels like chipping.
 
I took one on every hole with the fam Sunday evening. This one was supposed to be a shorter swing hahahaaha

View attachment 9014051
That's an impressive coil. :eek: It would be more impressive if your elbows were close together with the right humerus well inside the shoulder girdle with the same right forearm rotation (which locks the wrists at the top).
 
I have the exact opposite problem. At this point I'm jealous of anyone that can accomplish it because I have a mental hurdle of even getting close to parallel.
 
I'd have to see a video of my swing to know how far back I go. I really dont know.

What I do know is that how ever far back I'm going, tempo/timing wise it matches up well with the rest of my swing/body parts.
 
I've been sitting here all day stewing on it, honestly. If I'm not at the range within the next half hour 'fixing' it, send rum because I'm going to be a mental puddle.
I mean how did you strike that ball? You have a great swing I definitely wouldn't think too long about it.
 
I was working on wedges with my instructor recently. He said, take it back to 11 o'clock. I swung and said, "whoops - that was more like 9'oclock, hands chest high." He showed me the video and it was more like 1 o'clock, way past parallel. I was floored. By the time he got me to actually stop it at 9'clock, it felt like a 1/8th swing.
 
  • Thread starter
  • Moderator
  • #43
I mean how did you strike that ball? You have a great swing I definitely wouldn't think too long about it.
I hit that one pretty well, but collectively, it's definitely regression.
 
My advice... forget about what it looks like and just focus on score. If you feel this one thing is holding you back from scoring better then ok MAYBE walk down that road into the rabbit hole. I was a plus and swung past parallel constantly. Got tired of people telling me about it and calling me John. Well year 3 of shortening it up and now finally back DOWN to a 7 cap. Your timing will be messed up for a long time, you will loose distance and get ready for a two way miss of a pulls and blocks. Not trying to be a Debby downer, but ask yourself if you are willing to score awful for a good while just to look pretty on camera?

If I could go back I would not have changed anything and kept my more natural timing. As soon as you start thinking backswing, down swing suffers. Golf swing in my mind is two swings, you have done a damn good job on the important one, do not waste time with the non-important one. If you were a young Jr. golfer then ok, but at a plus handicap, my advice is do not walk down that road. Focus on getting your Speith like putting on or you Phil short game. Let people say stuff about your swing, then go take their money. The juice is not worth the squeeze on this one. I know from experience.
 
My advice... forget about what it looks like and just focus on score. If you feel this one thing is holding you back from scoring better then ok MAYBE walk down that road into the rabbit hole. I was a plus and swung past parallel constantly. Got tired of people telling me about it and calling me John. Well year 3 of shortening it up and now finally back DOWN to a 7 cap. Your timing will be messed up for a long time, you will loose distance and get ready for a two way miss of a pulls and blocks. Not trying to be a Debby downer, but ask yourself if you are willing to score awful for a good while just to look pretty on camera?

If I could go back I would not have changed anything and kept my more natural timing. As soon as you start thinking backswing, down swing suffers. Golf swing in my mind is two swings, you have done a damn good job on the important one, do not waste time with the non-important one. If you were a young Jr. golfer then ok, but at a plus handicap, my advice is do not walk down that road. Focus on getting your Speith like putting on or you Phil short game. Let people say stuff about your swing, then go take their money. The juice is not worth the squeeze on this one. I know from experience.
I see what you are saying, and I won't speak for everyone, but I am not a + handicapper and am certainly not concerned with how my swing looks. The past parallel is causing a big issue in delivery for me. This might be because you are talking about the head being past parallel downwards while mine is past parallel to the target line? Not sure.

You can see my before swing, and the swing I am working towards (sorry about the glare):

20210528_145327.jpg20210528_145241.jpg
 
Last edited:
@Canadan, is there a new non-past parallel swing to show off? Or just rum drinks?
 
I hate my golf swing.
It has got some good moves. I recommend downloading Kelvin Miyahira's article 2016 -03 Turning Micro-moves into Macro-moves. The section "Exaggerators Beware" is about your swing method.
 
Back
Top