Long drive, short backswing

I'm just watching this charity "shoot-out" on the Golf Channel. On a short 285 yd par 4, Jason Gore just took out a 3W and put the ball on the green. With the driver he's doing 320 or so. So I'm watching him swing, and he doesn't take the club back to horizontal on the backswing; sometimes not much past 1 o'clock. Paula Creamer is driving about 260 yds and her backswing is short too.

It really makes you wonder.

You can effectively has a complete shoulder turn where your back is facing the target eventhough your arms may only be at your shoulder height. It is as long as you have built enough resistance and coil in your body that you can still generate enough power to hit the ball a fair distance. I had a friend too who only looked as if he swung it 3/4 on the backswing but he would still hit his drive 300yards.

I have been working on shortening my backswing, arms to about the 10 o'clock position.

My usual swing brings my arms to about the 11:30 position and my wrists take the shaft to about the 3:30 position. I seriously overswing the club (Daly style). This results in a drive that is about 250-260 yds, but always with a huge slice (50-80 yds).

I find that if I bring my arms back to the 10 o'clock position, I have more control and the slice is diminished (0-30 yds: yes I have hit some straight). I have not lost any distance either in fact I have gained it, my drives are now around the 260-270 range. Occasionally, my concentration breaks down and I get my old slice but it is becoming less frequent.

My younger bro, who's only been playing golf for 4 weeks and is just swinging it naturally, only swings his arms so that his hands are at 9 o'clock. Yet he's hitting it the same distance as me when I'm doing a full swing. I hit my 7 Iron 140 yards 90% of the time and +/- 10 yards for each club. Even with such a short backswing he hits the same distances, the only difference is that my shots go higher and stop fairly quickly and his go low and roll more.

It's pretty interesting. GolfOne, thank you for that explanation, which corresponds exactly to what I'm seeing. I was very impressed by Jason Gore. He's a big guy, maybe not as big as John Daly, but definitely big. Daly takes a *huge* backswing, way past horizontal. I guess he hits the ball farther than Gore, but not *that* much farther. When you watch Gore, you don't expect the ball to go that far, but it flies, and the acceleration seems to be happening in the last 115* of arc or so. Seeing him pick up a 3W and drop the ball on the green from 284 yds blew my doors off.

I find it especially instructive to watch the women play. They don't appear to try to muscle the ball as much, so I get the feeling that I'm watching a "purer" swing. Granted, they don't get the distance that Gore gets (not that many men do either), but they go farther than I usually do, and it's not because they're stronger than me. Paula Creamer's swing has a pretty brisk tempo, and she doesn't go that far back either; but she just whips through the ball on the downswing. Very similar to Gore, to my eye. Annika has a longer, more "classic" backswing, and it looks as if she's holding back, but she was driving 260 or so too.

I know I've mentioned Allen Doyle several times, because of his "ugly" unconventional swing. He has a *very* short backswing, with an extreme hip clearance, and averages 269 yds. Moe Norman had similar distance, also with a short backswing, and with pinpoint accuracy.

I'm thinking that each golfer's body determines an optimum backswing length, and probably the first order of business in building a good swing is to figure out what that is. If a book or teacher says the backswing should go to horizontal, that may be the right advice for some, but a bad idea for others. And one could waste a lot of time and experience a lot of frustration trying to do it if it's wrong for one's body.

In conjunction with that, it would be important to work out the longest distance that one can expect to get, consistently and accurately, accept it as a given, and move on to other aspects of the game.

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Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

When I watch the Champions Tour events, I always notice the short backswing of Dennis Quigley and the wonderful shots he makes. He does not lack for power and I am kind of built like him.(just a tad younger and more muscular) I often think that I would like to try this with the longer clubs. Times I have taken 1/2-3/4 swings the ball has been hit straight and solid. At 48, after years of weight training and taking up the game only a year ago I know that I am tight in the shoulders, so on the backswing extension feels forced and I tend to get too upright with the longer clubs when lengthening it. I hit many push/ slices due to getting club stuck and coming so steep. Ive seen it on video. Perhaps, I could experiment with it a little,seeing how others seems to do ok with it. Not everyone is built the same and the backswings of Woods and Wie began being built at a very young age. Interesting, good post, It was something I was thinking about.

Jason Gore, each to his own I say.

Jason is a big man and has found his grove/tempo that works for him.

I have a swing that is also about the same lenght but I'm not quite as rounded you could say! But it works great. Find out what works for you and stick to it, the game is all about repartition, preferably the good stuff!

Regards Cliff

I normally take a short backswing with my driver and I average 250 plus. Although it's something I will rectify. It doesn't do anything to help my tempo ect...

For years I've tried to follow advice to adopt a shorter / more controlled / compact swing especially with the driver. For years my driving has just sucked.

Then I remembered that Einstein, who I believe played off 4, once said that "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" so fairly recently I gave myself permission to overswing Daly style.

OK I'm not getting Dalyesque distances but my tee shots have noticeably improved (a little while ago I had the driver shaft reduced to 44" which has also helped) as has my confidence on the tee.

It might be coincidence and it might not last but it's worth considering that the very act of trying "to do things right" could be what holds you back sometimes.

I think trying to "swing short" just tensed me up, now I try not to think about it and just swing. If that means "incorrectly" going back beyond parallel but the ball lands a respectable 230-250 down the fairway it proves to be as repeatble as could be expected for someone of my standard then past parallel it will be

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