Golf Tips - 7 Steps to Perform a Perfect Full Backswing

How to swing the club forward, all you have to do is add the correct position at the top of your backswing and the finish to what you already know, and you are done with your mechanics!

How to ruin your learning
Introduce the ball, and the concept of contact, before you master the technique. Start at address position and go to your Three Quarter Backswing. Your full backswing is almost complete from here, all you need to do is finish your turn and lift your arms a little. Your position at the top sets you up for the forward swing. You can either make the forward swing difficult or you can make it easy, all by where you put your arms and the club at the top. The full backswing checkpoints are as follows.

1 - Left shoulder points at or behind die ball.
You know that already, but let me make it clear. You must make a good turn to make a good golf swing. It's that simple.

2 - Left shoulder lower than the right.
Do not try to get your left shoulder down, that may cause a spine angle change. Your address position should make the left shoulder low condition automatic. Maintain your spine angle.

3 - Weight firmly on your right leg.
Maintain the flex in your right knee. Your right leg is your body's support structure on the backswing.

4 - Left arm is across your shoulder line (perpendicular to your spine) and quite straight.
With your left arm across your shoulder line, you can start your forward swing by extending back and down as we have already discussed. If your left arm is above your shoulder line, you will have to make a loop in your forward swing to swing the club along the correct path. If your left arm is below your shoulder line, your swing will come too much from the inside, causing you to hit the ball too far out to the right. We will discuss the club path more in-depth a little later. For now, you'll just have to take my word for it. Your left arm should be as straight as you can make it without forcing it straighter than it wants to go. If it bends a little, that's OK. Just don't let it collapse on you.

5. Club shaft is just about parallel to the target line. I could get real technical here, but I won't. I do not think it is vital to have the club shaft perfectly "on-plane" (parallel to the target line) at this stage of your game.

6 - Right elbow is bent about ninety degrees.
Watch out for over-bending your right arm. You can cause your left arm to break down, as well as get your right elbow into bad position.

7 - Right forearm points just about straight down to the ground. How close you get your right forearm to straight down depends upon your flexibility. The closer you can get to straight down, the easier the forward swing will be. Just as with the straight left arm, do not force anything. Forcing leads to undue tension, which will make it difficult for you to make a good swing.

Do you really want to make this game as easy as possible? Then get this top of the backswing position right. Study the following pictures and try to do the same thing. Practice in front of a mirror so that every backswing you make is perfect, and soon you will think you've been doing it that way your whole life. It really does not take long to make new habits, in fact, the habituation process only takes twenty-one days. Give me between sixty and one hundred perfect practice swings a day for three weeks, and you won't have to worry about this mechanical stuff any more.

Make your practice swings count. Whatever you practice is exactly what you'll learn, so practice precisely. Go slowly and try to get into the right position without having to adjust it, and you'll be fine.

Realize that I have certain physical limitations which are different than you, so we will both look different although we try to attain the same position. Once again, do not force your body. Freedom from excess tension is more important than duplicating my position exactly. Come as close as you can to the model, staying within your body's limitations.