A common fault of many amateur golfers is standing too still for a few too many seconds before making their backswing.
By no means am I encouraging you to rush your golf swing but I do want to give you a couple of ways to prevent tension from creeping into your muscles during the time from when you address the ball until the time you make your backswing.
If you are standing still/rigid for a few too many seconds at set-up – tension with creep up your arms and up into your torso – your leg muscles will also firm up. This is detrimental to initiating the smooth takeaway/backswing movement that is so important in you being able to retain your balance and produce an athletic sequence of movements to hit the ball. When golfers are rigid prior to their backswing they will make a jerky and quick backswing – primarily with their hands and arms giving the body little chance of catching up so that it can work in the correct sequence.
If you watch the tour players on TV, even though you will see them being deliberate whilst setting up to their shots, you won’t ever see them standing absolutely still like a statue for more than four seconds.
The two tips I want to give you to prevent this tension from creeping in pre-backswing are:
The Waggle
When standing to the ball running your checklist through your mind (alignment, ball position, posture etc) Don’t allow the clubhead to sit behind the ball in a stationary position. Instead, flex your wrists gently to the right and back again several times whilst you are ticking your set-up boxes. This prevents tension creeping up your arms into your body and when you are ready to ‘pull the trigger’ you will find that you are able to make a smooth backswing as opposed to being ‘set-in-concrete’ and having to make a jerky motion. (see pic 1).
The Shuffle
Whilst standing to the ball shuffle your weight between each of your feet by gently lifting one of them at a time slightly off of the ground. Place that foot down and do the same with the opposite foot. You can do this a number of times until you are ready to commence your backswing.
This will serve to prevent your legs becoming rigid and will enable them to work properly throughout the entire golf swing. (see pic 2).
Hit some practice shots trying one or both of these in your set-up routine – You may already waggle and shuffle already but if you don’t I strongly suggest building them into your set-up routine.
Tom Long
Golf Professional