Using a lifting action during your backswing rather than a rotational movement, causes golfers a variety of problems when playing the golf shots.
A lifting action involves lifting your arms up during the backswing with very little upper body rotation as the arms' movement becomes the dominant movement. As the arms lift, only the power of the arms and the speed that the arms can generate is delivered back to the ball to hit it. A lifting action massively reduces the power of your swing and the speed on the club head so you will not achieve the distance that you could if you were making a more rotational movement with your upper body.
The second issue with lifting rather than swinging, is that the club head moves more vertically and into a higher position than if you moved more rotationally. This means that the club head attacks back at the ball on a very steep angle and the club head will strike the top of the ball rather than the side of it. This will now produce topped shots that fly very low.
To improve your swing, learn to make a more rotational upper body movement, rather than just lifting your arms. Work on rotating your upper body 90 degrees to the right of its start position (for right handed golfers) by the end of your backswing.
Place an alignment pole from the target line at an angle similar to the shaft of the golf club at set up. Stand three to four feet to the left of the pole and work on swinging the club head back towards it and then just above it as you swing back on your backswing. This will get you rotating your upper body towards the pole. If you are lifting, you will literally lift the club head up above the pole. Work on keeping it just above the pole and close to it as it moves back at the angle of the pole.
This will get you hitting the ball much more solidly as your connection will improve, you will experience improved height to your shots and you will see an increase in the distance you can hit as well, as you are now rotating your body at the ball and increasing the speed that you are swinging the club with.
