Have you ever heard of another golfer talk about getting stuck during their downswing?

What does that mean? Why is it a problem? The term ‘stuck’ is one that is frequently tossed around in golf circles, yet plenty of players don’t really know what it is or why it will typically lead to a poor shot. In this article, we are going to cover this topic from top to bottom, to help you gain a better overall understanding of the golf swing. Whether you are currently getting stuck or just want to avoid running into this problem in the future, we hope the content below will be of assistance.

One thing we should point out before getting into this article is that getting stuck is a problem which actually tends to affect good golfers more than high-handicappers. While it is frustrating to continue to put yourself in a stuck position, doing so actually means that you aren’t too far off from making a solid swing. With just a couple basic adjustments to your technique and timing, you could find yourself hitting better shots than ever before. In other words, don’t give up or get too frustrated as a result of your tendency to get stuck. Instead, get down to work on finding a solution, and look forward to raising your level of play in the near future.

All of the content below is based on a right-handed golfer. If you happen to play left-handed, please take a moment to reverse the directions as necessary.

What Does It Mean to Get Stuck?

First things first – we need to explain what we are talking about when we say that a golf swing is ‘stuck’. Even if you are currently confused as to what that means – or you have no idea at all – you’ll see shortly that it is really quite simple.

A golf swing falls into the ‘stuck’ category when the club is behind your body as you turn down toward impact. In other words, your body is turning through the shot and toward the target, while your club is trailing behind and unable to catch up by the time impact arrives. This is why the term ‘stuck’ applies so appropriately here – the club is stuck behind you and there really isn’t anything you can do about it once the mistake has been made.

How do you know if you are getting stuck in your swing? Usually, these kinds of shots will miss way to the right of your intended target. Rather than missing to the right with a slice, as is the problem for some golfers, a shot that is the result of stuck swing will usually just start to the right of the target and fly relatively straight as it travels. Unfortunately, that means it probably won’t work back toward the target much, if at all, and the end result will be a ball that lands well to the right and leaves you out of position for the next shot. It’s hard to get much of anything playable out of a stuck swing, so making this kind of mistake is likely to add strokes to your score.

Another key point to understand is that getting stuck is far more likely to happen when swinging your long clubs. For instance, you are much more likely to wind up stuck when hitting a driver from the tee than when hitting a short approach shot with a pitching wedge. This is a direct result of the length of the swing and the kind of power you are attempting to produce. With a long swing, there is more time for things to go wrong at the top. Your body can more easily get out in front of the club, and that is even more likely to be the case when you attempt to hit the ball hard. It’s possible to get stuck with something like a wedge, but the problem is far more prevalent when you are swinging your long clubs.

Often, in golf, the problems you have in your swing will show up shot after shot, without any break. For instance, if you have a mechanical flaw that is leading you to hit a slice, it’s likely that you will hit the slice over and over, on nearly every shot you hit during the course of a round. This is not necessarily going to be the case with the issue of getting stuck. Since getting stuck is a matter of timing more than anything else, this is a problem that will likely come and go. Sometimes, you’ll have your timing in a good place and you’ll be able to avoid getting stuck for long stretches of time. You may even go an entire round without having this happen to you once. On other occasions, you’ll be struggling with the timing of your swing and it will seem like you’re getting stuck on every single shot. It can be frustrating to have this issue come and go in your game, as you’ll think that you have it figured out – only to have it pop up again.

Understand that this is a common experience for many golfers, and you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself when it happens. Even professional golfers will get off track from a timing perspective occasionally, and stuck swings are often the outcome. There is never going to be a point in your golf experience where you ‘master’ the swing and don’t have to worry about making any mistakes. This is an extremely hard game and there are always going to be challenges to overcome. It’s best to view your battle with stuck swings as just part of the ongoing quest to play your best golf. This isn’t something you cure – rather, it is something you manage and hope to minimize its effect on your performance.

Typical Causes

There is no way for us to identify exactly what it is that’s causing you to get stuck in your downswing. After all, your swing is unique to you, and it brings together a variety of fundamentals and timing elements in a way that no one else can replicate exactly. So, unless we are able to watch you swing the club, we can’t pinpoint the precise cause of getting stuck on some of your swings.

However, we are able to offer up a list of common causes for stuck swings. There are three issues that are frequently seen when this type of problem occurs in the golf swing and knowing those three issues will help you watch for signs of trouble. When you start to get stuck on some of your downswings, consult this list and see if you can get down to the root of the problem.

• Turning left before the backswing is complete. In a properly-functioning golf swing, there is a delicate relationship between the timing of your backswing and the beginning of your downswing. Ideally, your lower body will initiate the downswing just as the backswing is being completed. There is usually a bit of overlap here, but only slightly – the lower body turn toward the target will start just a fraction of a second before the backswing has finished. When the timing is right, it’s a powerful way to swing the club. If you miss with your timing, however, even only slightly, you can get into trouble. Specifically, if you start to turn your hips toward the target too soon, you are likely to leave the club stuck behind you in the downswing. This is a mistake which will frequently come up when playing under pressure, as the nerves of the situation are likely to cause you to rush. On the range, when there is no pressure, you may not have any trouble at all producing good timing. When you get out onto the course, however, and you start to feel your nerves set in, things may go sideways. Learning how to reproduce the timing of your swing on the course as well as you do on the range is an important skill to develop.
• Letting the backswing carry on too long. This is an extremely common problem in the amateur game. Plenty of golfers force themselves to make the longest backswing possible, thinking that effort will be rewarded in the way of longer, more powerful shots. That is typically not going to be the case. If you force yourself to make a long backswing, you will likely lose your balance and be unable to swing the club at maximum speed. Not only that, but you’ll also be making it more likely that the club will end up stuck in the downswing. By swinging back so far, it’s pretty much inevitable that the club will be way behind you when the downswing begins. Unless you find a way to allow it to catch up – which is hard to do – you’ll be stuck on the way down toward impact. The key here is to avoid making an excessively long arm swing. If you are going to make a big backswing, it should be the result of a great shoulder turn away from the target. Whenever the shoulders are done turning, no matter how far back that has allowed you to go, your backswing should be finished. If you do a good job of stopping your backswing as soon as your shoulders are done turning, it will become much easier to stay away from a stuck position.
• Trying to hit the ball too hard. Simply put, trying to hit your shots too hard is a classic way to wind up in a stuck position. This mistake is basically going to bring together the two previous points into one package. You’ll probably swing back farther than necessary when you try to hit a shot particularly hard, and you may rush the start of your downswing, as well. In the end, this is the type of swing that is likely to wind up badly stuck, leading to a ball flight that leaves you way to the right of the target. Remember, golf is a game which is about accuracy first and foremost, so you should resist the urge to swing as hard as possible. Yes, it’s nice to have plenty of distance available, but only if you can control that distance. Do your best to set aside the urge to hit the ball extra hard and instead focus on making controlled, balanced golf swings time after time.

When you wind up in a stuck position for the downswing, there is obviously something wrong with the timing or technique of your swing. Most often, it is an issue with the transition phase of the swing, either in terms of rushing the downswing or letting the backswing carry on too long. Either way, you’ll need to spend plenty of practice time working on improving your transition, so you can keep the club in front of you and positioned properly for a clean strike.

Bringing Everything Back Together

By now, you should have a good understanding of what it means to get stuck in the golf swing, and you should have a pretty clear picture as to why it happens. In fact, you are probably already thinking about the mistakes that you make in your own swing which allow this to occur. In this section, we like to touch on some basic tips to help you steer clear of this frustrating mistake.

Can we guarantee that following the tips below will prevent you from getting stuck at any point in the future? Of course not – golf doesn’t work that way. As we mentioned earlier, it will always be possible to get stuck on a future swing, even if you have great technique and put in plenty of practice. We are simply aiming to reduce the frequency of this mistake, so your game can be more reliable and your scores can move in the right direction.

• Use plenty of club. If you keep track of the times on the course when you wind up getting stuck, there is a good chance that many of those occasions will involve shots which you tried to hit particularly hard. We mentioned that earlier, and we’d like to point out now how this issue is related to club selection. For example, imagine that you are facing an approach shot of 200 yards – a challenging distance, to be sure. Most of the time, you need your three wood to hit the ball that far, but occasionally you can handle it with your hybrid. If you opt for the hybrid club, you’ll know that you need to hit the ball as hard as possible to reach the target – and you might wind up getting stuck as a result of that undue effort. By picking the three wood, you will know that you have plenty of club in hand, and you won’t be forced to up your level of effort. A smooth swing with your three wood should help you avoid getting stuck, and the outcome should be better when all is said and done.
• Settle down. It’s easy to get a little too excited on the golf course. When you feel like you have an opportunity to hit a great shot, or secure a great score, your excitement might get the best of you – to the detriment of your golf swing. This is a game which is easiest to play when you are feeling loose and relaxed. As such, do your best to settle yourself down and focus on the task at hand for each and every swing. For many golfers, a pre-shot routine is the best way to settle down and execute the swing properly. Your routine might include some visualization of the shot you plan to play, a practice swing, a deep breath, or other elements. Work on building a routine that you can go through prior to each shot which will help you get focused without taking up too much time.
• Think short with long clubs. We mentioned earlier in the article that it is more common to get stuck with a long club than a short club. This is due to the fact that you will make a longer, more aggressive swing with your long clubs. To do your best to stay connected while hitting long clubs like the driver, try thinking about the technique you use with a short club, like a wedge. So, while standing on the tee getting ready to hit a driver, make a practice swing while thinking about how you hit a wedge shot. This will encourage a shorter, tighter turn and simplified mechanics. You don’t actually have to swing that short with your driver, but even putting the thought in your mind should go a long way toward helping you stay connected.

It’s possible that one or more of the three tips listed above will greatly help you in the quest to avoid stuck swings. Or, it’s possible that you will need to work on finding your own solutions in order to get away from this problem. One thing is for sure – you will need to do some work in order to make progress on this issue. In other words, it’s not just going to go away on its own. Every improvement you make in golf requires action on your part, and this is no different.

Moving On

Making the mistake of getting stuck in the downswing is likely to have a negative impact on the shot you are playing, as there is a good chance the ball will wind up way to the right of the target. However, that single miss might not be your biggest problem, as the mental impact of getting stuck in your swing could linger for the rest of your round. To avoid having a single bad swing cause trouble for the rest of the day, you need to know how to move on properly after getting stuck.

The first thing to keep in mind is that all golfers hit bad shots. Getting stuck once does not mean that you are going to repeat this mistake over and over again. Try not to overreact to just one bad shot, whether you got stuck in the downswing or made some other kind of mistake. Only when a pattern begins to develop should you start to think about taking action in order to remedy the issue at hand.

So, for the purposes of this discussion, let’s stay that you are in the middle of a round, and you find yourself in a pattern of getting stuck during the downswing. You have only played six or seven holes, and you’ve already made this mistake several times. What do you do? The best way to proceed is to look for the easiest possible solution to the problem, in order to work through the rest of the round. You aren’t going to be able to reinvent your swing at this point, while in the middle of a round. If there are major technical changes that do need to be made, those will have to wait. For now, look for a simple solution. Try to slow down your swing, or otherwise adjust your timing in a way that will let you stay connected and strike the ball with reasonable accuracy. Later on, you can figure out why your swing was getting stuck so frequently, and how you can make changes to limit that issue in the future.

It’s always frustrating to get stuck during your downswing, especially if the end result is a shot that badly misses your target. The good news, however, is that most golfers who find themselves stuck in the downswing are not far off of a solid, reliable golf swing. Work on your fundamentals, as well as your timing, to iron out whatever it is that is leading the club to get stuck behind you on the way down. Good luck!

If you are a follower of golf on the TV you might have heard commentators talking about people getting stuck in that swing, particularly getting stuck in that downswing. And I mentioned this because it’s a problem that Tiger Woods has a lot and often people like to analyze his swing and sort of pull into pieces and say where is it going right and where he is going wrong. And it’s often the getting stuck on the downswing move that commentators will highlight.

Now basically what that move means from this address position, it takes is nicely to the top and he pulls the golf club down behind him but if the club isn't in sync with his body you can feel like the right arm is dropped the golf club too far behind. Then as he turns his body through to impact the club is now stuck too far behind him, it’s a little bit behind where it should be that would encourage the club to swing too much from the inside pushing out to the right hand side unless Tiger does a very good job then of squaring the club face up or getting the club face bat around to impact. He is probably going to hit some big pushes from that position so big out down the right hand side blocks. And if he was to get the club face to come around and close over too much he could hit some very big pull and hook down the left hand side shots. So by getting the golf club stuck behind him too much here, lot of golfers would get themselves into trouble.

Now if you feel that those shots sort of the big block out right or the quick [indiscernible] [01:38] left, if you feel those shots are something you are prone to you need to try and stop getting the golf club stuck behind you. Here is a little exercise that could help you guys.

Let’s say you set yourself up to a golf ball down here with a driver and then just place an object be it a head cover or a bottle of water or something just there. And I want to feel now like I have to take the golf club out over the top of the object but also maintain some width on my downswing to feel like I have to project the golf club back in front of me to swing through to the ball. If I was to get the golf club too stuck here too far behind me I would feel like I was going to come in and strike my object on the way through. So this is almost the opposite to someone who would slice the golf ball, someone that slices a golf ball would never have a problem with getting the club stuck really, they would always bring the club over the top Tee much.

Now if you someone that maybe worked on trying to draw the golf club in the past and is now starting to get the golf club stuck behind them turn the body through too quickly and have to throw the ball down the right hand side or flick the hamster hook it back in. So for you if that’s the problem you can work on projecting the golf club more out in front of the body messing the object on the way back through and hopefully having a straight and better swing path to produce a ball that has a little bit less side spin and a bit more accuracy.