As a golfer, it is easy to get caught up in the quest for added distance.

And, of course, it is valuable to add distance to your game. When you hit your drives farther, you set up shorter approach shots into the greens. When you hit your irons farther, you are able to use less club to handle approach shots, meaning you can bring the ball in higher with more spin. Any way you look at it, hitting the ball farther is a good thing – as long as you can control that distance effectively.

While thinking about how to hit the ball farther, golfers have been known to come up with quite a few wild ideas. Some of them actually will wind up working, while most will not. One of the ideas you may have thought of during a practice session is to speed up your backswing. The thinking goes that if you make a faster backswing, you will be able to carry more speed into the downswing – and you will wind up hitting the ball farther in the end.

So, does this theory check out? In a word – no. To answer the question posed in the title of this article, no, your backswing should not be faster in an effort to hit longer shots. The tempo you use in your backswing is important, but it has nothing to do with overall distance. Instead, the speed with which you swing back is going to have a strong influence on the quality of your ball striking from day to day. Once you find a rhythm that works nicely for you, the task of hitting solid shots should get quite a bit easier.

The problem with the idea of swinging back faster in order to hit longer shots is the fact that speed from your backswing is not transferred into your downswing. The club has to change directions at the top of the swing, and any object which is changing directions needs to come to a stop before it can move in the other direction. It’s basic physics. So, none of the speed you created in the backswing is going to carry over into the downswing. You might find that you do hit good shots and play at a high level when you make a fast backswing, but it will have nothing to do with any speed carrying over into the downswing – it just doesn’t work that way.

In this article, we are going to talk about establishing the right tempo in your backswing. It may be that you do play best with a fast backswing, or you may be a player better suited to swinging back slow. Whatever the case, you need to settle on an ideal tempo and then stick with that tempo shot after shot.

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.

Why Tempo Matters

For some reason, tempo seems to be something that is often overlooked in the game of golf. It has tremendous importance within the swing, yet many golfers basically ignore this point, instead focusing their efforts on the positions they find throughout the swinging motion. Sure, positions in the swing are important, but only if you have a nice tempo to match.

In this section, we’d like to touch on some points which will hopefully clarify the importance of tempo in your mind. By gaining an understanding of what it is that makes tempo so critical in the golf swing, you’ll be more likely to spend time working on it during your practice sessions.

• Repeatable impact position. When you have a smooth tempo in your swing, you should be able to arrive at roughly the same impact position over and over again. That is an important skill to possess, since golf is a game which rewards consistency above all else. The ability to hit a good golf shot is really only valuable on the course if you can back it up with another good shot – and another good one after that. Successful golfers are those who can string together good shots throughout most of the day, with only a few poor ones sprinkled in. If your good shots are too few and far between, it may be time to work on improving your tempo.
• Improved balance. Hopefully, you already know just how important balance is in the golf swing. There are few things more important in this game than the ability to remain balanced as you swing the club. As it turns out, tempo and rhythm tend to be closely tied to balance. In other words, a player who uses a nice tempo to swing the club back and through will usually be able to stay properly balanced all the way into the finish. If your tempo is uneven, on the other hand – say you rush through the backswing and then slow down in the transition – you will probably struggle with your balance. Perhaps the best way to check on your balance is to monitor your ability to hold your finish position after the swing is complete. If you can hold yourself in a balanced pose as you watch the ball fly, you’ve done a good job with your balance during the swing. If not, you will know you have work to do.
• Performance under pressure. This one is not talked about as much as the previous two, but it is extremely valuable if you hope to continue improving your game as time moves along. If you have a poor tempo in your swing, you might still be able to pull off some quality shots from time to time. With enough practice, you can get used to your awkward tempo and find a way to make it work at a reasonable level. Unfortunately, it’s likely to come unraveled when you find yourself in a tight spot on the course. No matter why you happen to be feeling pressure – maybe you are playing in a tournament, or maybe you have a chance to shoot a new personal best score – the nerves that set in are probably going to pull your swing apart. One of the strongest arguments for working hard on your tempo is that your game will be stronger when the pressure is on. Even if you feel nervous while hitting a shot, you can count on your tempo to carry you through and produce a good result.

When competitive, accomplished golfers have a bad day on the course, they often talk about struggling to find their tempo or rhythm. Rarely do they talk about their swing mechanics getting out of whack, because that doesn’t happen as frequently. Tempo is a vital part of the game, and when you struggle, it’s likely that your rhythm is at least partially to blame. Invest time and effort in practice to work on your tempo and you should see the benefits play out on the course in the relatively near future.

Pros and Cons of a Fast Backswing

We have already made it clear that you should not expect a fast backswing to lead to longer shots. The golf swing just doesn’t work in a way that allows speed from the backswing to be carried into the downswing. With that said, we don’t mean to indicate that you shouldn’t use a fast backswing. Some players, even top professionals, have had great success with this kind of tempo.

In this section, we are going to discuss some of the pros and cons of using a fast backswing. When we are finished with the list below, you should have a much better idea of whether or not this kind of tempo will serve you well.

• Pro – Start the swing with purpose. Many amateur golfers are too tentative with their swings. Afraid to make a mistake, these players will gently move the club back and through, just hoping to send the ball generally in the right direction. Needless to say, this kind of swing isn’t very productive in the end. It is much better to be confident in your abilities than it is to be tentative and doubtful. You aren’t always going to hit good shots, but you can commit to your swing and expect to see good results. For some people, using a fast backswing might be a good way to break out of their shell, so to speak. It’s hard to be tentative when you are swinging the club back quickly since it feels like you have conviction in your swing right from the start. If you have had trouble in the past with regard to doubting yourself on the course, a faster tempo might be the thing you need to shift your mindset.
• Con – Tendency to rush. One of the worst things you can do in the golf swing is rush. You need to give your swing time to develop because there a lot of different parts of the body that need to work together properly. For instance, you need to give your lower body time at the top of the swing to get started turning toward the target. If you rush through the transition, your lower body will be left behind, and you’ll make a weak swing. If you do opt for a fast backswing, you may wind up rushing as a result. It’s important to note that a fast backswing does not necessarily mean that you are rushing, as long as you are providing enough time for everything else in your swing to take place. Your swing will only fall into the rushed category when you aren’t able to do everything you need to do before the club meets the ball at impact.
• Pro – Staying on balance. When you use a slow backswing, there is more time that elapses between the start of the swing and the transition at the top. That extra time means you will have more of an opportunity to lose your balance along the way. Since balance is so important in golf, this is a big deal. A player who works through the backswing quickly simply may not have enough time to slide to the right or left. For the player who tends to struggle with balance, speeding things up a bit on the way back may be a good idea.
• Con – Letting it get out of control. A fast backswing is one thing – an extra-fast backswing is something else. If you work on making a fast backswing and you find that things start to get a little bit out of control at some point, you may have trouble reigning your swing back in. Some golfers will find that their fast backswing seems to work fine on the range, but it runs away from them and becomes too fast on the course. We will talk more about this problem in the next section, but for now we can just say that it is something to watch for if you decide to go in this direction.

Is a fast backswing going to work for every player? No – certainly not. In fact, we would argue that the majority of golfers will be better off sticking with a relatively slow tempo on the way back. With that said, some golfers will find that they perform better with a fast backswing, so this is not a technique that should just be dismissed out of hand.

Taking Your Tempo onto the Course

There is a saying in golf that goes something like the following – ‘the longest walk in the game is from the driving range to the first tee.’ The idea here, of course, is not that it is a long physical distance between the range and the first tee, but rather the point is to highlight the tremendous difference between the range and the course. On the range, things can seem pretty easy when your technique is in good shape. You strike solid shots, you watch them sail down the range, and you feel good about your chances on the course. Then, you get onto the course and things seem to go wrong right from the start. What happened? What changed? The struggle to take performance from the range to the course has perplexed golfers for many, many years.

If you are ever going to reach your potential in this game, you are going to have to find a way to clear this hurdle. Swinging as well on the course as you do on the range is not impossible, although it isn’t necessarily easy. We hope the tips below will help you leave this issue in the past as soon as possible.

• Build a pre-shot routine. The goal you should have in mind while working on this point is to make your play on the course as much like your practice as possible. One way to do that is to build a pre-shot routine that you use both during practice and during your rounds. It doesn’t matter what your routine happens to include, as long as you are able to repeat it shot after shot (and as long as it doesn’t take too long). You may find it helpful to watch a little bit of golf on TV in order to observe the way professional get ready for their shots. You don’t need to copy one of their routines exactly but taking different bits and pieces from various players might allow you to develop a reliable routine of your own.
• Don’t try to do too much. One of the reasons that your shots on the range seem to be so much better than your shots on the course is the fact that you probably aren’t trying to do too much on the range. You probably pick out a target that is within your capabilities with the club you are holding, and you simply make a relaxed swing and send the ball on its way. This is not what many amateur golfers do when on the course. Instead, they try to pull off incredible shots to unlikely targets. Don’t put yourself in a position to fail before you even make a swing. Plan out smart shots that you are confident fall within your realistic abilities. Knowing you have planned a shot that makes sense and it realistic, it’s more likely that your body will respond with a quality swing.
• Set peer pressure to the side. Another issue which may take you out of your normal rhythm when on the course is peer pressure. You don’t care much about the results of your shots on the range, so you simply make relaxed swings and see what happens. On the course, you may have some friends playing in your group, or even some strangers. In an effort to impress others, you might find yourself trying too hard or feeling a bit nervous. Do your best to set these kinds of feelings to the side. Remember, golf is a hard game for everyone, and it’s almost certain that the others in your group are going to hit their share of bad shots as the day moves along.

We aren’t going to say that it will be easy to learn how to take your range swing to the course, because that isn’t necessarily going to be the case. However, you shouldn’t give up just because you are struggling with this point at the moment. Be patient with yourself, consider the tips above, and work on ways to consistently improve the way you perform out on the course.

Rhythm in the Short Game

To finish up this article, we want to talk for a bit about the importance of rhythm in the short game. We’ve been talking about tempo in the full swing and how a fast backswing can work for the right player (even if it doesn’t add distance), but what about the short game? As you know, lower scores are only going to become a reality if you find a way to perform well with your putter and wedges.

Generally speaking, it is going to be best for most golfers to stick with a slow tempo in the short game. While it is possible to play good long shots with a fast backswing, doing the same thing in the short game is quite difficult. When you use a quick tempo while putting and chipping, your technique tends to fall apart, and you may struggle to hit the ball the right distance. Unless you simply can’t make a slower tempo work for some reason, we suggest working on making a slow, controlled backswing in the short game. This is the approach most likely to lead to quality results, and it is also the approach most likely to hold up under pressure.

Remember, the key to success in the short game is distance control. It’s not that hard to get the ball on line when playing short shots, do your success or failure is going to come down to whether or not you can hit the ball the right distance. By practicing a slow and smooth tempo, and by sticking with that tempo on the course, you should see your ability to control your distances improve. No one is perfect in this category, of course, but an easy tempo is the likeliest path to satisfactory results.

We hope you have enjoyed this discussion on fast backswings and what they can offer you on the golf course. While a fast backswing isn’t going to do anything for you in terms of adding distance, it may turn out that moving quickly on the way back is the best way for you to find your rhythm in the full swing. Whatever tempo you decide to use, work on it consistently in practice and do your best to take it with you out onto the course. Good luck!

So a question to you all, should my back swing be faster, enabling me to hit that ball further. So before we start, how many people think the back swing should faster, so I can hit the ball further, be honest. And how many people think the back swing shouldn’t be faster? Okay so all those people who said the back swing should be faster to obtain more distance you’re wrong unfortunately, okay think about it, if I set myself up and I took the club back faster to try and create more club head speed, so I went like this, there’s no control, you can see I’m all over the place, so I first swing first of all in the back swing is actually pulling my body out of position, well I’ve worked so hard to get over the ball in the first place, would you really want to do that? Would you really want your body to be out of position at the top, and if it’s out of position at the top, is it going to be in position back at the bottom? Not very likely is it, because too much going on. The less that goes on in the swing the more control you’ve got. My favorite line to lots and lots of people as you’ll hear me say it many, many times is nobody ever hits the ball in the back swing, and it’s the simplest tip you can ever think about.

So if nobody ever hits the ball in the back swing, you wouldn’t swing too long, and you wouldn’t swing too fast would you, because what would be the point, so if we can contain the back swing, and generate power, store power up for the down swing, then surely we’ve hit the jackpot. So this is what we need to do, if we setup to the ball, I and I want you to focus from here, swing the club back until the shoulder meets the chin. Now it’s in control, if I was swing back fast and do the same thing watch where the club stops this time. See how the club was going round here, I tried to stop when the shoulder hit my chin but it’s impossible the momentum was carrying me forwards longer even more, it’s impossible to stop.

So if I go back in a slower swing speed, there is the control and from here I’ve got everything in position and from here I can now start to accelerate back into the hitting area. So let’s demonstrate on the ball okay, same setup, now remember nice and easy on the back swing, in fact let’s slow the swing down, shoulder to chin, slow, nice balance, nice direction, you could see as I have hit that ball, I’ve kept the finish I’m not wobbly, I’ve not lost my balance, because I’m in control.

So next time you go out just think about it, should I swing faster on my back swing to hit that ball further? No, you won’t get any more distance because you will be out of position, and if you’re out of position, first of all will you be hitting the ball there, or there. Yes you guessed right there. Nobody ever hits the ball in the back swing, get yourself lots of control this position here this is where you store the energy and from here back to that hitting area and nice balance, so go away and work on that for me.