How Senior Golfers should Set the Club at the Top of their Golf Swing (Video) - by Dean Butler
How Senior Golfers should Set the Club at the Top of their Golf Swing (Video) - by Dean Butler

Okay, I want to talk about how the club should be set at the top of the back swing, so let's look from behind. Moving over the ball, at the top of the back swing, the club ideally should be set in a position, where it’s really nice and parallel to the target line, okay. So when we get to that, to achieve that position, I want you to concentrate on pushing away with your left arm, your left shoulder, pushing that club away. And as you push that club away, I want you to rotate your shoulders through 90 degrees. So as we go back, push away, rotate your shoulders and you can see where the position is here.

Now being a senior golfer, we might not actually have that flexibility to be able to do that. So stick within your sort of framework, a good tip for how long should the backswing be, is very, very simple and a lot simpler than you actually think. If I set myself up and swing the club back, working on the same principle, pushing away from here, turning my shoulders and I go back, you can see here, that my shoulder has hit my chin. If I wanted to go any further, you can see where the club has gone now, in a parallel line. But you can see, it's actually pulled my body up, so I think as we are talking about senior golfers here, we should concentrate really on getting into that position by pushing away, rotating the shoulders to as much as you possibly can, so you feel comfortable. But at the end of the day, just take that club back and as soon as the shoulder hits the chin, that really is the guide to say right, that’s long enough. Because anything further than that and of course all of a sudden, the head is being pulled off and obviously any benefits that might be there for a senior golfer is completely lost. So really, remember nobody ever hits a ball in the backswing, so let's control the backswing. And that’s the position that we need to go, push away to this side, turn your shoulders to 90 degrees, get yourself into this position, and remember, that’s as far as you need to go. If you get there in practice, the momentum and the weight of the club will naturally cut the risk of the top of the backswing. Don’t you do this, it will happen naturally. So that’s the position of the top of the backswing, focus on that movement. It’s not difficult. Push it away, but stay within your sort of comfort zone. So shorter rather than longer is a much better position. 2013-10-29

Okay, I want to talk about how the club should be set at the top of the back swing, so let's look from behind. Moving over the ball, at the top of the back swing, the club ideally should be set in a position, where it’s really nice and parallel to the target line, okay. So when we get to that, to achieve that position, I want you to concentrate on pushing away with your left arm, your left shoulder, pushing that club away. And as you push that club away, I want you to rotate your shoulders through 90 degrees. So as we go back, push away, rotate your shoulders and you can see where the position is here.

Now being a senior golfer, we might not actually have that flexibility to be able to do that. So stick within your sort of framework, a good tip for how long should the backswing be, is very, very simple and a lot simpler than you actually think. If I set myself up and swing the club back, working on the same principle, pushing away from here, turning my shoulders and I go back, you can see here, that my shoulder has hit my chin. If I wanted to go any further, you can see where the club has gone now, in a parallel line. But you can see, it's actually pulled my body up, so I think as we are talking about senior golfers here, we should concentrate really on getting into that position by pushing away, rotating the shoulders to as much as you possibly can, so you feel comfortable.

But at the end of the day, just take that club back and as soon as the shoulder hits the chin, that really is the guide to say right, that’s long enough. Because anything further than that and of course all of a sudden, the head is being pulled off and obviously any benefits that might be there for a senior golfer is completely lost. So really, remember nobody ever hits a ball in the backswing, so let's control the backswing. And that’s the position that we need to go, push away to this side, turn your shoulders to 90 degrees, get yourself into this position, and remember, that’s as far as you need to go.

If you get there in practice, the momentum and the weight of the club will naturally cut the risk of the top of the backswing. Don’t you do this, it will happen naturally. So that’s the position of the top of the backswing, focus on that movement. It’s not difficult. Push it away, but stay within your sort of comfort zone. So shorter rather than longer is a much better position.