It is true that the most important position is impact however what happens on the backswing can have a great influence on how the club is delivered to the ball. It is still possible to strike the ball well even if the backswing is not perfectly in position but the consistency of your shots will always be a struggle. The biggest keys to a great backswing is turn, stability and ensuring the arms stay in front of the chest.
The biggest key that I focus on during the backswing is ensuring that my arms stay in front of the chest. If the arms stay in front of the chest on the way back then chances are that on the downswing, the arms will again stay in front enabling me to coordinate my body effectively through impact. Now keeping the arms in front of the chest is achieved by ensuring the swing path is neutral with sufficient wrist hinge as well turning my right hip back. The other key is ensuring that the right elbow stays down at the top of the swing.
Now the most common position that most people get in on the way back is that the arms will move back but the body is slow to turn. This can create two patterns on the downswing. Firstly you may start swinging over the top as the arms will tend to be too far behind the body and thus attempting to get back in front of the chest on the way down by pushing the arms out in front of the body. Secondly the arms may stay back even further on the downswing causing a 'stuck' position. The latter position can cause 'block' shots to the right or 'hook' shots to the left.
Now on the backswing it is important to try and stay on top of the ball. This simply means that when you turn on the backswing, that you try and keep your head stable whilst you pull the right hip back. Having the head stable on the backswing will enable you to transfer your weight seamlessly through the ball. If the head starts to shift back, it becomes far harder to strike the ball well. This is because if the head goes back, the weight has to try and shift back to the front foot each time to the correct spot. Sometimes you may be able to get this right but under fatigue, you may not be able to shift the weight back to its ideal position.
If you'd like any further help with having a sound backswing just contact myself at David Waters Golf.
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