Exercises to Help with the Golf Backswing

Before you properly set up alongside the ball in a position from which to commence the first operation in swinging the club, you would do well to get started with some excellent exercises which will help with your backswing.

Obviously if you are gripping the club correctly and standing ideally to the ball you are giving yourself a real chance at the outset to shape a sound backswing. That being so, try not to rush into anything further, but give yourself a better chance by conquering these exercises first.

Exercises which can help

Here are two exercises which will help you to master the main essentials of the backswing.

The whole art of swinging the club back from the ball to a position in which you are poised to deliver a solid and powerful blow is largely governed by a system of control running diagonally down the body from the left shoulder to the right foot.

First, the shoulder, and with it that priceless knack which may seem elusive at first but which you must work to acquire upper-left-arm-leverage.

Unless you keep that left shoulder UP you cannot hope to achieve upper-arm-leverage, which comes as near to being a secret formula for success as anything in the golf technique. More than any other factor it made Hogan a phenomenal player of all the shots in the bag. Among the lesser men it can make a good player into a very, very good one.

This simple exercise should give you the feeling more readily than any other I know. You do not need a club for this exercise. Just take up the address position and with the left shoulder up grasp the extended left arm with the right hand at the point where the left hand joins the wrist.

Now perform the backswing by turning the shoulders and chest over the stomach and carrying the hands to the top. Do this a number of times daily and keep doing it until you develop the feeling of how the upper left arm is operating.

The second exercise (it could more properly be termed an expedient) is an aid to those who have trouble in keeping the weight on the inside of the right foot as the backswing develops, and the body turn takes place under the control of the right knee and right hip.

Many fine golfers have to fight against a sway creeping into the movement. One such is Guy Wolstenholme, British Walker Cup player and now a professional.

To counter the tendency to sway and to maintain the weight on the inside of the right foot he practiced with a golf ball wedged between the outside edge of the right foot and the ground. This not only acted as a buttress but helped to train the muscles as he required them to be set. In this way the right hip was prevented from riding too high and the right knee was held in the same position as at address.

Practice these exercises, and you will have a much better chance at a great backswing.

Go out on to the practice ground and try it yourself.