Golf Tips » January 2003: Stop losing it at the top!

This months golf tip comes via a request from Ivan Contreras of Chile, South America who asks,

"I would appreciate very much knowing how to avoid laying the club off or letting the club fall at the top of the backswing. In other words, how can I control the final backswing position without letting the club fall?. I always receive the same answer: shorten the backswing. I would rather not do this, because I think a shorter backswing is rather ugly and also I can not shorten my backswing when perhaps it has a wrong backswing line. Instead I would prefer to learn how to control the final backswing position without letting the club fall. How can I do this?"

Well Ivan, the solution is a fairly simple one. First of all if the club is dropping at the top of the backswing then the culprit is the last three fingers of your left hand (assuming you are right handed). If you let go with these three fingers you will lose control of the club, causing loss of distance and accuracy.  

#1

 

As you can see in picture #1 I have allowed the last three fingers of my left hand to lose their grip at the top of the swing. This will cause the club to drop below parallel, as in picture #2:

 

#2

 

In picture #3 I have kept the last three fingers of the left hand gripping the club and you will notice that it immediately shortens up the swing without losing any shoulder turn.  Remember: distance is developed by the width of the swing, not the length!

 

#3

 

#4

 

An additional benefit to maintaining a firm grip at the top is that you will hold the angle between the left arm and the shaft longer, helping you delay the release of the clubhead and creating more clubhead speed, which results in more distance.

This is a very simple correction to your swing if this is a problem and you should start noticing results almost immediately!