Upper vs. Lower Body Rotation in Backswing
Sorry, you need to be a member to access this video.
You Are Just Seconds Away - Become a member here!
Already a member? Log in now
Confused about how your upper body rotates in the backswing compared to your lower body? This video gives you a unique way to think about it to make it simple.
The backswing for most golfers is where everything starts to go wrong.
It even starts usually at setup, but once everything starts moving, we get into motion.
It's so easy to see when somebody moves from the incorrect positions or incorrect parts of the body during the backswing.
And so it creates a lot of confusion for the golfer.
Because they try to do the right things, or watching the videos that make sense to them, they want to do the right thing.
But they're missing some big picture stuff, and one of those big picture items I want to talk about is separating the upper half from the lower half.
So we'll define the upper half as everything basically above the waist, and everything below the waist is the lower half.
Those two parts of your body need to work a little bit differently during the backswing, and everybody knows this, but hardly anybody does it.
The number one thing that we see at our golf school here in Orlando is that we see almost everybody move their lower body in sync with their upper body.
So, in other words, there's no separation between the buttons on your shirt and your belt buckle.
That's how I typically make it a simple way for people to look at it.
If my belt buckle and my buttons on my shirt are moving together.
In the backswing, there's zero torque being created, there's zero muscle load in our core being created during this part of the swing.
This is devastating for power we have to load up these big muscles in the backswing.
So what we want to do is move our upper body quicker than our lower body.
Think about it this way.
You know that most good golfers have at least 45 degrees of separation between their upper half and their lower half.
Here, my belt buckle hasn't moved, but you can see the buttons on my shirt have moved about 45 degrees.
That's the normal separation you would see at the top of the backswing during the transition for any tour level or good ball striker.
Most amateurs do the opposite.
They turn their hips 70 degrees instead of 45, and then their upper body turns about the same or less sometimes.
And then all of a sudden, as they come through, they come through together, which obviously doesn't do us anything for synchronization in the downswing.
So here's how I want you to think about this really simple concept.
I want to make it simple for you.
Your upper body has to move twice as far as your lower body.
So move it twice as fast.
Simple way to think about it.
If it has to go twice as far, it's got to move 45 degrees.
And this is only got to move zero during this phase of swing.
And this has got to go 90, this only has to go 45, that's double.
So, if you think about moving your upper body twice as quick as you allow your lower body to move.
And the best way to see this is in a mirror when you're practicing.
At first, I want you to watch yourself in the mirror with your buttons on your shirt.
And make sure they turn.
And your belt buckle doesn't during that first half of the swing.
Another good way to check this is with the connect if you put this across your chest.
Especially when you start working on getting your upper body to move twice as much as your lower body.
In the in the real swing, your arms are gonna have a tendency to want to move really fast to try and keep up with your quicker moving upper body.
So if you move the bar instead of worrying about moving your hands and club, and you try to move the bar twice as much and twice as quick as your lower half.
And it becomes a lot simpler to isolate your core body movements from what your arms and club are doing.
So the connect is really helpful for that.
But the big thing is understand that you must separate your upper and lower half.
Now, in reality, your hips can turn a little bit during the takeaway, right off the backs.
You know, as soon as the club starts going back, it's okay for your hips to turn a little bit.
The problem is, almost every golfer on the planet, at an amateur level.
Turns them a lot right away.
And they're moving very quickly, the same rate of rotation that their upper body is moving.
Think about doubling the pace, doubling the rate of rotation with your upper half so it outruns your lower half, and watch your backswing dynamically improve.
David
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Dave
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
M. (Certified RST Instructor)
R.J. (Certified RST Instructor)
Eric
Eric
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
David
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
David
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Michael
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Michael
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Paul
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Giap
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Ron
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Eric
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Eric
jennifer
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Scott
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
margaret
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Michael
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Michael
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Michael
Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
Peter
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Jim
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Tim
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Tim