In this case, when I say “parallel”, I’m talking about the relationship between the club shaft and the ground at the top of the back swing.  Most of us have been taught, or read, or heard that the “textbook” position in a traditional golf swing is for the club shaft to be parallel to the ground at the top.

Unfortunately, many golfers lack the flexibility to achieve this position.

Now, the obvious answer to that is to work on increasing flexibility until that proper back swing position can be achieved.  But, the inability to reach parallel isn’t as big a deal as the compensations that players make to try and achieve a full back swing.

If players who can’t get to parallel (and didn’t want to work on flexibility) would simply stop their back swing a little sooner, they would still be able to engage in nice, crisp ball striking.  They would only lose a little distance.  Instead, they tend to do things that end up being much worse.

Swing Width

The most important checkpoint that is missed is the relationship between the hands and the right shoulder (for a right-handed player) during the back swing.  We’ve heard the term “width” in the back swing.  By keeping the hands as far from the right shoulder as possible, we create width (which is another way of saying we have a bigger swing arc) and with that, we enjoy more power and consistency.

When players become fixated on getting to parallel but can’t do it, that width is usually the first thing to suffer.  The left arm breaks down and the hands get closer to the shoulder.  This is a huge power drain.  The player feels like he has a long swing, but in reality, he doesn’t and has actually put himself in a worse position.

Poor Shoulder Turn

The other thing that goes hand in hand with achieving a full back swing is, obviously, a full shoulder turn.  The inability to make a full turn is often a cause for a breakdown in width.  The player knows he has further to go to complete the back swing, and that’s where we see that breakdown in the relationship between hands and right shoulder like we discussed above.

A good shoulder turn should be about 90 degrees.  At the top of the back swing, your left shoulder should be under your chin and your right shoulder should be right behind your head, where if a line was drawn through the shoulders, it would be perpendicular to the target line.

Poor Hip Turn

Another symptom in these relationships is a poor hip turn.  Not just too little hip turn, but too much hip turn.  Sometimes when a player can’t get enough turn in the shoulders, it’s easier to help the situation by turning the hips a little more.

If you’re familiar with Jim McLean’s X-Factor swing concept, then you know that power comes not from how far you turn the hips and shoulders, but how far you turn them in relation to each other.  Normally, the hips should not turn more than 45 degrees.  A little less is probably better.  If you’re overturning your hips to try and get to a full back swing, then you’re robbing yourself of serious power.

The Hands and Wrists

This isn’t so much a flexibility issue as much as a problem with finding the wrong way to get the club shaft to parallel at the top.

One problem I suffered from while trying to make a full turn was letting my hands and wrists break down.  Because I felt like the club wasn’t getting to parallel, I was subconsciously “helping” by letting my grip and wrists break down to let the club get into position.

The big problem this caused was forcing the club into a different swing plane.  For me, that meant a terrible blow to consistency because of the re-routing that had to take place to get back to the ball.  I’ve known for a long time that lag is a good thing (lag being the delayed release of the club as you approach the ball on the down swing).  Now, I strive for a relationship between my left arm and club shaft of 90 degrees at the top of the back swing.  I was going much further before, partly because I felt like I was helping get more lag, and partly because I couldn’t see what was happening.

It’s OK if that relationship between the left arm and club shaft goes beyond 90 degrees during the down swing (watch Sergio Garcia swing, for example), but letting that happen too early put me in a bad position at the top.

The Answer

There are two solutions to the basic problem.

As I said at the top, the obvious fix is to increase flexibility and strength in the body to be able to allow yourself to make a full turn without sacrificing width, shoulder turn, and hip turn.  There is an absolute mountain of information on the web and in books about how to do this.  Half an hour a day for several weeks will allow you to see huge results.  If you want proof, check out Mike Pedersen’s video series with his pupil Morrie, a senior golfer who wants to get some distance back.  In a few weeks, he has seen drastic results in distance by working on his flexibility for just minutes per day.

That’s the optimal solution and is the one I recommend.  But you and I both know that many of you aren’t going to put in that effort.  Between family, work, and life obligations, time is short.  It’s much more fun to just go out and play golf with that precious time.  Working out isn’t much fun.  I understand.

So what’s the other answer?  As I also said at the top:  shorten your back swing.

I promise you, if you lack flexibility and try and make up for it by breaking down the relationships in your swing that we discussed above, then you’re robbing yourself of power (at best), and probably hurting your consistency too.

There’s not a thing in the world wrong with just shorting your swing a little to maintain these relationships.  Just enough to keep your swing arc wide (hands further from your right shoulder), your hips from over-turning, and your hands and wrists from breaking down.

If you keep all those relationships intact but don’t manage to get the club to parallel, don’t worry.  You’ll probably lose a few yards of distance, but you’re going to make up for it with solid ball striking.

The bottom line is, fix the root cause if you are ready, willing, and able.  If not, forget vanity, stop trying to look like Tiger Woods and learn to accept the situation and maximize what you’re able to get from your swing with your level of strength and flexibility.

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