How to Shorten a Golf Backswing

A golf swing that stretches past parallel at the top can feel powerful, but it’s often the hidden culprit behind inconsistent ball striking, wild misses, and a frustrating loss of control. The good news is that shortening your backswing doesn't mean sacrificing distance, it means gaining precision and efficiency. This guide will walk you through why your backswing gets too long and provide practical, step-by-step drills to build a more compact, powerful, and repeatable motion.

Understand Why Your Backswing Gets Too Long

Before we can fix a long backswing, it's helpful to understand what causes it. For most golfers, it isn’t a conscious choice but rather a symptom of another issue. A long, uncontrolled backswing typically stems from a misunderstanding of how power is generated in the golf swing.

Many players believe that a longer arc equals a faster swing and more distance. They start reaching and lifting their arms, trying to get the club as far back as possible. This extra movement, however, usually happens after the body has stopped turning. When your arms and the club disconnect from your body's rotation, you get into a weak and unstable position at the top. From here, your rhythm is thrown off, and the club is more likely to travel on an incorrect path back down to the ball - often from "over the top."

Common causes for an overly long backswing include:

• Relying on arms instead of body rotation: The swing becomes an arm-centric lifting motion rather than a body-powered turning motion.
• Poor sequencing: The arms continue to travel long after the hips and shoulders have completed their backswing turn.
• A "flying" trail elbow: When your back elbow (the right elbow for right-handers) lifts away from your body, it allows the arms to keep going up and back, creating extra length.
• A lack of tension or structure: A loose grip or collapsing lead arm at the top can let the club's momentum carry it past a good position.

The result is a whole host of problems - thin shots, fat shots, hooks, and slices - all because you're fighting to get the club back to the ball from an out-of-sync position. A shorter, more connected backswing sets you up for success before you even start the downswing.

Focusing on Your Core: The Engine of Your Swing

The single most effective way to control your backswing length is to understand this: your backswing is finished when your body’s rotation is finished. Your arms are just along for the ride. The real engine of your swing is the turn of your torso - your shoulders and hips.

Think about your shoulder turn. For a right-handed golfer, the goal is to rotate your torso until your left shoulder is tucked underneath your chin. For many golfers, this is a distinct point that serves as a natural endpoint for the backswing. If you just focus on making a full shoulder turn, you will automatically find a powerful and loaded position without your arms ever needing to lift into an extreme position.

Your hips facilitate this shoulder turn. While they don't turn as much as your shoulders, they need to rotate freely to create space. A common fault is trying to restrict the hips, which forces the arms and upper body to lift upward instead of turning around. Allow your trail hip (right hip for a righty) to turn back and away from the ball.

A great thought to have is "back to the target." On your backswing, simply focus on turning your chest and back so that the logo on the back of your shirt is pointing at your target. When you reach that point, your body has completed its coil. Now, your arms and the club should be in a perfect, powerful position - not necessarily parallel to the ground, but fully loaded and ready to unwind.

Actionable Drills to Calibrate Your Swing Length

Understanding the concept is one thing, feeling it is another. These drills are designed to give you the physical sensation of a shorter, more connected backswing. Spend time with these at the driving range, and you will build the muscle memory needed to make it permanent.

Drill 1: The "L-to-L" Swing

This is a an incredible drill for instilling a feeling of a compact swing and proper wrist hinge. It's focused on creating structure rather than raw power.

1. Set up to the ball as you normally would, using a short or mid-iron.
2. Make a backswing where your lead arm (left arm for righties) stays straight and stops when it’s parallel to the ground.
3. At this point, your wrists should be hinged so the club shaft points vertically to the sky, forming an ‘L’ shape between your lead arm and the club. This feels exceptionally short, but it establishes perfect structure.
4. From this abbreviated backswing, swing through to a mirror-image finish position on your follow-through side, with your trail arm extended and the club pointing up, forming another 'L'.
5. Start with slow, small swings focusing on the precise positions. As you get comfortable, you can start hitting balls with more speed, always retaining that L-to-L framework.

Drill 2: The Tucked Trail Elbow Drill

A "flying" trail elbow is one of the primary causes of a long and disconnected backswing. This drill forces you to keep your arms connected to your body turn.

1. Take a golf glove, a small towel, or a driver headcover and lodge it in your trail arm's armpit (right armpit for right-handers).
2. Your goal is to make swings without letting the object fall out. Make small swings at first, focusing on the feeling of your torso's rotation moving your arms and the club.
3. As you swing back, the pressure on the glove should remain constant. If the glove drops, it means your elbow has "flown" out and away from your body, disconnecting your arm from the turn.
4. You want to keep the object in place until well into your downswing, preferably after impact. This drill ingrains the feeling of a unified movement where the arms and torso work together, naturally shortening the backswing and keeping the club on a better plane.

Drill 3: The Conscious Pause Drill

Many golfers with long backswings have a rushed transition from backswing to downswing, leaving no time to feel their position. This drill breaks that habit.

1. Set up to the ball. Take a smooth backswing to what feels like a three-quarters position.
2. At the top, stop completely for a full one or two seconds. Don't look at the club, just feel the position. Are you balanced? Does it feel controlled and powerful, or loose and unsettled? This pause eliminates the extra, sloppy arm movement that happens with too much momentum.
3. After the pause, start your downswing smoothly by initiating with your lower body and unwinding your torso.
4. The goal here isn't to hit perfect shots initially. The goal is to develop a strong awareness of where the top of your swing should be. By stopping, you are retraining your body and mind to recognize a better, more compact loading position.

Drill 4: The Feet-Together Drill

This is a classic for a reason. Hitting shots with your feet touching immediately exposes any and all balance issues, and a long backswing is a primary cause of poor balance.

1. Address the ball with your feet literally touching each other.
2. Now, try to make a swing and hit the ball. Take it easy at first.
3. You will instantly find that if you swing too long or let your arms get disconnected, you will wobble or even fall over.
4. To stay balanced, your body will automatically make adjustments: your swing will become much more centered, rotational, and, importantly, shorter. It forces you to rotate around your spine instead of swaying or lifting, leading to a much more efficient action.

Taking it From the Range to the First Tee

Drills are for the range, solid golf is for the course. The a challenge is transferring these new feelings. When you go out to play, don’t try to think about four different drills at once. Pick one simple thought that resonated with you most.

Perhaps it’s feeling your "back to the target," or maybe it’s the sensation of a "tucked trail elbow." During your pre-shot routine, make one practice swing focusing solely on that feel. Then, step up to the ball and trust it.

Be patient with yourself. Your shorter swing might feel less powerful at first. You might think you're going to lose distance. Stick with it. What you will find over time is that your C-grade contact will become B-grade or A-grade contact. Hitting the center of the clubface with an efficient, shorter swing will almost always produce better, more consistent results - and often with surprising distance - than hitting the ball poorly with a long, unwieldy one.

Final Thoughts

Shortening your backswing is about reclaiming control and creating a swing that is easier to repeat under pressure. By focusing on a proper body-driven rotation and using drills to feel a more connected, compact position, you can build a more efficient motion that leads to crisper strikes and lower scores.

Sometimes, what feels short is still too long, and vice versa. Seeing your swing on video is a great reality check. In fact, getting that objective feedback is a big part of what we're building with Caddie AI. Our app lets you send in a swing video for instant analysis, so you can see exactly how far back you’re taking it and get specific advice on how to find that perfect, powerful, in-control position.