The first few inches of your golf backswing can set the stage for a powerful, accurate shot or a weak, misdirected one. Many golfers struggle with this initial movement, often overusing their hands and creating problems before the club even gets to waist-high. This article will clarify the correct way to start your backswing, focusing on the specific, supportive role your right hand should play to create effortless consistency and power.
There's a lot of confusing advice out there about the takeaway. Is your right hand supposed to be a passive passenger, or an active pilot guiding the club? For many accomplished players, the answer is a bit of both, but not in the way you might think. The truth is, the right hand should not be the engine of the takeaway. That job belongs to your bigger muscles.
The best way to think about the start of the backswing is as a "one-piece takeaway." Imagine a triangle formed by your shoulders and your arms hanging down to the club. The goal of the takeaway is to move this entire triangle away from the ball together, powered by the rotation of your torso. Your hands, wrists, and arms are simply responding to the turn of your chest and shoulders. They are not independent actors pulling, lifting, or snatching the club away from the ball.
When the right hand gets too involved too early, it tends to pull the club inside the correct swing path, forcing you to make compensations later on. This is a common cause of everything from sliced drives to pulled iron shots. By learning to initiate the swing with your body, you allow the hands - including the right hand - to fall into their proper, supportive role.
Understanding this concept is one thing, but feeling it is what cements it into your swing. It can feel a bit strange at first, especially if you're used to a handsy takeaway. Here are two simple drills to help you groove the feeling of a body-led takeaway.
This is a fantastic drill for disconnecting the hands and feeling your core do the work.
This drill helps reinforce the feeling of keeping the club in front of you and promoting width in the backswing, discouraging the right hand from pulling the club inside.
If the right hand isn't supposed to push, pull, or lift the club away from the ball, what is its job? Its primary functions in the backswing are to support the club's weight and to help set the club on plane with a natural hinge.
This hinge, or "wrist set," is a bending-back of the right wrist. It's not a forceful, conscious action, but rather a gradual loading of the club that happens as a direct result of the momentum from your one-piece takeaway. As your hands get to about waist-high or just past your right thigh, the weight of the clubhead will naturally start to hinge your right wrist. You are simply allowing it to happen.
Think of it like cracking a whip. The handle moves first, and the energy flows down the whip until the tip finally snaps. In the golf swing, your body is the handle. As you turn, the momentum flows through your arms and hands into the clubhead. The hinging motion is the clubhead "loading" at the end of that chain.
The right hand plays a vital part in guiding this hinge. As the wrist begins to set, the palm of your right hand should feel like it's supporting the club's weight, generally pointing toward the sky or at a 45-degree angle. This simple checkpoint confirms that the club is on a good plane and that your right hand is playing a supportive, not dominant, role.
Understanding the proper role of the right hand is easier when you can identify the common faults. If you struggle with consistency, there’s a good chance one of these right-hand errors is a contributor.
This is when the right hand immediately pulls the clubhead to the inside of the target line. It's often accompanied by the hands moving faster than the chest. This forces you to re-route the club on the downswing, leading to slices or over-the-top moves.
This happens when the right hand rolls over the top of the left hand at the start of the swing. It immediately closes the clubface, and you can often see the palm of your right hand facing the ground. This promotes low, smothered snap hooks as the clubface will be severely shut at impact.
This fault occurs when the right hand and arm independently lift the club straight up from the ball. It creates a very steep backswing with no width or connection to the body's rotation. This robs you of power and often leads to chopping down on the ball.
Golf is complicated enough. Let's simplify the start of your backswing into a simple, actionable thought process you can take to the course.
By simplifying the takeoff with these thoughts, you stop letting the small muscles of your hands boss around your swing and start using the powerful engine of your body to build a smooth, repeatable, and powerful motion.
Mastering the start of the backswing is less about adding a complex move with your right hand and more about getting it to perform its simple and supportive job correctly. When you focus on a body-led, one-piece takeaway and allow the club to set naturally, you lay the foundation for a much more consistent and powerful golf swing.
At times, translating written advice into a real change in your swing can be a challenge. That’s why we’ve built features into Caddie AI to bridge that gap. If you’re practicing on the range and just can't shake the feeling of snatching the club inside, you can ask for a drill to fix it, and our AI can instantly give you a specific exercise. It's like having a coach right there to provide that piece of personalized guidance the moment you need it, taking the guesswork out of your practice and helping you build a better swing, faster.
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