What Does Getting Stuck Mean in Golf?

Hearing a fellow golfer describe your swing as stuck can be confusing, but this common movement flaw is the hidden cause behind an epidemic of frustrating pushes, hooks, and weak shots. It leaves you feeling powerless, out of sync, and unable to make solid contact. This guide will clearly explain what getting stuck actually means, help you identify if you're doing it, and provide simple, step-by-step drills to finally get your swing back on track and in front of you.

So, What Does "Getting Stuck" Actually Mean?

In the simplest terms, getting stuck is when your arms and the golf club get trapped behind your body during the downswing. Your lower body - your hips and legs - spins towards the target too quickly, leaving your arms and the club to play catch-up from a position deep behind your torso. Instead of your chest, arms, and club moving in a synchronized sequence toward the ball, your body outraces your arms.

Think about throwing a baseball. You wouldn't violently spin your hips and shoulders toward your target and then try to start your throwing motion, would you? Of course not. Your arm would be trapped behind you, completely out of position and lacking any real power. The exact same principle applies in the golf swing.

When the club is stuck behind you, your hands have no choice but to try and save the shot at the last millisecond. This leads to two miserable outcomes:

• The Push/Block: Your arms can't catch up in time, so the clubface is left wide open at impact, sending the ball weakly and well to the right (for a right-handed golfer).
• The Snap Hook: In a desperate attempt to square the clubface, you aggressively flick your wrists and hands through impact. This causes the clubface to slam shut, resulting in a low, vicious hook to the left.

If you suffer from this dreaded "two-way miss," there’s a very good chance that getting stuck is the underlying culprit.

How to Tell If Your Swing Is Getting Stuck

Aside from those telltale shot patterns, there are a few ways to diagnose a stuck swing. One is feel, and the other is verification through video.

The "Feel" of Getting Stuck

Players who get stuck often describe a feeling of being rushed, cramped, or "out of room" in their downswing. You might feel disconnected, like your arms and body are working against each other instead of together. There’s a distinct sensation that you have to "throw" your hands at the ball at the very last second just to make contact. If you feel like your swing has no flow and is all frantic, last-second manipulation, you're likely getting stuck.

The "Real" - Using Your Phone to Diagnose

The best way to know for sure is to take a quick video. You don’t need a fancy camera, your phone will do just fine. Prop it up on your golf bag and record a few swings from these two angles:

• Down-the-Line: Set your phone up behind you, with the camera pointing straight down your target line. When you review your swing from this angle, pause at the moment your club reaches waist-high in the downswing. A player who is not stuck will have their hands and the club in front of their torso. A player who is stuck will see their hands and the club shaft are hidden behind their body, well inside the target line.
• Face-On: Set your phone up directly in front of you. At the top of your backswing, your hips and torso should be coiled together. As you start down, the first move should be a slight weight shift followed by a synchronized unwinding. If you see your lead hip spin dramatically towards the target well before your arms have had a chance to drop, you're looking at the primary cause of a stuck position.

The 3 Main Reasons You Get Stuck (And How to Think About Them)

Getting stuck isn't a single flaw, it's the result of a chain reaction that usually starts much earlier in the swing. Here are the three most common causes.

1. An Overly "Inside" Takeaway

Many golfers hear that the swing is a circle and mistakenly pull the clubhead sharply inside their hands on the takeaway. They yank the club immediately behind them. While the club does move on an arc, pulling it too far inside right away puts it in a position from which it's almost impossible to recover without getting stuck. If the club starts its journey back behind you, it will want to continue its journey down from behind you.

The Fix in Your Mind: For the first part of your backswing - from address until the club is parallel to the ground - feel like the clubhead stays "outside" your hands. This doesn't mean pushing the club away from you, but rather preventing that instinctive yank to the inside. Think of it as pushing the club straight back.

2. An Overly Aggressive Hip Spin

This is probably the biggest cause of getting stuck for amateur golfers. In a quest for power, many players have heard "you have to clear your hips" and take it to the extreme. They initiate the downswing with a violent, spinning action of the hips. This completely disconnects the lower body from the upper body. The hips are facing the target while the arms and club are still at the top of the backswing, hopelessly trapped.

The Fix in Your Mind: The downswing should feel less like a "spin" and more like a "shift and then turn." The first move from the top isn't to spin your hips as hard as you can. It's a small lateral bump or shift of your lead hip towards the target. This subtle move gives your arms the time and space they need to drop into the correct "slot" in front of your body. Then, you can rotate through with power. Sequencing is what matters.

3. Losing Your Posture (Early Extension)

Early extension is when your hips and pelvis thrust toward the golf ball during the downswing, causing your spine angle to straighten up too early. When you stand up out of your posture, you eliminate all the space you created at address for your arms to swing through. With that space gone, your arms have nowhere to go but to get stuck behind your body, leading to a cramped, ineffective swing.

The Fix in Your Mind: Feel like you are keeping your "backside back" and rotating in your posture throughout the downswing. Imagine you started with your rear end just touching a wall at address. Your goal during the downswing is to keep it pressed against that wall for as long as possible as you rotate. This prevents you from thrusting towards the ball and preserves the space your arms need to swing freely.

3 Step-by-Step Drills to Get Un-Stuck for Good

Understanding the causes is one thing, but fixing the issue requires practice. These drills are designed to retrain your body's sequencing and get your arms and club working in front of you again.

Drill #1: The Takeaway Gate Drill

This drill ingrains the feeling of a proper takeaway, preventing the club from getting sucked inside too early.

1. Place an object like a headcover or a water bottle on the ground about two feet behind your ball and just outside your target line. A foot to the right of your trail foot is a good starting point.
2. Take your normal setup.
3. As you begin your backswing, focus on taking the clubhead straight back, making sure it passes *outside* of the object on the ground.
4. Once you've passed the object, you can allow the club to naturally arc around your body to the top.
5. Start with slow, half-swings to get the feel, and then progress to full swings. This will prevent that initial move that traps the club from the very start.

Drill #2: The Step-Through Swing

This is a classic drill for promoting proper sequencing - teaching the body to shift before it turns - and it cures an over-the-top spin.

1. Take a 7-iron and set up with your feet completely together, with the ball in the middle.
2. Start your backswing as you normally would. As your hands reach about hip height going back, take a small, natural step toward the target with your lead foot.
3. Plant your lead foot and then continue the downswing, swinging through to a full finish.
4. The act of stepping forward naturally forces your body to sequence correctly. It creates a slight lateral shift followed by rotation, which automatically gives your arms time to drop down in front of you. You simply cannot get stuck while doing this drill properly.

Drill #3: The Pump Drill

This is the ultimate drill for feeling the arms drop into the "slot" in front of your chest instead of getting trapped behind.

1. Take a normal setup and make your full backswing.
2. Start your downswing, but only bring the club down until it’s about parallel to the ground (waist high). Pause here and notice the position: your hands should be in front of your right pectoral, not hidden behind your hip. This is the "slot."
3. From that "slotted" position, return the club back to the top of your swing. This is one "pump."
4. Repeat the pump action twice more: Down to the slot, back to the top. Down to the slot, back to the top.
5. On the third and final pump, as you bring the club down to the slot, continue the swing through to hit the ball. This rehearses the feeling of the arms starting down in the correct sequence and position, completely eliminating the possibility of getting stuck.

Final Thoughts

Getting stuck in the golf swing is a frustrating sequence error that turns power and control into pushes and hooks. By understanding that it's caused by the body outracing the arms, you can use targeted drills to retrain your swing to be properly synchronized, powerful, and effective.

We know that trying to figure this all out on your own can feel like guesswork. Filming your swing is a great start, but knowing exactly what to look for and which drill will help the most can be tough. It's why we created our AI golf coach, Caddie AI. You can upload a video of your swing, get an instant analysis that pinpoints flaws like getting stuck, and receive a personalized drill plan to start fixing it immediately. We take a complex problem and give you a simple path to a better swing.