What Moves First in a Golf Backswing?

The first move in your golf backswing sets the stage for everything that follows, yet it's one of the most misunderstood parts of the entire motion. Getting it right puts you on track for power and consistency, while getting it wrong sends you on a frustrating journey of compensations. This article will show you exactly how to start your backswing correctly, explain the common mistakes golfers make, and give you simple, actionable drills to make the perfect first move feel natural.

The Age-Old Question: What's the First Move?

Ask a dozen golfers what should move first, and you might get a dozen different answers: "It's the shoulders," "the hands," "the hips," or "the clubhead." The truth is, thinking about one single body part is what gets most players into trouble. Trying to isolate one part often leads to a jerky, disconnected, and out-of-sequence swing right from the start.

The best way to think about starting your backswing isn't as a single part moving, but as a group of parts moving together. The feeling you want is a smooth, connected, and wide movement away from the golf ball. Renowned coaches often call this a "one-piece takeaway," and it's the foundation of a reliable golf swing. It's not about your hands yanking the club back, or your shoulders lurching down, it's about your arms, chest, and the club all starting the journey together as a single, coordinated unit.

Understanding the "One-Piece Takeaway"

Imagine standing at address. Your arms and shoulders form a triangle. The goal of the one-piece takeaway is to move this entire triangle away from the ball without changing its shape, at least for the first few feet of the swing. This synchronized movement is powered by the gentle rotation of your torso - your big muscles controlling the action, not the small, twitchy muscles in your hands and wrists.

When you do this correctly:

• The clubhead stays low to the ground and moves straight back from the ball (or slightly inside the line).
• The clubface remains "square" to the swing arc, meaning it doesn't fan open or snap shut early on.
• You create "width" in your swing, which is a massive source of power. This means keeping the clubhead far from your chest in the early part of the swing.

Think of it like pushing something heavy across a table. You wouldn't just use your wrists. You'd engage your shoulders, back, and core, moving everything as a cohesive unit. The start of the golf swing requires the same unified effort.

Common Backswing Starter Mistakes (And How to Fix Them)

If the one-piece takeaway is the ideal, what do most amateurs do instead? Understanding the common flaws is the first step toward fixing them. Here are the three most frequent errors golfers make when starting their backswing.

Mistake 1: The 'All Hands' Takeaway

This is probably the most common fault. It involves an immediate lifting or rolling of the hands and wrists to get the club started. The player picks the club up abruptly, often with zero body turn.

• What it Looks Like: The clubhead lifts off the ground immediately and gets behind the hands far too quickly. The arms disconnect from the "triangle," and the backswing becomes very narrow and steep.
• Why it's a Problem: This robs you of power by killing your swing width. It also throws the club off plane right away, forcing you to make athletic adjustments on the downswing to find the ball, leading to brutal inconsistency (slices, pulls, chunks, you name it).
• The Fix: Feel like your hands are "passive" at the start. They are just holding on. The move should be initiated by the rotation of your chest and shoulders.

Mistake 2: The 'Hip Spin Out'

Here, the golfer initiates the backswing by immediately spinning their hips open. While hip rotation is important later, starting with it pulls everything out of sequence.

• What it Looks Like: The hips rotate while the upper body and arms lag behind. The club gets yanked drastically to the inside in the first foot of the takeaway.
• Why it's a Problem: This usually leads to a swing that is too flat and too much "from the inside." The common result is a big hook or a push-slice (a block) when the arms can't catch up to the aggressively turning body. You've used up your hip turn too early.
• The Fix: Feel your upper body and lower body start their rotation together. The hips should not outrace the shoulders at the beginning. Picture the button on your golf shirt and your belt buckle turning away from the ball at the same time.

Mistake 3: The 'Upper-Body Lurch'

This happens when a golfer tries to use their big muscles but doesn't rotate. Instead, they just sway their entire upper body away from the target or dip their lead shoulder towards the ground.

• What it Looks Like: The player’s head moves significantly off the ball. There's a lot of lateral movement but very little rotation or turning around the spine.
• Why it's a Problem: Shifting your weight like this makes a consistent strike nearly impossible. If you sway back, you have to perfectly time a sway forward to get back to the ball. This inconsistency is a recipe for both thin and fat shots.
• The Fix: The core idea of the swing is to rotate around a stable axis (your spine). A great feeling is to imagine you're turning "inside a barrel." You can rotate, but you can't push against the sides of the barrel by swaying.

Your Step-by-Step Guide to the Correct First Move

Enough theory. Let's get practical. Here is how you can build a perfect one-piece takeaway into your swing, step by step.

1. Settle Into Good Posture: A good takeaway starts from a good setup. Stand tall but bend from your hips, letting your arms hang naturally under your shoulders. Maintain the athletic flex in your knees. You should feel balanced and stable.
2. Check Your Triangle: Look down at your arms and shoulders. See the triangle? Your goal is to keep that triangle intact for the first part of the swing.
3. The Feeling: A Unified Push-Back: To start the motion, feel as though you are pushing the club anay from the ball with your lead arm and shoulder (left arm for a righty). The chest, arms, hands, and club should all feel like they are moving in one piece. There should be no independent hand or wrist action.
4. Checkpoint #1 - Club Parallel to the Ground: Swing back until the club shaft is parallel to the ground. Stop and look. At this point, the clubhead should be hiding your hands from your view. The butt of the grip should be pointing at or just slightly inside the target line, and the face of the club should be slightly toed-down, matching your spine angle. This confirms you haven't rolled your wrists open.
5. Checkpoint #2 - Staying Connected: At this parallel position, you should still feel "connected." Your arms haven't separated from your chest. You've simply rotated your torso.

Repeating this motion slowly - from setup to the parallel-to-the-ground checkpoint - is one of the most productive things you can do for your entire golf swing.

Simple Drills to Ingrain the Feeling

Consciously thinking "one-piece takeaway" on the course is a recipe for stiff, mechanical swings. The goal is to make it feel natural through practice. These drills will help you do just that.

Drill 1: The Headcover Tuck

This is a classic drill for a reason - it works. Tuck a glove or a headcover into the armpit of your trail arm (right armpit for righties). Your goal is to make your takeaway and backswing without the headcover falling out. This forces your arm and your chest to move together, preventing the arms from disconnecting and promoting that one-piece feel.

Drill 2: The Two-Club Sweep

Take one of your longer irons (like a 6-iron) and another club, and hold them together as if they were one thick club. Get into your setup position. Now, perform just the takeaway motion, stopping when the clubs are parallel to the ground. Because you're holding two clubs, you're almost forced to use your big torso muscles to move them. It’s hard to get ‘handsy’ with that much weight. This will help you feel the proper sequencing and a wide, stable start to your swing.

Drill 3: The Wall and Ball Drill

Find a wall and stand a foot or so away, a ball in your hand, facing away from the wall. Take your golf posture. Reach back with just your lead hand (left for righties), keeping your chest pointed down, and touch the wall. Now place your golf ball at that point where your hand met the wall on the ground behind you. From a regular two-handed setup in front, the goal of your takeaway is now to slowly push your clubhead directly back to touch the back on the ball. This will prevent your club for going too far inside to quickly or being picked up too abruptly.

Final Thoughts

The first move of the backswing isn't about isolating a single part, but synchronizing your arms, hands, and upper torso into a unified "one-piece takeaway." By focusing on this connected movement and practicing drills that ingrain the feeling, you can build a solid foundation that prevents inconsistency and sets you up for a powerful, on-plane golf swing.

As you work on your swing, sometimes it can be hard to know if you're doing something right or just guessing. Filming your swing can help, but it doesn't give you immediate answers about what to do next. We built Caddie AI to give you that instant, expert guidance right when you need it. You can describe your swing feeling or even send a video of your takeaway and ask it to analyze what's happening based on the principles of a good swing. It’s like having a 24/7 coach in your pocket to make sure your practice is actually making you better, so you can stop guessing and start improving with confidence.