In days past I would often say it did not really matter how you got to the top of the backswing. Some things like a 1 piece take-away made it easier or more elegant but it just didn’t matter how you got there. OK I will say it now. I was wrong!

It does matter how you get to the top of the backswing. But only after you get to a position where you are not hindering your downswing. By that I mean essentially two things.

1. You are not impinging your arm against your chest or taking the club too far behind you and thus essentially forcing the first move to be over the top, and

2. You are doing nothing that will bring any other movement that reduces downswing velocity, or changes the attack angle so that your ball striking is affected.

Now we are going to be a little scientific here, but I think you will be able to understand.

There are three types of muscle contractions. Simply put:

In concentric contractions the muscle is shortening and is moving a load.

In Isomeric contractions the muscle stays constant in length and is attempting to move an unmovable load or is resisting a load without movement of the joint.

In eccentric contractions the muscle is lengthening because of a load.

So a simple example using the biceps in the upper arm. When you are doing a curl, the upward movement is the concentric contraction. Now during the downward movement, the biceps are still doing work and that is an eccentric contraction. If we hold the weight steady at the bottom of the curl that would be an isometric contraction.

So let’s talk about the golf swing. During the latter stages of the back swing the golfer is attempting to stop the movement of the clubhead and change its direction. That is an eccentric movement. For just a split second the golf club is held in a stopped position. That is an isometric movement. And then the golfer is attempting to move the golf club in a downward direction. That is a concentric movement.

That point where the golfer is in an isometric contraction is called the amortization phase. For maximum power (velocity) of the golf swing the eccentric phase should be done rapidly and the amortization phase should be short.

This means a rapid backswing and a short transition into the downswing will lead to the most power.

So what would I say now.

For all but the most accomplished golfers, those with a single digit handicap, it just doesn’t matter how you get to the top of your backswing. If you work hard to increase power without improving form, you will be like a runaway train heading for an immovable wall. Something must break. Usually, it will just be an errant swing with bad results but sooner or later it will lead to injury.

For the most accomplished golfers. You have your form down, now it is time to get after it. But do so only while maintaining form.