The Role Of The Right Shoulder In Golf Backswing

A critical component of a proper golf backswing is what the right shoulder should do. My right shoulder slides laterally in my backswing, and I am working hard at fixing it, as this faulty move causes a rippling effect throughout the rest of my golf swing.

The first thing to remember is the golf swing is a rotational movement. Lateral motion should be kept to a minimum, as this will cause you to be off-center in during your swing and make it extremely difficult to get back to a consistent impact position to compress the golf ball with maximum power.

We hear the term weight transfer, but I think we have had a misconception about it for a long time; or at least I know I have. For most amateur golfers, when we hear weight transfer with think move the weight to the right leg on the backswing, then to the left leg in the downswing.

This is partly true, but we need to have a better understanding of how this weight transfer happens. If you can picture your feet as the bottom of a triangle, and your belly button (or even tailbone ) as the tip of the triangle, you need to swing with your lower body maintaining this triangle.

With that in mind, the upper body merely rotates on this stable base. It does not move sideways going back (like I do in my swing). The very first move in your takeaway should be your right shoulder rotating BACK behind you, not even an ounce moving to the side.

This move has improved my swing dramatically. I now focus on my right shoulder going directly behind me, with my hands and the club staying in front of my chest. Do not get the hands disconnected and going too far behind you, as you will then be stuck coming down, and have to compensate with a flipping of the hands to hit the ball.

You've heard of the "one-piece" takeaway and that is exactly what I am trying to get you to accomplish, but with only one important thought, and that is that right shoulder going back and not out to the side. So when you've got your shoulders, arms and hands moving together, and the right shoulder rotating behind you, you are on your way to a powerfully loaded backswing that will generate a tremendous amount of clubhead speed coming into your golf ball.

So when you think of your golf backswing right shoulder move, remember it rotates behind you, not out to the side.

Making sure your backswing is on plane is also very critical to solid ball striking, so you may want to look at a golf swing plane trainer to help you ingrain the proper feel of an on plane backswing.