Increase Backswing Speed for More Powerful Shots

This drill trains a faster, more athletic backswing-to-transition move so you can create speed without feeling like you have to yank the club down from the top. The goal is not to swing harder with your arms. It is to build a rebound—a spring-like change of direction where the club, torso, and lower body work together. When you do it correctly, the end of the backswing creates the load, and the downswing feels more like a reaction than a forced pull. That matters because many golfers lose power by making the swing a two-part motion: back, then down. This drill helps you blend those phases so the body can swing the arms more efficiently and the club can accelerate with less strain.

How the Drill Works

The idea behind the drill is simple: a moving object creates more usable force when it changes direction against a load than when you try to move it from a dead stop. In the golf swing, that load is the club and your body’s connection to it. If you create a little more speed into the end of the backswing, you can use that momentum to produce a sharper, more efficient transition.

Instead of actively pulling the handle down with your arms, you are learning to let the body organize a rebound. That rebound happens through a chain of muscles and fascia running from the lower body up through the torso and into the shoulder blade area. A key sensation is along the inside of the trail armpit, where the serratus anterior helps connect the ribcage to the shoulder blade. When that area lengthens and then rebounds, you get a much more dynamic start down.

To train this, Tyler uses a ground-based resistance drill. You anchor one hand against something stable—such as the underside of a couch or a heavy object—and then use your body to create a loaded, springy movement. The important detail is that your ribcage and pelvis move together. You are not doing a small crunch with just the obliques. You are creating a broader body motion where the ribcage moves away from the anchored arm, stretching the area under and around the armpit.

That same pattern then carries into the golf swing. As you finish the backswing, you feel:

• More speed into the end of the backswing
• Pressure shifting into the lead foot
• The trail arm and shoulder area staying back long enough to create stretch
• A rebound in transition rather than a hard arm pull

The result is often an immediate increase in speed, but the more important benefit is how the speed is produced. It feels less forced. The downswing becomes more reactive, and the release tends to happen more naturally.

Step-by-Step

1. Create a safe anchor. Lie on the ground next to something sturdy, such as the underside of a couch or a heavy dumbbell. If needed, use a medicine ball or another object just to understand the motion, but a stable anchor is best.

2. Set your arm in a “T” shape. Especially with the trail arm, let the arm reach out from the body so it feels supported and anchored. You want the hand fixed so your torso can move against it.

3. Bring your legs up and lightly roll your body. Think of a small body roll or abdominal curl, but do not isolate the abs. The goal is not a crunch.

4. Move the ribcage and pelvis together. This is the critical piece. Your torso and pelvis should shift as a unit so the ribcage pulls away from the inside of the armpit. That creates stretch through the serratus and shoulder-blade connection.

5. Feel the load in the inside of the armpit. You should sense tension more under and around the trail armpit than in a narrow oblique crunch. The body is loading a sling, not just contracting one muscle group.

6. Rebound out of the stretch. Once you feel the lengthening, let the body spring back. The movement should feel quick and elastic, not like a hard muscular tug.

7. Stand up and rehearse the golf swing motion. Make a backswing to about halfway, then to the top. As you finish the backswing, feel the ribcage moving away from the trail arm while pressure begins shifting into the lead foot.

8. Blend the backswing and transition. Rather than thinking “complete backswing, then pull down,” feel that the final part of the backswing is what loads the start of the downswing. The change of direction should feel bouncy and connected.

9. Let the arms stay up for a moment. A useful feel is that the arms are being left behind, staying up, or even softly falling while the lower body and torso begin to lead. This helps eliminate the urge to snatch the club down.

10. Hit short shots first. Start with half-swings or three-quarter swings. Focus on the quality of the rebound, not maximum effort. Once the motion feels natural, gradually add speed.

What You Should Feel

This drill can feel unusual at first because it changes where you create force. Many golfers are used to feeling that all the effort happens in the downswing. Here, more of the useful loading happens at the end of the backswing.

Key sensations

• A faster finish to the backswing, not a rushed takeaway
• Stretch on the inside of the trail armpit as the ribcage moves away from the arm
• Pressure moving into the lead side while the club is still finishing back
• The arms staying back or floating instead of immediately pulling down
• A spring-like transition where the downswing feels like a reaction
• Less effort in the hit, even though the motion may look faster

Useful checkpoints

When you are doing it well, you should notice that your transition no longer feels like a separate command. You are not saying to your body, “Now pull the club down.” Instead, the end of the backswing creates enough stretch and motion that the body can unwind and the club can shallow and accelerate more naturally.

You may also notice a small lead-foot pop or push into the ground as the rebound happens. That is often a sign that the lower body is organizing the motion well. As long as your upper body remains connected and your shoulder blade alignment stays organized, this can help you get into a better rotational impact pattern.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Rushing the takeaway. The drill is about more speed into the end of the backswing, not a frantic start to the swing.
• Pulling down with the arms. If you feel a hard tug from the shoulders, arms, or hands at the top, you are missing the rebound.
• Doing an oblique crunch. If the ribcage stays too still and you simply contract the side abs, you will not get the right sling effect.
• Separating the ribcage and pelvis too much. In this drill, they should move more together to create the proper stretch into the armpit and shoulder-blade connection.
• Losing pressure into the lead foot. The lower body needs to begin organizing toward the target as the backswing finishes.
• Trying to manufacture lag with the hands. The “arms staying back” feel should come from body motion, not from holding angles artificially.
• Over-swinging at full speed too soon. This can feel chaotic at first. Learn the pattern in slow rehearsals and short shots before going after it.
• Letting the upper body get steep. If your chest and shoulders lunge outward while the arms yank down, the club will still get too steep despite the speed effort.

How This Fits Your Swing

This drill is especially helpful if you tend to:

• Start the downswing with an active arm pull
• Feel steep or over-the-top coming down
• Struggle to create speed unless you swing harder
• Have a backswing and downswing that feel disconnected in tempo

In the bigger picture, this is a lesson in how the body swings the arms. Good players do not simply complete the backswing, stop, and then drag the club down. Their transition is elastic. The lower body begins to organize toward the target, the torso responds, and the arms and club react to that sequence. That is why powerful swings often look fluid rather than violent.

This drill also improves your sense of tempo. Not tempo in the sense of “slow everything down,” but tempo in the sense of when force is applied. Many golfers put too much force too late, in the form of a hard pull from the top. This drill teaches you to place more of that force into the completion of the backswing so the transition can act like a loaded spring.

That can clean up several swing issues at once:

• Speed improves because you are using rebound instead of brute force
• Transition improves because the lower body has a better chance to lead
• Club delivery improves because the arms are not dominating from the top
• Effort level often feels lower even though the ball speed goes up

If you have always tried to hit the ball harder by pulling your arms down faster, this drill can be a major shift. The better pattern is to load the system with a little more speed going back, organize pressure into the lead side, and then let the body’s rebound deliver the club. That is where the feeling of effortless power starts to show up.

Work on the ground drill first until you clearly feel the stretch under the trail armpit and the spring back from that load. Then bring that same sensation into practice swings and short shots. Once the motion becomes familiar, you can gradually build it into your full swing. The goal is not to look wild or loose. The goal is to create a more athletic backswing, a more dynamic transition, and a downswing that no longer depends on a forceful arm hit from the top.