{"id":15555070,"date":"2024-12-21T13:59:39","date_gmt":"2024-12-21T18:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/golf.com\/?post_type=article&#038;p=15555070"},"modified":"2024-12-21T13:59:45","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T18:59:45","slug":"find-perfect-backswing-position","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/golf.com\/instruction\/find-perfect-backswing-position\/","title":{"rendered":"How to find the perfect position at the top of the backswing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"first\">Ben Hogan was a little laid-off at the top (shaft pointing left of target). <a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/news\/im-afraid-hurt-fred-couples-retirement\/\">Fred Couples<\/a> and most long-drive guys are across the line (shaft pointing right of target). My guess is that you\u2019re not as talented as <a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/instruction\/ben-hogan-swing-golf-club-play-smart\/\">Hogan<\/a> or Couples or can drive it 400-plus yards. For most golfers, a neutral top position works best and can actually boost your distance and make you more accurate. Here\u2019s how to get it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Grab any iron from your bag and fold it up over your trail shoulder, keeping your elbows in tight to your sides. Have a buddy place an alignment rod across the inside of both elbows. (You can do this by yourself, too, after you hinge the club up.) Important: Make sure the rod sits parallel to the ground and adjust as necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n  <div class=\"g-block-wrapper g-block-parone-video g-block-wrapper--video\">\n    <div id=\"parone-video--one\" class=\"inline-video inline-video--inline preroll-video-container\"\n      data-content-key=\"a52482a9\"\n      data-feed=\"63-all-system-videos\"\n      data-stylesheet=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-content\/themes\/golf\/assets\/styles\/inline-player.css\"\n      data-vast-override-id=\"one\"\n      data-class=\"video-player\"\n      data-keep-ads-playing-offscreen=\"true\"\n      data-docked-logo=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-content\/themes\/golf\/assets\/images\/logo.png\"\n      data-default-res=\"720\"\n              data-position=\"middle\"\n                                data-dockable=\"true\"\n                    data-autoplay=\"true\"\n                    data-key1=\"Instruction\"\n                    data-window-url=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/instruction\/find-perfect-backswing-position\/\"><\/div>\n  <\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, make a mock backswing by turning and then extending your arms. Again, check that the rod is parallel to the ground and not tilted or has slid off. This is perfect for 90 percent of rec golfers. From here, you\u2019ll avoid coming into the ball too steeply (<a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/instruction\/driving\/3-types-slices-causes-fix-each\/\">potential slice<\/a>) or too far from the inside (potential push or hook).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>To learn more from Jake Thurm or to book a lesson, visit jakethurm.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This drill from GOLF Teacher to Watch Jake Thurm will help you find the perfect position at the top of your backswing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15555071,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-12-21T18:59:42Z","apple_news_api_id":"f446e64c-1d30-455c-8c36-887789ff06f9","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-12-21T18:59:43Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A9EbmTB0wRVyMNoh3if8G-Q","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[38],"tags":[61404,61370,61567],"class_list":["post-15555070","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-instruction","tag-golfmagazine","tag-insidegolf","tag-top100teachers"],"acf":{"tee_time_button_status":false,"wsum-gated-content":true,"user_manager_gated_modal_heading_overwrite":"","user_manager_gated_modal_image_overwrite":false,"user_manager_gated_modal_cta_text_overwrite":"","user_manager_gated_modal_cta_link_text_overwrite":"","wsotp_enable_one_time_payment":false,"allow_instaread_integration":false,"ad_meta":false,"article_template":"standard","featured_image_caption":"Find the perfect backswing position with this drill.","featured_image_credits":"Scully\/d2prod.com","art_author":[{"ID":15527969,"post_author":"528","post_date":"2023-10-15 15:02:40","post_date_gmt":"2023-10-15 19:02:40","post_content":"","post_title":"Jake Thurm, GOLF Teacher to Watch","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"jake-thurm-teacher-to-watch","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-10-15 15:03:10","post_modified_gmt":"2023-10-15 19:03:10","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/golf.com\/?post_type=contributor&#038;p=15527969","menu_order":0,"post_type":"contributor","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"art_source":"None"},"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.9 (Yoast SEO v23.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to find the perfect position at the top 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