Golf Tips 15 Oct 2026 10 min read

Better Ball Striking: Fix Backswing Sway Before the Release

If your irons alternate between a thin strike and a high, weak flight, it is tempting to focus straight away on your hands. You can feel the club flipping, so holding the wrist angle seems an obvious place to start.

For Max, Piers Ward found an earlier priority. Max’s lower body was moving too far away from the target in the backswing, leaving him with more to organise on the way down. Piers first helped him build a better pivot, then introduced a shorter-backswing drill to work on the release.

That gives you a useful way to approach better ball striking: check the movement that leads into impact before trying to force the impact position itself. The steps below explain what Piers changed, how Max practised it and how to check whether a similar priority fits your swing.

Why a wrist flip may not be your first fix

Max’s seven-iron shots did not all tell the same story. He could produce an attractive flight with a slightly thin strike, or find the centre of the face and still launch the ball higher than Piers wanted. The Full Swing launch monitor helped Piers compare the flight with what Max felt.

Swing analysis added another part of the picture. Max’s hips moved towards the ball during the downswing, a movement called early extension. He also released the club early and delivered the shaft leaning backwards at impact, adding loft.

Those are related observations, but they describe different movements. Early extension is movement towards the ball; backswing sway is movement away from the target. Piers identified both in Max’s swing, then chose the excessive backswing sway as the first practice priority.

Piers explained that an early release can bring the club to the ground too soon. That can produce a heavy strike, or a golfer may react by moving away from the ground and catching the ball thin. Trying to hold more lag addresses only part of that pattern if the body is still struggling to organise the swing.

This does not mean every thin shot or wrist flip comes from a sway. Use a face-on recording or coaching feedback to check your own movement. A high ball flight by itself cannot tell you which fault to change first.

Turn into your trail side without swaying

At the top of Max’s original backswing, Swing Coach’s lead-hip feedback read “back by eight”. Piers could see the lower body shifting away from the target and collapsing into the trail side.

The aim was to give Max a base he could turn over more effectively. For a right-handed golfer, the trail side is the right side; for a left-handed golfer, it is the left. Loading into that side is allowed. Piers wanted to reduce the excessive sideways move while keeping the hips and torso turning.

Think turn into the trail leg rather than letting the whole lower body drift across it. Check the change face-on: can you see more rotation and less sideways collapse? Do not replace the sway with a rigid lower body or try to keep all your pressure on the lead foot.

Our guide to a centred backswing pivot gives you a related way to check the turn.

Piers also widened Max’s starting stance because it was narrow for the movement he wanted. Treat that as an individual adjustment. Wider is not automatically better: look for a base that lets you turn comfortably and stay balanced, rather than copying someone else’s width.

Rehearse the pivot with a club across your shoulders

Take the ball out of the task first. With the club across your shoulders, you can concentrate on how your body turns without also trying to make contact.

1. Set up in your normal golf posture and hold a club across your shoulders.
2. Give your legs an athletic, ready feeling. Piers used the idea of preparing for a basketball free throw to help Max find this.
3. Turn your hips and torso into the trail side. Keep the legs responsive rather than straightening up and falling sideways.
4. Pause and check the position in a mirror or face-on recording. Then return to your setup and repeat the movement.

The leg feel is ready to move, not locked in place. You do not need to hold both knees at exactly the same angle throughout the turn. The useful check is whether your hips and torso can rotate without the excessive lateral collapse returning.

Piers physically guided Max’s hip a little towards the target to help him find a different position. That was a correction for Max’s away-from-target sway. It is not an instruction for every golfer to slide towards the target during the backswing.

Let the mirror check the feel

The new movement felt strange to Max. The mirror helped him connect that unfamiliar sensation with what his hips were actually doing.

Use the same approach: make the turn, check it, then try again. If your hip still travels sideways, reduce the pace and make the task easier to see. Once you can recognise the improved position, rehearse without looking at the mirror and check a recording afterwards.

If you also rise out of your setup as you turn, our backswing posture drill offers a related check. Keep your own main priority clear so that the practice does not turn into a list of unrelated positions.

Use a staggered stance to learn the movement

Try a staggered stance with the club across your shoulders to explore the turn before returning to your normal setup.

Set one foot back from your usual toe line, away from where the ball would sit. Turn slowly, without a ball. Check whether you can rotate your hips and torso while staying balanced. Then swap the stagger and explore the same movement from the other arrangement.

You are looking for a clearer feel, not a particular foot spacing or a test of how far you can twist. If one arrangement makes you lose balance or blocks the turn, ease the stance and slow down.

Return to your normal feet and repeat the shoulder-club rehearsal. Then put the club back in your hands, swing to the top and pause. Finally, try a continuous practice swing. Carry the body movement from the simpler drill into the normal swing.

Max’s movement was less tidy once the club returned to his hands. That gave Piers useful information: the rehearsal was helping, but it still needed to transfer. If the same thing happens to you, go back to the version you can perform and build forward again.

Take the change from rehearsal to a golf ball

Adding a ball makes the task harder. Piers used a short tee so Max could begin hitting shots while keeping his attention on the lower-body movement.

Use this sequence:

1. Rehearse the shoulder-club turn and recognise the position you are trying to create.
2. Make a normal practice swing with the club in your hands.
3. Hit a shot from a short tee with the same movement intention.
4. Compare what you felt with a recording, a mirror rehearsal or suitable swing feedback before the next shot.

For Max, Piers narrowed the app feedback to stance width and the lead hip at the top of the backswing. When Max felt the hip move sideways during a shot, he could compare that sensation with the feedback instead of guessing. Developing that awareness was part of the progress.

Keep rehearsal feedback and shot feedback separate. Later, Max produced improved hip and shaft-lean feedback in a practice swing without a ball. On the following shot, his lead hip was much improved but the shaft still leaned back. The rehearsal showed a movement he could make; the shot showed what still needed practice.

Watch the strike as well as the movement. On grass, note whether the turf mark starts behind the ball or on its target side, and compare that with the strike and your recording. A tee simplifies the task, so success there still needs checking when you return to a normal lie.

A club, a mirror and a short tee are enough to begin these rehearsals. If you want to add equipment, browse our Training Aid products and choose a tool that matches the specific task you are practising.

For swing feedback during your own practice, explore Swing Coach.

Add the short-backswing drill when the pivot is improving

Piers did not leave the release untouched. Once Max had made progress with his lower body, he introduced a shorter-backswing drill to help him organise the club through impact.

Make a deliberately short backswing, then swing through with commitment. Begin with a rehearsal so you can keep the pivot you have been working on. If that is manageable, try a shot and compare the delivery and contact. The short backswing is the constraint; you are not trying to force a full backswing into the same time.

Piers described a strong through-swing for Max, but build the pace while staying in control. If rushing brings back the sway or makes contact worse, return to the rehearsal and shorten the task again.

Do not try to maximise forward shaft lean. During his own demonstration, Piers produced a more forward reading and immediately said that was not where he wanted to be. The drill was a way to change the delivery, not a competition to create the biggest number.

Max then hit a shorter-backswing shot with shaft-lean feedback “in zone”. That was useful evidence that the drill could help him, not proof that his release was permanently fixed or that the same drill produces an identical result for everyone.

What progress should look like

By the later swings, Max’s lower-body movement was much improved. Piers still saw work to do in the upper body and some early throwing of the club. The session had established a clearer priority and a way to practise it; it had not produced a finished swing.

Judge your own practice in the same practical way. Can you recognise when the sway returns? Can you reproduce the turn after removing the mirror? Does it survive when a ball is there? If the rehearsal improves but the shot does not, keep that distinction visible rather than adding another swing thought immediately.

When you are unsure which movement deserves priority, individual coaching can help you make that decision. Explore the Me and My Golf golf schools for hands-on help.

You can also learn more about The Grand Golf Club.