You look at Cameron Young, Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy, and Chris Kirk and the swings look effortless. Smooth. Like they have all the time in the world at the top. Almost every amateur is trying to copy that — and getting it exactly backwards.
The speed in a tour backswing lives in the FIRST HALF. The club is fast and brisk going back, then dies into the top. Amateurs do the opposite — slow early, then snap fast into the top — which kills sequencing and wrecks the downswing.
Shaun Webb and Mike Granato from Athletic Motion Golf break down the tempo truth behind every smooth tour swing, walk through the Quick, Slow, Quick formula, and demo the practice swing drill that retrains the brakes. Plus the Dr. Kwon research and Adam Lincoln’s vertical jump analogy that explains exactly why this works.
👉 FREE: Add Instant Distance With This GO-TO “Distance Injection” DRILL: https://athleticmotiongolf.com/distance
CHAPTERS
00:00 Fast Daddy. The Slow Vs Fast Backswing Misunderstood
00:29 The Speed Happens In The First Half Of The Backswing
00:52 The Formula 1 Hairpin Turn Analogy
01:17 The Backswing Brakes Concept
01:34 Why Speed Out Of The Turn Is What You Want
01:55 Why Smooth Swings Have Extra Time In Transition
02:21 The Two Slow Campers At The Top
02:40 Where Tour Players Find Their Momentum
03:04 Hideki, Cameron Young, And The Syrupy Tour Tempo
03:40 The Practice Swing Drill. Swing, Die, Swing
03:56 What Happens When Amateurs Try It For The First Time
04:10 The Brakes Have To Be Trained
04:28 Stop The Club With Your Body, Not Your Arms
04:41 Hang Laundry On Your Club At The Top
04:56 Why Firm Arms And Wrists Matter
05:14 The Body Has To Apply The Brakes
05:34 Dr. Kwon On Doing The Work In The Backswing
05:52 The Free Downswing Concept
06:10 Owning The Club At The Top
06:28 Why “Pause” Isn’t The Right Word
06:51 The Stopping Point For The Body
07:14 Why Maxing Your Hip Turn Costs You Leverage
07:33 Demo. Why Overturning Makes You Easy To Move
07:53 The Vertical Jump Analogy
08:12 Adam Lincoln’s 50 Inch Vertical Crow Hop
08:51 The Sweet Spot. Enough Turn, Not Too Much
09:07 Can You Go Too Fast Early? Only If Your Brakes Aren’t Ready
09:25 Quick, Slow, Quick. The Tour Tempo Formula
10:03 The Key. Dying Into The Top
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Thanks for clearing this up
I like sungjae Im tempo . Players that tend to yank it away and pronate need to be more deliberate at start and let the body motion create the mo . Years ago forward press was common ❤😊
Wow this is the perfect explanation of a feel that I found to turnaround a round of golf on friday. 👌
This concept also applies for half shots, pitches, etc.?
"Applying brakes in the backswing" just blew my mind. I've always struggled with overswinging into a laid off top of the swing. Gotta go out and play with this new swing thought
I learned this concept from you a while ago and I have applied it with success and another good "thought" is to take like a ~5-8lb medicine ball and hold it at "golf address" and then toss it into a wall in your backswing direction as hard as you can and then let your arms "die" into the top. This gives you a great sensation for this imo
The "crow hop" you mentioned with jumping also applies to throwing a baseball, you'll see some pretty large "crow hops" from the guys with the biggest arms in the outfield.
Love it! A thought I like is “throw, catch, throw.” I want to throw the club behind me in the backswing, catch it at the top, and then throw the club again in my downswing. Throw it. Catch it. Throw it. That allows me to load the system in the backswing, put on the breaks at the top while the body and club are loaded, and then to release all that stored energy down into the ball. Great video that will help any golfer improve his backswing and transition. Thanks, guys! 👊👊
Thanks, guys…awesome as always. I love this feeling during a practice swing when I can start past the ball, but really struggle to get the same sensation when starting stationary over the ball.
I like placing my trail foot next to my lead foot and then swing the club forward while stepping my trail foot away from the target to get the club to move backwards fast. When I have this sensation in my swing, I always strike the ball well and the ball always goes farther. Cheers.
This really resonated with me, excellent explanation.
Gary Woodland another great example
Nelly said her dad drilled how important tempo was and used the words COCA in the backswing and COLA in the downswing to achieve her tempo
Love this drill and use it. In terms of stability, and for the first time, I FOUND my left glute medius (it has been weak- numb from chronic L5- S-1 issues, as with my left leg). I started getting into posture and activating it. It transferred all the way down to my lead foot. It gave me stability and ground connection, so that when I transferred to my take away and back swing, I actually turned more into my back side, as it gave me the pressure in the trail foot to counter the new feeling in my lead leg. The stability Gave Permission to my body to slow down at the top and transition. Through my entire bag, the result was solid, square, strikes and a powerful finish on the lead heal. Not only was I amazed, but the three guys behind me came up afterwards and one said I had such a beautiful swing (terms NEVER used by me or anyone in my swing😂), and asked me what and how I was doing it! I told them, then also recommended he find AIG on Youtube! You guys have had those injuries I know.. Just know, that it has taken 2 1/2 years to get here, My Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist has guided me with a slow and steady set of exercises, stretches and nerve flosses, and connected my upper and lower body with DN +E-stim – the first time I was aware of the glute medius and Piriformis muscles was through Dry needling – I went -“oh, I did not know that was there😂”. to find those muscles either dead to me or injured, and between her and AIG, it has helped me filter through to get this very right feel. it would be novel and great, if you could do a new series with injuries in mind, maybe partner with physio’s that understand the neural connections. Gears can identify and pinpoint the areas lacking control, or poor movement, and the neuro dudes could provide guidance on how to rehab THE RIGHT WAY. Thanks for reading my stuff -and I take occasional series from AIG, but am retired, so I have to watch the dough. But pay for you tube premium, so I hope you guys get some comp from that!❤
the clubhead offers an "inertia" u feel in your body. An object at rest tends to stay at rest.,until acted upon. Tesla's blow away the gassers off the line because electric power is instantaneous. When u get to the office and flip a switch…..u don't have to wait for the lights to come on. there's no lag with electric but mechaniical systems are affected by physical forces like friction.
It’s about finding the right tempo for YOUR backswing to get everything working right together to create precision with some speed.