golfrewind.com

Or do you swing back, then forward immediately with no pause at all?
I'm just wondering because this is one of many things I've been experimenting with to try to get some consistency in my ball striking. It seems like when I don't pause at all, my swing gets too jerky and inconsistent.

I always have until this week, actually. Funny you should mention it. The guy who is teaching me how to play had me get rid of it, and I am hitting the ball much, much better.

Unfortunately the answer is rather complicated... but you could probably watch this and get some better understanding.

YouTube - Golf Tips, Lessons, Instruction & Drills - Proper Backswing

well, the "pause" at the top is only a natural pause that happens for a split second, you shouldn't notice yourself actually pausing. the pause at the top helps with tempo and helps prevent hitting wayward shots from being too quick on your way down

Early day's yet, but i think i am starting to agree with what you say about the swing getting too jerky and inconsistent. Funny thing is i have just got back from the driving range where i was not having the best of times (usually a good ball striker,play off 10). For the last 15/20 balls i made a deliberate attempt to puase at the top of my back swing, on a couple of shots i kept the club up there for what seemed like ages. This definately helped with my transition and timing, i was fighting a 15 yard hook but every ball hit with that puase went straight. Will have to see what happens when i take it to the course on wednesday. Oh, nearly forgot, gained 5 yards with 7 iron and almost 10 yards with 2 iron when putting the puase into practice.

What he said.

yes, I pause.

I watched the youtube video..makes a lot of sense...anyone tried this? letting momentum take over after 1st quarter of your swing? I think when I let momentum take over I might over swing a bit (instead of stopping parallel to the ground it may go a little further (maybe upto my left shoulder) at the top but definitely more control and speed on the down swing...and my left arm will bend a bit. Is this okay?

When I "set" the club at the top, e.g., at the moment I am completing my backswing, I am actually moving my hips forward (laterally). I'm still fully coiled, but their is a very subtle movement forward just as the clubhead is approaching parallel on the backswing.

I don't start the backswing with my arms or hands. I start it by beginning to uncoil my hips, the torso follows, trust me, that club is coming down, because I built up the torque on the backswing. But the first move is lateral as I am setting the clubhead, and then the hips uncoil. At the same moment the forward swing has begun, but I never think about arms/hands/clubhead at that moment, for me I am focused on beginning the downswing by beginning to uncoil.

I don't recommend thinking about it, though. I only know this because I have watched my swing in super slow mo. If I try to think about the sequencing, my timing gets all messed up. The golf swing is an athletic move, if you're thinking about anything more than 1 key, you're thinking to much.

The various components - one piece takeaway, bracing the right knee, keeping the left are straight/right elbow tucked, cocking the wrist, the torso turning 90 while the hips are turning 45 - all that happens because repetitive practice grooved it. I never think consciously about any of it. What I focus on is a simple key, or the back of the ball, or "completing my backswing", releasing the clubhead, full follow through (usually one of those things, AND ONLY ONE).

Back to the OP question, no, I do not pause. I had a frequent playing partner 20 years ago who paused for a good full second or more. He never got much coil, didn't use his legs much, short hitter, but pretty accurate. He made it work for him, but he was shorter off the tee than a junior high golfer. If you pause at the top, I think you defeating the whole purpose of the backswing - building up the tension, the coil, which will be unleashed through the hitting area.

Just my opinion. If you think it helps you to pause, then by all means. There are lots of quirky swings out there. Any method that yields a repeating swing is a good one.

I guess we should define "pause" in this situation is it a pause that is like more than a split second or a pause that sort of happens because you are transitioning between the back swing to the down swing?

I think you need to do the latter or else, like me, you will have a very jerky and inconsistent swing...not knowing when to shift from back to down swing.

this why I liked the video on youtube so much...it explained a lot of things to me and made me see what I was doing wrong....and I realized/rationalized why every time I have this "transition pause" my swing everything is so much smoother and my hits are more consistent and longer. I think there are times that I do this unknowingly and just attribute it to a "good day" at the course and the next day when I don't do it its a "bad day".

Now that I know the logic of it, I'm hoping to have more "good days" at the course.

That's a very helpful list. It's more or less what I've been "discovering" I need to do and it's great to see someone confirm that stuff. Do you think it would translate well to the course if I worked on ingraining one of those habits at a time into my swing at the range?

Just to clarify, I wasn't talking about a pause as long as 1 second. My ball striking is inconsistent, so I'm continually working on different things trying to figure out how to build a nice consistent swing. I'm pretty comfortable with my backswing, but it seems like the transition to the forward swing is what I'm having a hard time with. Sometimes I feel like I'm getting too quick and starting the forward swing before the backswing is complete and the club is set. That's why I was wondering if there should be any pause there.

I wouldn't mind having a quirky swing if it was consistent. My problem is that nothing I try seems to get me the consistency I want. I know I can't think about too many things at once, but when I try to swing without thinking about anything, I know I have a number of swing flaws.

IMO Vijay Singh has a noticeable pause at the top of his backswing and he is a great ballstriker. He uses a drill which includes him pausing at the top for longer than he would in his normal swing. This is demonstrated below:

YouTube Video

Five Fundamentals Of Iron Play | Golf Tips Magazine

You should not INTENTIONALLY STOP your swing at the top. It should be a result of good tempo.

Sorry if I gave that impression from the early part of my post. What you have said is why I gave the Vijay Singh example, because his tempo is awesome