Want a Better Golf Backswing? Imagine Throwing a Baseball

The golf backswing has been analyzed to death, but Kelley’s advice makes the move sound refreshingly simple: Think less about turning your body and more about simply moving your arms.

Sounds a bit contradictory to what you’ve likely heard, right? Allow Kelley to explain himself.

“Your arms pull your shoulders, so that’s a shoulder turn,” Kelley explains.

Although the motion feels “all arms,” my chest has rotated considerably more than it did with the previous, body-driven move — which is what most golfers use to “turn” in the backswing. But that often leads to coming off-plane and hitting inconsistent shots, so Kelley helps simplify the golf swing.

When most amateurs think about “making a big turn,” they begin twisting, swaying, or forcing their torso away from the ball.

In Kelley’s view, that can create unnecessary movements without producing a functional shoulder turn. By moving the arms correctly, it allows the shoulders, rib cage, and glutes to respond naturally while golfers retain the posture and coil needed to return the club to the ball.

Kelley compares that sequence to throwing a baseball.

“If I were to throw a ball, my arm would go up and my body would go around,” he adds.

To throw harder, you wouldn’t abandon your shape and manufacture a larger body turn. You’d simply perform the athletic motion faster. The golf swing should operate in the same way, creating a simply relationship between both the arms and body.

A Better Backswing Starts with the Right Setup

As the video shows, a better backswing begins with having the proper setup and pressure on the inside of the trail foot, which creates a loaded position that’s prepared to move forward.

After improving my setup, Kelley’s cue is pretty blunt: “Just pick up your arms,” later adding, “it’s got to feel armsy” — emphasizing how important the feel is.

But here’s the caveat to “getting armsy”: I’m not actually making an arms-only swing. It’s simply the sensation that counteracts an overly active, inefficient body motion.

Kelley reinforces the change with a simple “fold and unfold” rehearsal. By keeping the rest of my body quiet — especially the lower part of my body — I’m able to swing my arms back and down at half speed before gradually adding pace.

While my golf lesson with Kelley might challenge conventional wisdom, the payoff is a backswing with fewer moving pieces, better structure, and a clearer path back to impact.

So for amateur or beginner golfers who battle a jerky takeaway that leads to unreliable contact, feeling “armsy” may be exactly what makes the swing feel more like one connected motion.

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