To those of you saying he's not a 4.5 - you have no idea how well he moves or how well he constructs points with those strokes. Sure, they aren't super mechanically sound, but I've seen players with far worse stroke mechanics crush 4.5 players due to movement and point construction, and I've seen players with far better stroke mechanics get crushed at the 4.0 level because they lack those things.
Also, depending on area you can have anything from UTR 8 players playing 4.0 to UTR 7 players playing 4.5, so even if you were right that he was weaker than your local 4.5s, he might still easily be a 4.5 in his area.
Anyway, onto the forehand itself.
Your issue is a misunderstanding of the forehand "backswing" - mostly that your body believes there is one. Forehand preparation merely exists to prepare the hand for the forward explosion, and in order to do that, there's no reason to volitionally push the racket head back.
Here are two cues that I think might help.
1. The racket isn't in your hand, the racket is your hand.
Don't think of the racket like a tool you're holding, but rather as an extension of your hand itself. If you want to manipulate it, you have to manipulate your entire hand. You hardly ever manipulate the racket by using your hand, and instead move the entire hand-arm-racket system together.
2. There is no backswing. You are placing the hand where you want it before your forward swing.
Similar to #1, get rid of the idea of a "backswing," and think of that part of the stroke as mere preparation. Place the hand behind you, and then if you want it lower, place it lower before you start your forward explosion.
Lastly, you need to relax your wrist, and probably use a slightly more extreme grip (Eastern would be best, as it's close to continental). Inertia should cause your racket to lag behind your hand as the body yanks it forward. For you, your racket-forearm angle is straight, meaning your wrist is too tight to allow that lag to happen.