As you can see by the photos below, my arms are bending at the top of my backswing and then on my through swing. Once your body gets used to the movements, you can work towards a faster swing tempo and a full swing. This forces you to keep your arms connected to your chest so you pivot your body instead. Any degree of flex in your left elbow is only going to narrow your swing overall, which will cost you power and make it more difficult to achieve a clean strike. If you do it correctly, it's very easy. Do this drill slowly without the club first and adding the club later. Does it work now? We pride ourselves in keeping the game simple. How do PGA and LPGA golfers warm up for a round? The club head is coming off the ground too soon and pulling to the left. Learning movement patterns is hard for the mind to do at high speeds. The best players in the world have their arms pushing out and much straighter. Your response is private Was this worth your time? Take your golf swing without letting the ball drop. Keep the golf club low to the ground. Left arm tight with no hand manipulation (as far as face angle) on the backswing, and keeping the elbows close has worked very well. You probably dont need me to tell you that your clubface should be square at the moment of impact. And today we're lengthening that relaxed swing. Otherwise your swing plane will be too flat and that will lead to less power and inconsistent contact and erratic shots. Many weekend golfers make the mistake of allowing their arm to move separately from their body. https://usgolftv.com/golf-pro-tips/pushing-way-better-golf/. For the club face to come back to the ball square and centered, the geometry and relationship of the arms and upper body cannot change during the swing. Mostly, the work you need to do on your mental game is going to take place before the swing begins. To get a quality pivot, I like to think about positioning my lead arm on top of my pec muscle and keeping it there throughout the swing. You'll notice that your arms and chest moved together. Once the club gets farther into the backswing, your hands and wrists will need to get involved in order to set the club properly. Maybe youre the type of player who, despite making a swing that feels the same over and over, sometimes produces a wild variety of shot patterns? Take your shot, making sure the ball doesnt drop from between your arms. An open clubface comes from a cupped left wrist or a rotation of the hands so that the top of the lead hand is facing upward. But what is causing this poor backswing technique? Thanks for 3 great drills. GOLF.com and GOLF Magazine are published by EB GOLF MEDIA LLC, a division of 8AM GOLF, 1 swing feeling that will instantly improve your backswing, 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational tee times: Round 1 groupings for Thursday, 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational: How to watch, TV schedule, streaming, tee times, Absolutely horrendous: Xander Schauffele explains Bay Hills juicy rough, Meet the new GOLF Top 100 Teachers of America, Is a 7-wood, 3-hybrid or 3-iron most suitable for your game? You should feel like your arms are connected to your chest. How do PGA and LPGA golfers warm up for a round? The only connection we have to the golf club is where the hands grip the handle. The left arm or lead arm stays connected to your upper body and rotates along with the shoulders. There are as many golf swings as there are golfers, and a mighty number of them successful at a hitting a ball squarely, solidly in the right direction, with adequate power. Start the backswing by turning your shoulders and hips, set the club at the top of your backswing, then begin the swing by shifting your weight to your left while bringing your right elbow to your side. I enjoy your videos and this one was particularly helpful to me personally. And sure enough, that student took seven strokes off their next round of golf. An open clubface comes from a cupped left wrist or a rotation of the hands so that the top of the lead hand is facing upward. To do this, set up a ball on a tee like normal. Take your golf shot, keeping the ball in place. If you allow your mind to take over as you stand at address, you will find that there are quickly too many thoughts in your head to sort through all at once. Good question. Check out Smart Ball.it is a good option. Im gonna see if I can find a nerf ball on Amazon. Of course, since both hands are on the club, you will technically be using both of your arms to start the swing. In this case, we are looking at a question that seems pretty minor in the grand scheme of things but these minor points all add up in a big way. It is already hard enough and there is no reason to make it more complicated. How we start our takeaway will dictate how our body moves and will set the tone for the entire swing. The thumbspushdown and outtowards the ball. Training aids can be very helpful in learning new movement patterns in the golf swing, but using the training aids for the wrong reasons or the wrong movement patterns can be detrimental to a players game. As the downswing progresses your right hip should stay back while your left hip (or . A large arc will also produce club head speed, accuracy, higher ball flight and a free unrestricted swing. From the moment you address the ball to the moment you reach the top of the backswing your left arm should remain straight. Positioning that ball between your lower forearms forces you to maintain the position of your lead wrist. Best regards, Peter. So what are the keys you should be looking for as you build your takeaway? Dont forget to enjoy this great game called golf. Put the band around your back, under your arms and wrap the ends of bands around your thumbs. Getting the elbows to work more together can be difficult without any training aids. If the right elbow is tucked in close to the body, the swing will become restricted, causing the hands to move on a smaller arc. When putting, however, you would be wise to go in a different direction. But that may never be possible, like John Rahm, so maybe give alternatives to the full rotation to help us limited mobility people get a good swing with what our bodies will allow. This drill will help you keep the clubface square in your golf backswing so its square at impact. Simply put, the club is moving up and away from your body during the transition, rather than dropping down into the slot for a powerful downswing. Appreciate the kind words. Thanks for reading and commenting Stefan, hope you are enjoying some good golf up north! . Now imagine from this position you were holding a large pizza in your right hand. Here is a great video we did recently on hitting fairway woods, hopefully it helps: https://youtu.be/o36KO3EWlTE. At the top of the backswing, the left arm should match the angle of the players shoulders which should be parallel to the swing plane. On the flip side moving the right elbow away from the body on the takeaway to the outside disconnects the arms from the body weakening the golf swing. Even more specific, use them to elevate the clubs center of mass (signified by the red ball on my club) about 25 to 30 degrees as Ive done here before even thinking of pitching the club upward with your wrists. One of the causes has already been discussed, which is the separation of the elbows. Fortunately, with the right knowledge and the right tools, poor golf backswing technique is easy to correct. Imagine the club traveling back along a straight line. There have been many cases of pro golfers getting stuck in a slump simply because they couldn't manage to get their swing started successfully. This motion gets you into a fully coiled position at the top of your backswing. Starting your swing properly not only requires solid mechanics, it also demands that you have a clear picture in your head of what you are going to do to put the club in motion. This second part of the drill will help improve the motion of the left hand and also the strength of the left arm. You have to coordinate the shoulder coil and the swing up so both arms stay straight. In making a full and powerful backswing, your arms lift about 90 degrees, swing across your chest about 15 degrees, and rotate open (clockwise) 90 degrees more. Firstly as the left arm reaches parallel with the ground in the back swing, the club should act as an extension of the arm also parallel with the ground pointing away from the target. The hit or impact itself is a push down and through the ball action where the ball is compressed against the ground by the club head due to the forward leaning of the club shaft. It also has given me the feedback of shallowing the shaft on the through swing. . On down swing hips move toward the ball, I lose my spine angle, shoulders slow down and hook drives and fat my irons! Stefan (Ottawa, Canada). Rick Musselman, a golf author and professional, gives lessons in his golf studio and golf shop, in Williamsport. This means a tension-free swing swinging with no tension in the arms. Ive been using this device called the Power Package https://www.powerpackagegolf.com/power-package A more relaxed full extension backswing would lead to a more relaxed full extension downswing and be more beneficial. Keeping your arms connected to the chest helps with maintaining balance, which is essential for a successful swing. When it loses focus, however, it can cause all sorts of trouble. Making a full backswing is key to a powerful swing. Hope the info helps! Developed by our good friend Martin Chuck. Required fields are marked *. One of the most important aspects of a successful golf swing is properly pushing the handle down on the backswing. One-Armed Swings A third drill that you can do is one arm swing with just your right arm. What can I do to fix my problem? For most golfers, this is exactly how they try and take the club back during the backswing. Let's go back to the beginning and focus on the takeaway. If the golfers elbow does not fold in and stay connected to their body, we start to have some major issues in the backswing. 1. Now slowly make your takeaway while watching your movements in the mirror. 2. This is an incredibly common mistake for amateur golfers to make. If your back swing starts a bit outside, it is near impossible to come over the top. The best players employ their whole body in their golf swing, especially for longer shots. Practice this drill a bit and then try to bring the same feeling into your full swing. This thumbs down action produces a solid compression on the ball as the hands lead the club head through the impact zone. Put the takeaway near the top of your practice to-do list and the quality of your ball striking should move in a positive direction. For you, the weekend warrior, your best bet is to keep that. To initiate your downswing, simply push into the ground through your left side as uncoil into your finish. Cameron McCormick breaks it down, Use this technique to overcome a nasty downhill lie in a greenside bunker. Make your left hand into a blade with the back of the hand facing a target down the ball-to-target line. The downswing also starts with a pushing action. As a result, this helps create higher hands at the top of the golf swing. Using the demonstrations above with the bands, work to keep your arms pushing away from your body. Take your posture and let the left arm hang down as it would normally at address. Take note of how your right knee feels at address and then work to maintain that feeling all the way through the takeaway and up into the rest of the backswing. Understanding these movements will help you control the clubface throughout the entire golf swing. If your shoulders do this during your backswing and you think you are turning, this is the root of your backswing maladies. Thanks for reading and commenting! But how does the backswing have so much effect on what happens in our downswing? Follow Through Arms Extended at Chest Level. You should immediately work on determining a yardage for the shot, and you should also be looking up toward the target to spot any hazards or other trouble spots to avoid. Time and again, Ive seen how a players backstroke technique can make or break their scorecard. Thank You. It will maintain the arms/body geometry and increase your chances of an on-center strike. Elbow separation results naturally from a lack of flexibility in the body, and it can really hurt your swing if you dont. However, you are going to want to allow one arm to take the lead, while the other just goes along for the ride. JUST A LITTLE. The problem that occurs most often when the left arm works out and away from the body in the takeaway is a flat backswing and an open clubface. It isnt always easy to notice what your wrists are doing in the half-second it takes to swing, so this is where the training aid ball comes in handy. . The training aid ball helps with separation of the elbows in the golf backswing. As mentioned before, the separation of the elbows during the backswing will create a poor club position at the top of the golf swing and set the golfer up for failure during the downswing. The first thing you should move in your backswing is the clubhead. That's a lot of movement! Thank you, thank you, thank you! The club should fall during the transition of your swing, getting closer to your body as you build lag and start to turn toward the target. If you were swinging a heavy weight at the end of the shaft, the way the weight would pull your arms outward is the feel you're looking for. This will usually result in an outside in down swing which would cause a pull or a slice depending on if the club face is open or closed. This puts your right arm in the biomechanically correct position so that it is able to rotate properly in the backswing. 1 simple move that fixes the flying right elbow At your setup turn your right forearm outwards so that your right elbow pit faces towards the golf ball. Start with alight stretchy exercise band from your local sporting goods store. Your left hand should move down your left pant leg toward your left knee as it works inward. This is the premise of the content. Not only will this takeaway serve you well in the long game, but it should help your performance in the short game as well (more on that later). During the second turn, you had to turn your mid-section to make the turn, also turning the hips as needed. The instruction (and motion) for the backswing should instead be to move your right hip back in a straight line away from the ball (as if you were stepping backwards). 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