Does the club point to the right at the top of your golf swing? If so, you may be dealing with a common problem that plagues amateurs and even some tour-level players.
Has anyone ever told you that you have a flying right elbow?
It is hard not to admire how "connected" players like Tiger Woods, Trevor Immelman, and Adam Scott look at the top of their backswing. That tightly tucked trail elbow is one of the hallmarks of elite ball-striking.
You may be shocked to discover that it could be physically impossible for you to replicate those exact positions, and that is perfectly fine.
We will explain why in a moment. But first, let's answer the question most golfers ask: is a flying elbow actually something worth fixing?
Is the Flying Right Elbow All That Bad?
Plenty of professionals have played world-class golf with a flying trail elbow at the top of their swings. Some instructors even argue that it can be an advantage in certain situations.
Jack Nicklaus was the poster boy for this position, and we'd all take his results, right?
The truth is that you can play good golf with a flying right elbow...but you will have to make compensations throughout the downswing to recover.
Here is what that means for your game:
- Extra movements in the downswing, which increase your chances for inconsistency, and
- Hours of extra practice to ingrain a repeatable compensating move that holds up under pressure.
For a consistent, repeatable golf swing, you want to eliminate those unnecessary variables. So let's figure out how to stay connected at the top of the backswing...
Here is the interesting part: is it even physically possible for you to achieve the same connected positions you see with Tiger, Scott, and Chuck?
Find Out if You Can Stay Connected
Here is a simple flexibility test that takes about 30 seconds.
First, stand with your trailing arm (right arm for most) as you see in the picture on the left below.
Then externally rotate your upper arm as seen in the image on the right.
If you can rotate your arm 100-110 degrees, you have "passed" the test and possess the shoulder mobility required for a textbook top-of-backswing position.
(As you can see here, I can only get to about 90 degrees. So, I "failed" the test.)
If You "Passed" the Test...
If you have the necessary forearm rotation range but still struggle with a flying trail elbow, here is a straightforward plan to fix it:
The RotaryConnect is a simple training aid that keeps the trail arm connected to the torso throughout the backswing, and it can save you months of hard work. Want to see exactly where your trail elbow is at the top? Try a free AI swing analysis to pinpoint the issue in seconds.
If You "Failed" the Test...
...it is not the end of the world. You are not alone, and there is a clear path forward.
The flexibility test is just the first part of this video, which is specifically designed with limited-mobility golfers in mind.
"Awesome video. About two weeks ago, I was wondering if my old shoulder injury was preventing me from getting into the proper position at the top. Now, I understand exactly how it should work. You have a real gift. Keep the videos coming!"
Here is a quick summary of what the full video covers:
- Forearm Rotation Test
- Stretches to Increase Arm Rotation
- Compensation for Limited Mobility
If you are like me and have limited shoulder mobility, stretching on a daily basis will be critical to improving your range of motion and ultimately your swing plane.
In this video, I walk through several targeted stretches that will help loosen up your shoulders and unlock better positions in your golf swing for good.
(Be sure to check with your doctor before doing the stretches in the video.)
What If Stretching Doesn't Do the Trick?
You may discover that you are one of the rare golfers who cannot achieve the necessary external rotation, even after weeks of dedicated stretching.
Fear not. You can still make excellent contact, hit the ball solidly, and develop a fantastic golf swing!
However, it will require a small compensation in your wrist mechanics, which I will cover in detail in the video.
(I know, I know. I told you earlier that compensations are bad. But in this case, a controlled, minor adjustment is far better than the large, unpredictable compensation that a flying elbow forces you to make.)
If you have been working hard on the backswing but your results seem stuck, this video may be the breakthrough you need to finally achieve the connected positions you have been chasing. You can also get a free AI golf lesson for real-time feedback on your trail elbow position during live practice.
Check it out now!
Video Transcription: Fix Flying Elbow to Get On Plane
Does your swing look anything like this at the top of your backswing?
If so, if your right elbow is flaring out and your club is pointed way to the right, this is going to be a very important video for you. It all has to do with how much you externally rotate your forearm or this right arm.
You may be interested in knowing that it could be a physiological issue. It could be possible that you don't have enough range of motion in your shoulder to get that external rotation. It could be that you need to stretch a little bit more, or that you may never be able to get that much range of motion.
We're going to give you a test to know how to do that. That's the first thing we're going to do; we're going to test your range of motion.
Second, I'm going to give you a few stretches that I really like, to help loosen up my shoulders. Third, if we can't loosen up the shoulders - if you've had an injury or you have a very limited range of motion - I'm going to show you how to make correct compensations in your swing, so that you can get your club on plane at the top.
In order to test your flexibility with the right shoulder, we're going to raise our arm up until it's shoulder height, bend 90 degrees, and then I'm going to externally rotate this arm - the upper arm - as far as I can.
For those of you wondering why I stopped, this is as far as I can go. That's as much external rotation as I can get in my arm. I can stretch for months and months and months, and I'm not ever going to be able to get any farther than that. It's just how my shoulder is put together, but I'm a rare case. Most people can get well past this.
If you're doing it correctly - if I push my arm another 20 degrees or so - that's about how much you should be able to get in an ideal scenario where you're going to be able to get to put the club perfectly on plane at the top.
If you can get 100-110 degrees it's not physiological; it's just a mechanical issue where you need to practice it in slow motion and gradually build it into your swing. That's also where the RotaryConnect is really going to help. It's going to keep that elbow in, and it's going to make things a lot easier.
Now that we've tested this, if you look like me, if you don't have any range of motion, we need to stretch. I'm going to show you a few of my favorite stretches.
I usually like to start out with just a driver. A longer club is going to make this a little easier. If you're pretty flexible, you can start out with a shorter club. I'm just going to do an overhead stretch.
This is going to help me stretch out my pectoralis muscles, which run in my chest, and they run up on top of the shoulders. If they're really tight, they're going to be pulling these shoulders forward. You need to stretch these out.
This is a great stretch for that. You're just going to take the club, work it over your shoulders, back and forth.
I want to warn you, if you have shoulder injuries, or if you had in the past, be sure you talk to your doctor before you just start yanking clubs over your head. You need to make sure it's going to be safe and it's not going to bring up any old injuries.
The second one I like to do is interlock my hands behind my back. I used to absolutely hate this. I couldn't stand doing this stretch, but I knew I needed to do it. Now, I love it. It feels great.
When I first started, as I tried to reach my fingers together I could only get probably three inches apart. It hurt, and it was aggravating, and it was really uncomfortable, but I kept on working on it. Eventually I got where I could barely touch the fingertips together and now, a few months later, I can interlock my hands.
Now, if I put these hands together, I can go ahead and interlock my fingers. It really makes it a lot easier for me to get into my full range of motion for myself. I'm not going to get past that, but it makes it easier to get to here, so that's going to help out in my swing.
Lastly, any time we're stretching, all the strain is put on the tightest or the smallest muscle; the weakest link is always going to bear the most load. What we want to do is make sure we stretch the entire arm. I always try to stretch out my forearms, pull my fingers back. That's going to stretch out the bottom of my forearm.
Then I go the other way, pull my fingers down. That's going to stretch out the top of my forearm, so I'll do this also.
You can also pull your arm across your chest; that's going to work out your posterior deltoid in the back of your shoulder.
Those are a few of my favorite stretches. There's tons of other stretches out there you can find online, or I'm sure if you have a physical therapist they can show you all kinds of different stretches to help out with your shoulders and your upper body in general.
We've stretched and stretched and stretched. We're still having this limited range of motion. For those of you who can't get a full range of motion even after you've stretched - whether that's an injury or if you're like myself where you're just not put together so your arm will go past there - then we need to make some compensations in the swing so that the club can still be on plane at the top.
Here's how we're going to do that. As this forearm rotates, it's essentially flattening out the plane of the club. As it comes back, if I didn't rotate that forearm at all, you'd see this club face would stay shut and the club would be pointing way to the right at the top. It's essentially flattening out the swing plane.
Now, since we cannot rotate as much as we should be able to, we're going to have to compensate by flattening out the swing plane in another way, which means we're going to have to rotate the wrists clockwise more than someone who could externally rotate this arm.
What it's going to do, if you hinge this club in front of you, essentially when you rotate your wrists clockwise, it's flattening out this plane.
Now I'm going to try to keep my arm, as much as I can, in. This isn't an excuse to let it flare out there like crazy. I'm still trying to keep it in as much as I can, but to make up for that lack of mobility I'm going to rotate my forearms a little bit extra, and I'm going to set the club on plane. That should be roughly on plane.
That's going to make it a lot easier to be consistent.
Stretch first. If you still can't get a full range of motion after a couple of months, then make the compensation. Don't make the compensation first and forget about stretching. I promise you, it's going to be a lot easier if you can get this by rotating your forearm.
Good luck to you guys. I hope this helps you out with your golf game, and I look forward to seeing you more on the site.
Watch part 2 now to see how you're moving your body in the opposite direction of the pros!
If you look more like the golfer on the left than the right (RST Founder Chuck Quinton), this article and video are for you!
Rotate your arm like this to test if you can presently achieve the perfect top of swing position. You need to be able to rotate about 20° more than I do here.
You may be able to fix your flying elbow with the 
Watch the video to learn the small compensation you may need.
Is this you?
Testing flexibility
Club shoulder stretch
Back shoulder stretch
Arm stretches
Without forearm rotation
With forearm rotation
