Do you struggle, like most golfers, with a flying trail elbow at the top of the backswing?
From this compromised position, you are forced to make aggressive compensations with the arms to get the elbow back in front of the body at impact, or make other costly adjustments that rob you of power and consistency.
Your golf swing does not need to be that complicated.
Learning how to set up correctly with the trail arm elbow in the proper position at address — and understanding how it must rotate going back — will teach you how to avoid a takeaway that is too flat, too inside and around, and too deep at the top of the swing.
"This was a massive game changer in my backswing position and contact consistency - THANK YOU!!!! Clay, I finally got my right arm in proper position because of this!"
-John B. | Dec 17, 2012 | 4 HDCP
You might be surprised to learn that the reason most golfers get their arms stuck deep behind them during the backswing is actually rooted in their posture at address.
When you do not understand the position the shoulder blades need to be in at address, the trail arm will internally rotate, placing the elbow in a position where it can only travel deep behind the body as it hinges in only one plane.
When you position the shoulder blades back in neutral, the elbow pit will naturally rotate to face away from the golfer.
This is the exact position it needs to be in during the backswing to allow the trail arm to simply hinge and move the lower arm upward while staying in front of the body.
In this video, I demonstrate how most golfers set up to the ball with the shoulder blades in a protracted position, and how simply retracting them puts you in position to make a remarkably simple backswing and achieve perfect positions at the top. To see how your own backswing positions and elbow alignment compare to elite standards, try a free AI swing analysis.
Video Transcription: Trail Elbow Pit in Backswing
The most common swing fault that I see on the takeaway and during the entire backswing involves the trail elbow. This is something that most golfers have encountered on the website, but they do not stick with it consistently enough or pay close enough attention to the details.
It is extremely important that you do, so I am creating a dedicated golf instruction video focused entirely on the trail elbow during the backswing. That may seem like a minor detail, but it is a hugely important one. I am going to walk you through what it should do during the backswing, what it should not do, and what most golfers typically do wrong.
Trail Elbow in Golf
That said, what most golfers do at setup in golf is position the pit of the trail elbow — the crease in the elbow — so that it is internally rotated. For a right-handed golfer, that means rotated counter-clockwise from your perspective.
What happens is this puts the trail elbow itself pointing away from you, perpendicular to the target line. If the elbow points back at my body, that is one position; 90 degrees away from my body is another entirely.
Because your elbow is designed to bend in only one plane, when you start the backswing with the elbow already pointing back — I will demonstrate from down the line — this is internally rotated, this would be neutral, and this would be externally rotated.
As I initiate my golf swing, my elbow can only bend in this one direction, so of course immediately my arm starts getting stuck back behind me. Suddenly I have all the problems we work so hard to eliminate — the club is deep and flat by the time I reach the top, the trail elbow is way behind me, and I am stuck coming down in the downswing. These are the major problems we see time and time again.
It all starts from address. If your arm is internally rotated so that the elbow is positioned to only bend in this one plane, it has no choice but to travel behind you in the backswing.
One of the concepts I discuss extensively in clinics is that your trail arm is the governor of width. It is the dictator of width in the swing, and if it is allowed to bend prematurely, you are going to have a very narrow golf swing. That means the club gets deep and stuck behind you.
What you must do is have your trail elbow in neutral at golf setup. If you are standing in neutral with good posture, your elbow pit is going to point outward, away from you. Now, as you bring yourself into your address position, it will rotate slightly inward, but it is critically important to maintain that outward orientation.
When you go back, you want to always keep the elbow pit pointing away from your body. Halfway back, it should be pointing at the sky. Let us take a look at that. As I rotate back, my elbow pit is now away from me. As I continue rotating, notice that the elbow is now pointing more down the target line.
Most golfers I observe have it pointed perpendicular to the target line, instead of down the target line during the backswing. The reason I want the elbow oriented this way is that I do not want it bending back behind me.
As I rotate back, my arm remains in front of my body. As I keep turning, because the elbow is in a position where it can bend upward, the club comes up on plane rather than traveling behind me — which would then require some aggressive compensatory move to recover.
Rotate back — the elbow pit points outward, away from me halfway back. As I keep turning, it simply bends right up. The trail elbow controls all of this. If you start with it internally rotated, the club is going to easily travel too far inside. Your trail arm will fold too early, and you end up very deep in the backswing because of the elbow position.
You want to keep that trail arm straight and externally rotate it for as long as humanly possible. Then, as you continue from there, it simply bends upward.
That is a critical piece of the puzzle that I believe is extremely overlooked by many golfers. They have poor posture at setup, their shoulder blades are protracted, so their arms naturally want to internally rotate — and now we have all of these issues where the arms are moving all over the place and we are disconnected from the core.
Pay very close attention to what that trail elbow is doing at setup. Make sure the elbow pit is pointing outward, away from you. Then as you go back, it will rotate a little more. Remember, we know there is a small amount of external rotation in the upper arm — the humerus bone.
That external rotation sets the club on plane. But if you simply focus on keeping the elbow pit pointed away from you, then as you get halfway back, make sure it is pointing more down the target line and straight up at the sky — rather than down at the ground or perpendicular to your target line.
That will allow your arm to swing upward rather than behind you, and it will make your golf swing dramatically simpler. Just focus on the elbow position at address, maintain it going back, and your club will come up on plane much more naturally. For real-time feedback on how your backswing and elbow positions are performing, try a free AI golf lesson that evaluates your form.
Watch part 2 now to see how you're moving your body in the opposite direction of the pros!
The golfer on the left demonstrates a typical backswing that puts you in a tough position to make consistent impact. With this video, you'll learn to get into the position on the right every time.
Right elbow pointing toward the body, and away
The right arm gets stuck behind
The right elbow points down the target line in the backswing
Keep the right arm straight as long as possible
