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Keep the Right Arm Straight to Turn
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One of the most common faults that destroys a powerful turn in the golf swing is how the right arm works in the backswing. In this video, I go over how the right arm works properly in the backswing and how it impacts the rotation of the torso.
- Golfers who don't make a full turn often fold the right arm early
- Keep the right arm straight as long as possible - it acts as a piston to move the right shoulder blade farther back
- Use a video camera to check your form - you may feel that your arm does not fold at all even though it has
- Your hands should feel very far away from you at the top of the swing
In another video, I talked about how the right arm, the right elbow pit, needs to be out away from you to dress and stay that way as you go back.
One of the key aspects of getting a full turn is this guy being in the right position at setup and during the backswing, but also another sensation that a lot of golfers don't have and they lose, and it causes them to not make a full turn and they create a very narrow backswing.
A narrow backswing would look something like this.
My arms are very close to my body, you can see I haven't made much of a turn and my right arm is very collapsed, I've got a lot of flexion here, a lot of times the left arm breaks down and so I've got this really narrow, weak golf swing, rather than having a big full turn and a lot of width where this arm stays straight, and that's what I want to talk about.
Once you've got this right elbow in the right position during the swing, the most important feeling for most golfers, and again, a lot of things I do on the website, I'm talking about a broad generalization here.
Not everybody is exactly the same, obviously, but to most golfers, they have to feel that this right arm never folds all the way to the top of the backswing period.
So, what happens most times when people don't make a full turn is that this right arm starts folding early.
So they go back and this guy's already folded like this, and then by the time they're here, their arms and their shoulder girdle, especially this lean shoulder girdle, feels fully loaded up.
So they're not going to keep turning.
So you can see my right shoulder on the right side of my head.
You look at a tour player, you actually see the right shoulder blade on the other side of their head when you're looking face on.
So that looks like this.
You can start to see my shoulder popping out behind my head on this side.
The only way that you're going to get there is for your right arm to stay straight as long as you can.
So, when you're practicing this, just like everything else, you don't need a club at first.
So what I'm going to practice, I've got my right elbow pit in the right place.
As I go back, I'm going to keep it straight as long as I can.
And if I keep it straight, it's going to almost act like a piston moving my right shoulder blade back.
But as soon as it bends and it acts like a shock absorber, and so the shoulder stops moving.
So this is, the club's still moving a long ways, but you'll see that my shoulder is really going to slow down, versus if I keep it straight, my shoulder has to keep moving in order for the club to turn.
That's how you make a full turn.
So if I practice turn, turn, turn, turn, turn, you're going to see my right shoulder start to pop out over here.
Now, I have a little bit of flexion at the top, and the less flexion I have, the easier it is to keep this left arm straight.
When people get all collapsed at the top, and this left arm's broken down, it's almost always because this guy's bending too much way too soon.
So, you really need to check this on video, because to keep your arms straight, you're going to feel like you're at the top of the swing and your arms look like this, but they won't be.
I've never had anybody not actually fold their right arm.
But the feeling is that it doesn't fold during the entire swing.
It's just a sensation, but you have to do that.
In order for your body to make this full rotation, you have to keep that right arm straight.
And of course, just like in the other video, it has to be in the right position, but you need to make sure that it stays straight as long as humanly possible.
And that will act as a piston that will push that right shoulder blade back.
You're going to get a nice big full turn, feel really loaded up.
And more importantly, it's going to help keep your arms in front of you and wide, so you're going to feel like your hands at the top of your swing are as far away from you as you can get them.
Because again, you're not going to get to this narrow swing, we want a lot of width.
That's going to help the club staying in front and get us a lot of torque in our body, because we're going to be forced to turn more to move the club.
So keep that right arm straight as long as you can, it'll feel like you never fold it, and you'll be in a much better spot at the top.
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