Bending the left arm

[ThePuttKing]

I've noticed my Dad bends his left arm on his back swing.

It's left arm gets into an "L" shape at the top. He says he can't swing any other way. His game varies from okay to terrible. I've told him it's important to keep his left arm straight.

A few questions:

Is it that important to keep your left arm straight during the backswing ?

Are there any drills / tips to maintain a straight left arm ?

Many Thanks !

[LowPost42]

Re: Bending the left arm

Somebody once told me (or I once read) that for every flaw you make in your backswing, you have to compensate for it on your downswing.

True or false? True.

So if your left arm bends, you'll have to unbend it in order to hit the ball.

Being a baseball player, the toughest thing for me to do was to keep my left arm soft and straight. Rigid is no good.

Even still, it breaks slightly. Luckily, I don't move it very far out of line, so it doesn't move far off line if I don't get it back. But that little movement can lead to thin and thick shots (depending on how close I can get the arm to where it was), and hits off center.

He should keep his arm comfortably straight. If he's bending it almost 90*, I can only imagine the host of horrible shots his round must contain.

To get him to stop bending his arm, try to get him to do this:

Assuming he's a RH golfer, get him to take his club away by moving his left bicep/tricep (left upper arm) ONLY.

I saw a great segment from golfchannel.com where they were talking about the length of your backswing. It sounds like your Dad is trying to get his club to parallel at the top. So have him try this:

Have him reach across his chest with his left hand (moving that bicep/tricep only). Reach as far as he can.

Then have him turn his shoulders to 90* to target (perpendicular).

Get him to put his right hand with his left (or if you're around, have him hold that position, and put a club in his hands).

That's the length of his backswing. Anything more, and he's over swinging.

Attached (hopefully) is my full shoulder turn with my DRIVER. My club is nowhere near parallel, I just don't have the flexibility. But my left arm is supple and straight, and I'm all set to unwind.

[ThePuttKing]

Re: Bending the left arm

not 90 degrees but probably about 45.

[LowPost42]

Re: Bending the left arm

OK - so if he can't get to 90*, he's compensating by breaking his arm.

The only 'drill' I have for keeping the arm straight is to have him get into his address position (sans club) and have him swing his lead arm using only his bicep/tricep to move it. Once he's doing it well, add the club (but only hold it with the left hand). It's very tough to lift a club with only that arm (there's some stress on the elbow) and NOT break the elbow.

Like any drill, this is obviously going a bit to the extreme (as your arm should be supple, and it's much easier when the right hand can help hold/lift the club.)

He may very well LOSE distance (since we're removing the compensatory device) but if his contact is inconsistent, it's unlikely he knows his distances.