GOLF

left arm facing in toward body right elbow joint is facing out and slightly bent in to body.

left arm buldging out due to being double jointed

Strange? Yes. Weird? Yes. Important for Golf? ABSOLUTELY!

By Rob Krieger

Your golf swing can have an immediate effect for the better with simple adjustments. The position of the elbow and the elbow joints of both arms during the swing can make or break your golf swing. These joints directly affect how the clubface is controlled for accurate, consistent, and solid golf shots from setup to impact. Breaking down what the elbow joints are doing and where they are throughout the swing can be game-changing.

At set up, the left/lead elbow joint should be straight, and the inside part of the joint should be pointing in toward your body. This is where it could get very weird. Some of you may be double-jointed (aka hypermobility). This joint may be pointing out toward the ball, not in toward the ball when you make this arm straight. If or when this occurs, the left/lead arm has difficulty working properly during the swing. It forces the forearm to rotate more than it should to get the hands and arms to a consistent and repeatable backswing position.

This may sound strange, but the right/trail elbow/joint should face out toward the ball (opposite of the left/lead elbow joint) BUT should have a slight bend in it. Having a slight flex in it allows this joint to fold naturally into the body. It may even be touching the rib cage at address.

CORRECT

INCORRECT

Regardless, if you are double jointed or not, if you do not relax this joint with a slight bend and let it fold down during the takeaway, the swing is predisposed to being too steep (leading to chucks and thin shots), usually resulting in the club coming across the body leading to the ball going to the right. If the right arm is completely straight at address, this may also force the shoulders to be open to your target line. Nothing wrong with that if you are trying to play the fade or slice, but if you are trying to draw or hook the ball, that elbow/ joint position situates the body toward the wrong direction. Additionally, the right/trail elbow should not have more than 90 degrees of bend at the end/ top of the backswing before starting back to the ball. If this joint goes past 90 degrees, the joint will extend itself early and starts the downswing with the club before the body is ready to move back to the ball, resulting in a loss of distance, inconsistent contact, and usually slice to the right.

As you come into impact, if the left/lead elbow points down to the ground, the ball will generally have a right to left spin and hook to the left due to the clubface rotating and squaring up at impact. If the left/lead elbow points toward the target, this generally leaves the clubface open, resulting in fades or slicing.

Be more conscious of where your elbows are at setup, top of swing, and impact to better understand your shot shapes and consistency you want in your game. Players are continually amazed by these small tweaks to the elbows and the huge results that occur. Strange…Yes, Weird…Yes, Important…ABSOLUTELY. Fairways and Greens.V