flying right elbow

My friend took a photo of me at the top of my swing during my weekend round and I noticed I have a very obvious flying right elbow. Could anyone please tell me some of the problems this could cause and some drills or feelings to help rid me of it?

Thanks

Sam

Hi Sam

Coincidentally I got an email today from www.golfspan.com saying that they'd dropped their membership fee and opened up their video library.

I've been suffering from a pull lately - lo and behold one of the causes "a flying elbow".

http://www.golfspan.com/gs_Video/gvp...t=Pull%20Shots

You have to register which probably means you'll get some junk mail from time to time offering miracle solutions and 10 strokes off your handicap in ten days - will make a change from Viagra and enlargement creams I suppose!

Not a bad source of advice - though not as good as here

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hi, imho, the first 18 inches straight back and i mean straight back..(when your hands are in front of your right knee, the clubhead is just right of your right foot and still on the target line,).. is the most critical in the entire golf swing. Do this by pulling back with the two middle fingers of the right hand. Keeping your right knee in the same position as address to the top, you cannot come close to turning your left shoulder 90 degrees. unless you have trained like a pro, but you don't need to. What you need is normal wrist cock and retaining it thru impact. Your right elbow cannot fly if your pivot thus is correct cause you cannot turn shoulders far enough to let that happen and you can hit as hard as you want with your right side, for a right handed golfer that is. You will find it easier to make solid contact and as you get use to it you will hit it further than before when timing gets better. Give it a try and tell me about it, it has worked for me after 40 years of frustrating golf.

Samburk:

The flying right elbow is a tough move to break because it feels like you are swinging very freely with a wide extension using this technique. This is very true and these are usually good things. The problem comes when you have to time the return of the elbow back to the right side during the transition. Your brain will be sensing that if you bring the right elbow and upper arm quickly back to the right side you will crash into it and disrupt the swing. Actually bringing the elbow back into the right side is what you need to accomplish (see any description of the "magic move"). I suspect your brain is getting the better and you are taking the arms well around the right hip on the downswing thus coming over the top in a big way. The faster the transition the more over the top. It does not really matter if the results are pulls or slices because neither are what you want.

Try swinging (and video taping if possible) keeping the right elbow tucked in more at the top. What you will be doing is keeping the elbows closer together which produces a more connected swing. With the flying right elbow the left and right elbows can be more than two feet apart at the top. Give yourself good extension going back to avoid pulling the club inside. Pulling the club too far inside can happen because you will be focusing on keeping the right elbow in to your side going back. Avoid this temptation and swing back freely away from the ball but as you begin to take the club to the top keep the right elbow pointing down toward the ground not pointing away from the right side of your body. You will need to turn agressively with your body through the ball but only after a smooth transition lead by your legs to deliver the club in the slot. By keeping your right elbow closer to your right side at the top, on the downswing it will already be close to where it needs to be tucked against your right lateral muscle. Remember that you are not going to feel the ball being hit so much with the arms but with the body and this is a good thing.

Best of luck

Samburk,

Chicken wing it's called.

Try swinging the club with a glove under your right armpit - I'm assuming you are a right hander. If the glove falls to the ground - you've chicken winged.

This is just my own observation.

I battle an over the top move - especially when I get tired and start slapping at the the ball (rather than turning through it). The cause? Letting my right arm work back behind me. On the downswing, it has no choice but to come out again - putting me across the line.

I started watching some pro video, watching for their elbows. For most pros, the elbows always seem to stay in front of the body - never working behind (a couple show the trailing elbow coming back beside the body). So I started working on this - swinging with my elbows in front. The only way to do this successfully is to let that trailing arm fold up and hang. If you try to 'wing' it, your hands either go very high, or your swing becomes very short if you keep your elbows in front of your body.

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For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

The hands are connected.

I suspect that your left wrist is not flat at the top of your backswing. Get video of you "down the line" and you will probably see it.

VP's drill will help along with conscious effort during PRACTICE to keep the left wrist flat (if it is also a problem).

Just my guess.
Charles