Chicken Wing?

On the top of my backswing, my right are seems to stick out more than most peoples- i believe this is call a chicken wing. What i want to know is 1. Is this a problem? and 2. if so, how do i stop it?

It can be problematic as it seems to lead to an overactive right arm in the downswing. To solve it, make backswings with the right arm completely limp - just let it fold up. You may need to start with something lighter than a golf club to start, as you won't be using your right arm at all to get the feel.

take your right hand and hold it out in front of you like you are trying to stop traffic. Now now rotate your fingers to the left. Now go in front of a mirron and on the backswing do this same motion as you go to the top, let me know if that looks any better

re: Chicken wing advice:
My two cents worth: let your arms hang naturally and keep them that way on backswing, this will keep you from pulling your body up and out of the shot.
Go see a pro, please.

can always leave it up to you to be the bright spot of the forum

Hi Nate .
A lot of the old pro's used to play very well with a " flying right elbow " as came to be known.
The easiest way to stop this occuring , and without having to view your swing, is to get your self in front of a mirror or french door, anywhere reflective where you can view your swing. Now take your setup and swing to the top of your backswing and what you are looking for is to bring in your right elbow until your right forearm is parallel to the angle of your spine, this is the correct position and then all you have to do is repeat until you have the correct feel for the position.....

Good luck Nate
Aft

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As Aft said the correct term for what you describe is "Flying elbow", Jack Nicklaus did that, seems he played quite well with it. The main thing is to make sure your elbow returns to the right side on the downswing. More important is where you are at the top, if your elbow is flying and you have a flat swing, you got problems, if it fly's with an upright swing plane, not that big a problem, in fact an upright swing is almost impossible without the elbow flying.

You may indeed be chickenwinging it, it happens at the beginning or just after impact, in the later you swing over the top causing the left arm to colaspe at impact, elbow pops out. If on the backswing you begin the swing with little or no body turn, the right arm colaspes, you pull the club to far inside, this is also a chickwing and could put you into a flying elbow and a flat swing.

The idea here is to turn the shoulders, chest, arms, club back together, so the first four feet or so on the backswing, everything is pretty much as it was at address in relation to one another. Put another way, half way back (club parallel to target line and the ground) if you stop, hold that position and move your feet 90 degrees to the target line, you could drop your arms and club to the ground and pretty much be in your address postion, nothing has changed relative to these body parts, including a square clubface. This is just a check point, you won't be able hit balls because you moved your feet, but when you do this if the club points to the right, you layed off, points to the left you moved outside the plane, any clubface rotation from square will be immediately seen.

Once you perfect this position, to get to the top you simply continue your turn moving the hands vertically and allowing the right arm to fold, this will put you in a much better position at the top.