WEBVTT

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In this golf smart insight, we're going to take a look at the member question,

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keeping

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the left arm straight throughout the whole swing.

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So I know that it's a commonly discussed swing thought of trying to keep that

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left arm straight

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in the entire swing.

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In this video, I'm going to give you some of the numbers of what 3D actually

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shows and

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talk to you about when I think it's helpful to try to keep it straight and when

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it might

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be problematic to try to keep it straight.

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So the tour average, or if you look at any of these arm bend graphs, you'll see

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that

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nobody keeps it perfectly straight.

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The closest that I have bends the arm about 10 degrees during the backswing and

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then it

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straightens a bit in transition and then bends a little bit, but stays within

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kind of like

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a 10 degree window.

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The tour average is compared to where they are at setup.

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They're going to be bent, let's say, 5 to 8 degrees more at impact, but the arm

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is going

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to bend that left arm, that lead arm is going to bend about 30 degrees up

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towards the top

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of the swing.

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Now it doesn't often look that way because there's also going to be some

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rotation.

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So when you get towards the top of the swing, the arm is bent, but there's been

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some shoulder

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rotation, so now you're looking more kind of in the plane of the bend.

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So it looks fairly straight as opposed to if it stayed perfectly in plane with

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the camera

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kind of like this instead of rotating, then you would be able to see more of

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the bend.

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But because there's some rotation, you won't see nearly as much of the bend.

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But it does tend to soften as it gets towards the top of the swing.

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So when are the times, if we know that it doesn't stay perfectly straight, when

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are the

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key times to try to actually keep it straight?

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The two or three major times that I think are helpful for training, trying to

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keep that

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left arm straight, would be during takeaway, because most tour golfers actually

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increase

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their, the straightness of their arms during takeaway.

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So just between that phase there, that helps them power it more with the core

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and make

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more of kind of a one piece move.

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But then as you go to set, I actually think trying to keep that right arm to

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have a little

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bit width is going to be more helpful to trying to keep the left arm straight.

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What tends to happen when golfers try to keep the left arm straight up towards

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the

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top of the swing is they tend to get a little bit more of this look where they

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bend that

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right arm and bring it around.

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And the left arm just kind of comes very close across their chest.

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As opposed to having some of that rotation and keeping the hands a little bit

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more out

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in front, I think trying to keep that right arm straight helps create better

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width at

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the top rather than the left arm.

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The time where I see a huge problem with trying to keep the left arm straight

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is in transition.

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And so many golfers that try to keep that left arm straight through transition

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will actually

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end up doing more of, more of a cast pattern and they'll tend to kind of steep

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en the arms

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a little bit more like that.

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That's a very effective lat or shoulder pull which creates some speed in the

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handle but

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it's more of a vertical motion where what I tend to like to see is in

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transition if you're

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going to use more of your lower body against the ground, you're going to use

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more of your

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core to pull through your arms, that's going to tend to cause a little bit more

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of this

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lag and you're going to see those shoulders and the elbows actually narrow a

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bit or bend.

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But then one of the last places where it's really helpful to try to keep the

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arm straight

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is not an impact but through past follow through.

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So if you take a look at many tour golfers, especially when they're hitting

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drivers, you'll

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tend to see that the arms stay straight all the way until the club is well past

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here.

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I see amateurs frequently when they're trying to keep the arm straight, they

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just worry about

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it trying to stay straight through there and then it bends very quickly kind of

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like this.

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But when you start to add speed to that, it'll start moving earlier and earlier

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or closer

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and closer to impact.

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So if you're trying to keep that arm straight through impact, which we know

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that it's not

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actually going to be straight, I already told you it's going to be a little bit

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more bent.

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But the key is that it's actually straightening.

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And in order to get it to straighten long enough, it's helpful to do little

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shots where you

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train it staying straight as you kind of turn that corner there.

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If you can keep it or get it to stay straight during that phase there, then you

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're going

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to have a good wide look at impact, you're going to avoid that look of the

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chicken wing.

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So quick recap.

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The places where it's helpful are in takeaway, possibly at the top of the swing

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, definitely

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not during transition.

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And then again, helpful during the release and even past the release for trying

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to keep

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that arm straight.

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But if you're trying to keep that arm straight, the entire swing, I think is

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probably going

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to do more harm than good, especially during transition.

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