How To Use The Right Elbow In The Golf Swing (Video) - by Pete Styles
How To Use The Right Elbow In The Golf Swing (Video) - by Pete Styles

So we now want to establish the correct role for the right elbow to play in the golf swing. We’ve talked about the importance of the elbows, we’ve just talked about the importance specifically of the left elbow in the previous video. So now looking at this right elbow and its role, it’s going to be quite important how the club could be swung. So from a good address position, setting up nicely here, see how the left arm is straight, the front arm is straight but the rear arm, the right arm just tucks in a little bit. It doesn’t actually straighten as a temptation to bring the right hand too much over the top. Lift up the right shoulder a little bit. So the right elbow just stay a little bit more relaxed and tucked in particularly when we get the drive then the right elbow definitely stay in role. Then during the back swing, the left arm will stay straight, the right elbow will just start to hinge gently. Now it’s important it doesn’t cock in this way, it doesn’t stay too tight to the chest, it will move away from the chest creating a little bit of width and then just soften nicely as we wind and relax back to the top.

The top of the swing, the right elbow should be pointing down towards the floor. That’s quite important point, and I’ll view that from down the line for you. So as you swing back to the top of the swing here, the right elbow is supposed to point downwards. If the right elbow starts to point upwards, there’s a real chance you’ve got what we class as the Jack Nicholas flying right elbow. And that’s not something a lot of golfers could cope with in that swing; they generally find that they struggle with down swing if they have that Jack Nicholas flying right elbow. So feel that your right elbow points downwards at the top of your back swing, that should therefore encourage a slightly better transition. Now the transition – next part of this downswing is where the right elbow really plays the key role, and it’s important we feel the right elbow can stay into the side of the body and pull in nicely on your down swing. So again from the front on to the top, we pull in. The right elbow now almost locks in to the right hip, creates a 90 degree line through that right elbow, and holds that angle down to the ball for quite a long time before we release the club. The releasing of the club involves the straightening of the right elbow. And then from the impact position where it’s straightening, it’s then going to be straight, straight, straight all the way through until it bends right at the end. So the right elbow, starts off slightly relaxed, hinges but doesn’t come in tight, points down at the top, starts to pull in to the side of the body, gets quite tight and loaded, extending for impact, reaches through, straightening out here, and then relax to a finish. So the right elbow plays a very, very important role in the golf swing. It’s never too tight, but it does goes through quite a lot of flexion, cause a lot of extension. And therefore it’s imperative to get right to generate bags and bags of power. 2016-04-19

So we now want to establish the correct role for the right elbow to play in the golf swing. We’ve talked about the importance of the elbows, we’ve just talked about the importance specifically of the left elbow in the previous video. So now looking at this right elbow and its role, it’s going to be quite important how the club could be swung. So from a good address position, setting up nicely here, see how the left arm is straight, the front arm is straight but the rear arm, the right arm just tucks in a little bit. It doesn’t actually straighten as a temptation to bring the right hand too much over the top. Lift up the right shoulder a little bit. So the right elbow just stay a little bit more relaxed and tucked in particularly when we get the drive then the right elbow definitely stay in role. Then during the back swing, the left arm will stay straight, the right elbow will just start to hinge gently. Now it’s important it doesn’t cock in this way, it doesn’t stay too tight to the chest, it will move away from the chest creating a little bit of width and then just soften nicely as we wind and relax back to the top.

The top of the swing, the right elbow should be pointing down towards the floor. That’s quite important point, and I’ll view that from down the line for you. So as you swing back to the top of the swing here, the right elbow is supposed to point downwards. If the right elbow starts to point upwards, there’s a real chance you’ve got what we class as the Jack Nicholas flying right elbow. And that’s not something a lot of golfers could cope with in that swing; they generally find that they struggle with down swing if they have that Jack Nicholas flying right elbow. So feel that your right elbow points downwards at the top of your back swing, that should therefore encourage a slightly better transition. Now the transition – next part of this downswing is where the right elbow really plays the key role, and it’s important we feel the right elbow can stay into the side of the body and pull in nicely on your down swing. So again from the front on to the top, we pull in. The right elbow now almost locks in to the right hip, creates a 90 degree line through that right elbow, and holds that angle down to the ball for quite a long time before we release the club.

The releasing of the club involves the straightening of the right elbow. And then from the impact position where it’s straightening, it’s then going to be straight, straight, straight all the way through until it bends right at the end. So the right elbow, starts off slightly relaxed, hinges but doesn’t come in tight, points down at the top, starts to pull in to the side of the body, gets quite tight and loaded, extending for impact, reaches through, straightening out here, and then relax to a finish. So the right elbow plays a very, very important role in the golf swing. It’s never too tight, but it does goes through quite a lot of flexion, cause a lot of extension. And therefore it’s imperative to get right to generate bags and bags of power.