Longer Golf Swing Drill 3 Front arm stretch creates tension (Video) - by Pete Styles
Longer Golf Swing Drill 3 Front arm stretch creates tension (Video) - by Pete Styles

At the top of your backswing, you should actually create quite a lot of tension and I think that's one of the reasons why a lot of golfers, they swing shorter because they don't like that feeling of being tight. They're always told the golfers that we should be super relaxed and smooth. Well, that's okay but actually in the top of your backswing, you should be quite tight in this area here.

Now, granted you don't normally hold that position in your swing, so you're up and immediately down from that position, but if you're going to practice and you're going to learn the right area, you have to get used to feeling that point in the tension where your left arm pulls across your chest and gets tight here right the way down the tricep and through your shoulder.

So, I pull my left arm back and I create tension here and that allows me to make a full backswing if I turn my shoulders but don't pull my left arm back. I either don't swing back far enough or I bend my arm, neither of which is a good thing. So, here's a great little drill and exercise to help you with that left arm tension. Stand facing head along into a mirror. Imagine where the camera is a mirror for me. I'm going to place my left arm as a right-handed golfer in front of me. I'm going to pull it right across my chest and get it as close to my chest as possible.

I'll then hold the back of it with my right hand and pull it and feel it come really tight across my chest, so it pulls down through the shoulder, pull through the tricep, and I hold it here, 10, 15 seconds is a good stretch. I then tilt forwards to my golf posture, repeat the exercise again and now also add in a rotation of shoulder. So, my shoulders turn to 90 degrees, I pull my left arm across my chest and this now gets me into quite a big backswing position.

If I were then to put it altogether as a swing, shoulders, left arm tension across my body, my golf club now quite happily goes up to the 2 o'clock line. Most people with medium levels of flexibility without any injuries, you should be able to get that left arm up and across your chest nice and tight. Don't be scared of a tight fit, that's the tension, that's creating the power. But if you're not prepared to pull that left arm across your chest, you've done it with a very weak and very short backswing, and therefore a very weak and very short ball flight.

Turn the shoulders, pull the left arm across the chest, create power. Utilize this drill in the mirror to create a bigger backswing and bigger golf shots.

 2012-11-30

At the top of your backswing, you should actually create quite a lot of tension and I think that's one of the reasons why a lot of golfers, they swing shorter because they don't like that feeling of being tight. They're always told the golfers that we should be super relaxed and smooth. Well, that's okay but actually in the top of your backswing, you should be quite tight in this area here.

Now, granted you don't normally hold that position in your swing, so you're up and immediately down from that position, but if you're going to practice and you're going to learn the right area, you have to get used to feeling that point in the tension where your left arm pulls across your chest and gets tight here right the way down the tricep and through your shoulder.

So, I pull my left arm back and I create tension here and that allows me to make a full backswing if I turn my shoulders but don't pull my left arm back. I either don't swing back far enough or I bend my arm, neither of which is a good thing. So, here's a great little drill and exercise to help you with that left arm tension. Stand facing head along into a mirror. Imagine where the camera is a mirror for me. I'm going to place my left arm as a right-handed golfer in front of me. I'm going to pull it right across my chest and get it as close to my chest as possible.

I'll then hold the back of it with my right hand and pull it and feel it come really tight across my chest, so it pulls down through the shoulder, pull through the tricep, and I hold it here, 10, 15 seconds is a good stretch. I then tilt forwards to my golf posture, repeat the exercise again and now also add in a rotation of shoulder. So, my shoulders turn to 90 degrees, I pull my left arm across my chest and this now gets me into quite a big backswing position.

If I were then to put it altogether as a swing, shoulders, left arm tension across my body, my golf club now quite happily goes up to the 2 o'clock line. Most people with medium levels of flexibility without any injuries, you should be able to get that left arm up and across your chest nice and tight. Don't be scared of a tight fit, that's the tension, that's creating the power. But if you're not prepared to pull that left arm across your chest, you've done it with a very weak and very short backswing, and therefore a very weak and very short ball flight.

Turn the shoulders, pull the left arm across the chest, create power. Utilize this drill in the mirror to create a bigger backswing and bigger golf shots.