Senior 7 - Allow small front arm bend to aid full back swing, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
Senior 7 - Allow small front arm bend to aid full back swing, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

So I want to start just by asking David to swing up to the top of his backswing and holding this top position for a while if you can, please, David. And we look at this left arm position here. You see how the elbow bends a little bit from the bicep here. Now, if we straighten that arm out as much as possible and we lock this arm out, you see how short the golf swing becomes now because that arm is locked out. And actually, when I've done that for David, he's also lost his posture and his spine angle to a certain degree.

So, for a lot of golfers of a certain age, we might have to allow some left arm bent position. What we want to try and avoid is any real collapse. If you're around in this position where the golf club is only banging you on the back of the neck and the left arm's bent double, that's very inconsistent and actually not that powerful. So try and keep this elbow as straight as you possibly can.

Now, a really nice swing thought there will just be to push your glove, if you've got a glove on your left hand or a watch on your left hand, push that as far away from body as you can, and that creates a nice wide left arm position.

So I've asked David to come back down to setup and squeeze your left arm straight here. And try and make a swing while you keep this as straight as possible pushing your watch as far away as possible. Turn back. See this position? We just have to accept that for David. We'd have to allow him to have that position. To try and straighten this out, we lose a very -- we end up with a very short swing; we actually lose a little bit of posture here as well. So, we'd allow a short bend. But just ensure that you're not completely collapsing around your body. You might think this is better because it goes more around towards the Tiger Woods and the Ernie Els's full backswing. But you lose so much control and you don’t really gain any length in that.

So left arm as straight as you can. We would accept a small bend of golfers over a certain age. Just one more time. But this is a great top of the backswing position for a golfer of David's age and flexibility.

 2012-09-18

So I want to start just by asking David to swing up to the top of his backswing and holding this top position for a while if you can, please, David. And we look at this left arm position here. You see how the elbow bends a little bit from the bicep here. Now, if we straighten that arm out as much as possible and we lock this arm out, you see how short the golf swing becomes now because that arm is locked out. And actually, when I've done that for David, he's also lost his posture and his spine angle to a certain degree.

So, for a lot of golfers of a certain age, we might have to allow some left arm bent position. What we want to try and avoid is any real collapse. If you're around in this position where the golf club is only banging you on the back of the neck and the left arm's bent double, that's very inconsistent and actually not that powerful. So try and keep this elbow as straight as you possibly can.

Now, a really nice swing thought there will just be to push your glove, if you've got a glove on your left hand or a watch on your left hand, push that as far away from body as you can, and that creates a nice wide left arm position.

So I've asked David to come back down to setup and squeeze your left arm straight here. And try and make a swing while you keep this as straight as possible pushing your watch as far away as possible. Turn back. See this position? We just have to accept that for David. We'd have to allow him to have that position. To try and straighten this out, we lose a very — we end up with a very short swing; we actually lose a little bit of posture here as well. So, we'd allow a short bend. But just ensure that you're not completely collapsing around your body. You might think this is better because it goes more around towards the Tiger Woods and the Ernie Els's full backswing. But you lose so much control and you don’t really gain any length in that.

So left arm as straight as you can. We would accept a small bend of golfers over a certain age. Just one more time. But this is a great top of the backswing position for a golfer of David's age and flexibility.