Do Arms Bend at Finish – Yes & No Depending

[Ross]

EmailsToRoss Jun 29, 2015
Ross
Do you break your arms at the finish? Seems like in some videos you do and some you don’t.

Al

Hi Al
On a “Full Swing” yes definitely. Now, on some of my drills and more “Controlled Shots”, not as much or even “no”.

Example 1: I want my students to know how to use the body to bring the arms/club through impact without flipping, for a very solid shot, so I have drills that maintain the setup shape back and through impact to teach control or to remove flipping. This kind of short shot ends still holding a flat front wrist, with very little or no front arm bend (depending on shot). We still rotate completely, but keep the arms/wrists fixed for a variety of shots.

Example 2: If the body’s rotation is fast and very accelerated, the arms will release much more due to momentum vs. a slow pace to the finish, creating less momentum and less arm bend.

NOW… if you’re experiencing excessive arm/wrists bending, you are probably using the arms/hands to help through and after impact… not good… causes many problems and miss hits. Let the body rotation do the work.

* The back elbow does bend a little on the backswing, but stays close to the front elbow/arm… then on the downswing, the front elbow will bend after the ball is gone, as your body unwinding, brings the arms around to the left (right hander).

[Reposted Forum move]

horstie May 17, 2020
Hi Ross, quick question : For the straight arm drill,do I only concentrate on the lead arm ?
Horst

[Ross]

Ross May 18, 2020
No, you want to focus more on the large muscles… it is an abbreviated movement to get the body to move the arms.

In an actual swing on the backswing the front arm (left arm for a right handed golfer) will stay straight and the back arm (right arm for a right handed golfer) will eventually bend a little … then on the forward swing the right arm will straighten out and left elbow will bend down (not out that’s a chicken wing). At the very finish on a full swing, most of the time, both arms will bend unless using an advanced shot like holding off the toe from turning over to carve or cut a controlled shot.

[Author]

Posts