Does the left arm have to be straight

[ANTC]

Does the left arm have to be straight on the up swing, I see a lot of people do it then i see alot of people that don't. At first I didn't do it my left arm bent slightly and my coach forced me to straighten my arm out. I'm always thinking about making sure i do that since it hasn't become natural yet, so now I make a lot more bad swings or top the ball but when I do get a good strike my distance is a bit further then before when i would just take a natural swing

[William Le Wolf]

Does the left arm have to be straight on the up swing, I see a lot of people do it then i see alot of people that don't. At first I didn't do it my left arm bent slightly and my coach forced me to straighten my arm out. I'm always thinking about making sure i do that since it hasn't become natural yet, so now I make a lot more bad swings or top the ball but when I do get a good strike my distance is a bit further then before when i would just take a natural swing

Is it possible to upload a video of my swing here to show you my left arm?

[ANTC]

I'm sure you can upload it to youtube and post it here

[NMGolfer09]

Keeping your left arm straight will help with making square contact at impact. Not everyone is able to keep their left arm straight, especially if you aren't used to it. Keep working at it and when it becomes second nature to you, you'll see the benefits.

[PGB]

If you can manage to keep it straight you really want to. It creates more power within the shot and is simply better form.

[William Le Wolf]

If you are a right handed player try hitting the ball with just your left arm. When you can hit the ball 150 yards with 1 arm i think this will answer your question.

[GaijinGolfer]

You should try to keep your left arm as straight as possible. A little bend is OK, but the straighter you can keep your arm, the more power you will create and the more consistent your ballstriking will be.

[wrx_junki]

No it does not have to be straight. If you strain to keep it straight, you may lose power. Just keep your body relaxed.

[nevets88]

At the top of the backswing, it can be a little bent, like Curtis Strange or Paul Casey (I think). but around impact, it should straighten out. Of course, if whatever works for you works, a la Jim Furyk, then don't mess with it.

http://images.google.com/images?hl=e...gbv=2&aq;=f&oq;=

[William Le Wolf]

I think relaxed and fairly straight arm. There should be no forcing your arms to do anything, just nice gentle movements.

[ks8829]

Its important to keep your left arm straight this will give you better control and consistency.

When you change your swing it takes awhile for it to kick in, be patience and in the long run it will definitely help your game. Look at all the pro golfers swing and you will see that your coach is helping you get better.

The more you practice the more it will become comfortable and improve your golf swing. I have found that this will keep you from going pass parallal in your backswing and tighten your golf swing.

[squaddie]

I think relaxed and fairly straight arm. There should be no forcing your arms to do anything, just nice gentle movements.

You and wrx_junki hit the nail on the head. The left arm should be straight but not tense or rigid. After struggling with trying to stop bending my left arm (without being rigid) what I found helped me keep the arm fairly straight is doing a proper one-piece takeaway. Once I reach the end of the takeaway my right arm folds, which helps guide the left arm upward without bending, as the shoulders turn and the club reaches the top of the backswing.

[William Le Wolf]

Glad to help :)

[wrx_junki]

Another thing is, if you keep your tempo at a moderate pace and keep the backswing short then you won't have that much of a bend at the top where a lot of the bending happens.

[William Le Wolf]

My left arm stays the same throughout the full back swing. From the starting position to the top with No extra bending.

[CalBoomer]

The straight left arm has little to do with power. It has everything to do with the club head contacting the ball at exactly the right level.

[ANTC]

thanks for all the advice and i checked out a bunch of pros swings so i guess i'll stick with it and keep trying it

[grantc79]

Does the left arm have to be straight on the up swing, I see a lot of people do it then i see alot of people that don't. At first I didn't do it my left arm bent slightly and my coach forced me to straighten my arm out. I'm always thinking about making sure i do that since it hasn't become natural yet, so now I make a lot more bad swings or top the ball but when I do get a good strike my distance is a bit further then before when i would just take a natural swing

Yup straight throughout.

Bending it is the recipe for inconsistency because then you have to return it to straight at impact. There are too many other things that have to be perfect in your swing, why add one more?