Shorter (Probably Better) Swing? Keep the Right Arm Straight

[MasterP]

I've actually been working on this the past few weeks. The straight right arm feeling makes the whole swing feel more compact, and for me leads to more consistent results. It actually feels like my right arm is more connected to my side at the top, almost like there is a tension there waiting to be released. Most of my misses are because my backswing can get pretty long. When that happens I lose connection between my arms and torso, and timing from the top down goes to crap.

[Th3R00st3r]

I am reviving this thread, I searched instead of making a new thread as there seems to be plenty on this topic, as I am noticing in my swing videos that I am bending my left arm too much at the top due to over swinging. This is throwing my hands, during the shoulder turn when I start the down swing, to an OTT position that I have to correct to get to impact. After reading this thread, I noticed that my right arm seems to be bending more than 90° at the top. I will try to use this advice to "feel" like my right arm is straight to get it to not bend so much. Also I will try to shorten the backswing  70-80%. This should help. Any other advice I should take into account when doing this?

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Th3R00st3r

Any other advice I should take into account when doing this?

Just do this for now, and report back. You almost can't overdo how straight your right arm will have to feel.

[Th3R00st3r]

Originally Posted by iacas

Just do this for now, and report back. You almost can't overdo how straight your right arm will have to feel.

Got it, thanks. I posted another my swing video this morning. you'll see what I am dealing with (amongst other things).

[The_Pharaoh]

This is great advice. I am working on this now and am finding that my 3/4 swings go as far as my full swings.

[iacas]

Right now, my backswing consists of two feelings: turn the shoulders, cock the club up.

That's it. My right arm bends and my left arm moves across my chest all on their own. :-P

[applejr]

It's funny, I posted in this thread a long time ago when I was just starting golf. Fast forward 2 years. I've been having a big overswinging problem that I can't seem to fix, cause I can't get the right feeling to stop my arms when my shoulder turn stops. Somebody bumps this thread and I start getting emails about it. I didn't remember it, so I clicked in and read through it earlier this week. Went to the range on Wednesday to try it out, and it was perfect. It started raining before I could try out my longer clubs but I was stroking 7 irons.

Thanks for the tip, even if i took the advice 2 years too late.

[sk golf]

[Topper]

Originally Posted by iacas

Right now, my backswing consists of two feelings: turn the shoulders, cock the club up.

That's it. My right arm bends and my left arm moves across my chest all on their own. :-P

I have been working on this and I really like this advice. My swing thoughts are exactly like you describe and I have noticed a dramatic difference in consistency.  I have another observation.  When I make the transition from the back swing to the down swing, I feel like the club head is momentarily pulling on my hand/wrist.  I don't know how to describe it any differently but I seem to get a nice "whipping" motion in the club or at least it's a lot more distinctive compared to my longer back swing.  When I loose this feeling, the ball striking consistency drops.  I like simple advice like this that makes the golf swing more simple....Thanks Iacas.

[Norm3333]

Originally Posted by iacas

Right now, my backswing consists of two feelings: turn the shoulders, cock the club up.

That's it. My right arm bends and my left arm moves across my chest all on their own. :-P

What do you mean, "cock the club up"?

[colin007]

What do you mean, "cock the club up"?

I believe he was working on getting the club more vertical on the way back, between A3 and A4

[damnitdave]

i beileve eric is trying to keep the pressures in his hand constant... usually someone who over swing losses some or all pressures in the hand going to the top

[colin007]

Erik doesn't overswing, have you seen his swing?

[iacas]

Originally Posted by colin007

Erik doesn't overswing, have you seen his swing?

I used to. :) A few years ago a little bit.

This thread's for 90% of people, though.

[colin007]

Yeah, I'm one of the 90%...I'm tall, lanky, pretty flexible, so its real easy for me to go way past parallel and over swing...i work with the swing extender which is a great tool.

[Wally]

Originally Posted by iacas

Yes, I said right arm.

No, I don't mean it literally.

If you want to keep your backswing shorter - and probably 95%+ of golfers should - feel like you keep your right arm straight(er) on the backswing.

Give it a try.

I try and do this to have a nice, wide swing arc and to help keep my swing on plane during my takeaway. I am learning at the moment to perform a one piece takeaway and can say I am pleased with my progress so far.a

[bjwestner]

Thanks for revising this thread.  If it had not been revised then newer members (like me) would have never seen it unless we were lucky and found it one day while searching.

This idea makes a lot of sense and I know that when my swing breaks down it has a lot to do with my right arm having too acute of an angle (just so we are clear, when it's said that your right arm is too flex this actually means that the angle of the arm is less than 90 degrees or at an acute angle?).  As a result my swing is over the top usually because my right arm is not 90 degrees or more and thus my swing is not wide enough at all.

At times my angle of attack becomes too steep (also related to acute angle in right arm) and this obviously is not good for ball striking.  The picture of keeping the right arm straighter longer has me envisioning a much wider swing with a flatter angle of attack which should lead to better ball first contact.  I can see this improving my short game by leaps and bounds where I have been struggling with ball first contact and not having such a steep angle of attack?  Does this sound correct?

[bjwestner]

Oh, I forgot to add in my last post....I can also see this adding distance.  One of my biggest issues that I've had since I started playing has been with proper weight transfer/balance.  I've noticed when I have proper weight transfer that my swing is wider and my right arm straighter.  Even though my backswing seems shorter the distance increase is very noticable and nice! :)