Newbie Question About Backswing

[Cuz]

Sorry, newbie here so forgive me if this sounds ignorant.

I am 41 and just started golfing this year and so has my 11 year old son (by the way I just ordered him a custom set of sized clubs)..
As a beginner the one thing I have noticed more than anything is how experienced golfers lock they're left elbow on the back swing (right handed)but I have yet to read, hear or watch anything that mentions this. Can someone shed some light on this? Is it best, as a beginner, to keep the elbow locked and only swing as far back as possible until I become more flexible?

My biggest problem is currently being able to get a consistant swing, especially with my driver, hence the reason I have been researching the backswing.

Thanks
Cuz

[Norm66]

I had a lot of trouble keeping my left arm straight. In fact it took my first two lessons for my instructor to get it into my thick skull. But what really did it was learning how to make a proper turn. Once I did that the left arm stayed in position (not locked, just fairly straight) almost without effort.

How he taught me to make a good turn was to take my golf stance and pretend I had a 12lb medicine ball in my hands. Then he stood to my right and told me to hand him the ball without moving my feet. That movement got me turning properly and I haven't looked back. Couple that move with a straight-ish left arm and you're well on your way to a more consistent swing.

Good luck.

[mceb]

After many years of bad habits and bad golf I settled on smaller compact half swing. Less chance of errors creeping in such as bent elbow.

[Ghetto P]

Get Harvey Penicks Little Red Book.

[clickagent75]

I'm a newbie as well (been away from the game for 5yrs and starting to take it seriously this time around). What I've found that has improved my swing overall has been to slow down my back swing. Instead of a quick, jerky take-away swing, my back swing is probably 80-90% of a full speed back swing.

(I've also slowed my down swing to about 90%)

I've found that I hit the ball square in the face much more often with this technique and balls are more frequently playable.

By slowing down your back swing you'll probably find that your technique/position improves. It's working so far for me

[allin]

The elbow is not supposed to be locked. The idea is to maintain width / depth in the swing so that there are fewer moving parts and radius is maximized. Previous posts are correct, arms only swing to the point your shoulders stop turning. One other thing to watch is that new golfers trying to maximize width tighten up their hands and wrists, this prevents proper wrist cock and won't allow you to keep your arm extended

[mceb]

Good point about wrist cock, tightness and no elbow lock allin. I good wrist cock and smaller swing just makes the arm stay straight naturally. A good wrist cock is the major power source in a swing.

[Cuz]

GREAT information everyone, thank you!

I played a par 3 course last night (has four par 4's) and after getting back to the clubhouse the owner ask me how we did and I told him I bogied every single hole. So he grabbed a handfull of balls and ask me to show him my swing. He also pointed out, as mentioned above, that I needed to rotate more, instead of trying to just get a full backswing. He also said its not about locking the elbow and with proper rotation the elbow will naturally stay more extended but deosnt need to be locked. I mentioned the medicine ball and he said that was a very good concept.. After a few tips, I managed to drive every ball at least 200yds but I had a huge slice so we roated my left hand a little and the slice was nearly gone...

Next he took a look at my 11 year old sons swing and said "My goodness is this kid flexible and has a beautiful natural swing". Then proceeded to just give him a few pointers to work on..

I am addicted!
Cuz

[Cuz]

My biggest problem, after shagging some balls this morning is being more consistant. Sometimes I seem to catch the ball on the heel of the driver and they fire off far left..

Cuz

[Norm66]

That's pretty cool Cuz. It sounds like you're on your way. If your mechanics are sound you'll gain consistency with practice. And really, bogeying every hole on a par-3/4 course is pretty excellent for a newbie. I've been playing nearly a year and bogeys are always OK by me.

[wachesawgolfer]

Look at any muscular toned good golfer and you will see the left forearm is more muscular than the right in a right-handed golfer. This seems to be lost on a lot of instructors and writers, but left arm strength is vital to a powerful swing. Somewhere in the swing the forearm muscles engage and hold the face square through the impact. You should experiment holding the club firm under the pad of the left hand in the three last fingers while making a good turn back and through and not focus so much on locking the left arm. Swinging a good grip, intact, back and through, does a lot to promote good over swing mechanics, consistency and power.

[Cuz]

That's pretty cool Cuz. It sounds like you're on your way. If your mechanics are sound you'll gain consistency with practice. And really, bogeying every hole on a par-3/4 course is pretty excellent for a newbie. I've been playing nearly a year and bogeys are always OK by me.

I am pretty content with a bogie as well. Luckily my short game seems to be coming together pretty good, which is making up for my poor tee shots.

Here's the funny part: I am naturally a left hander. I bat left handed, play hockey left handed and even shoot pool left handed. However, I was always a switch hitter in baseball when I was younger. Anyways, I initally bought a left handed set of clubs and couldnt do anything right. The ball never went even close to the direction I was swinging so out of curiosity I borrowed a set of right handed clubs and the first time out I actually drove a few iron shots with-in feet of some of the shorter par 3 pins (less than 130yds) and my short game was better as well. Since then I bought and have been paying right handed. However, swinging left handed still feels much more natural to me. Cuz

[Norm66]

The left-handed thing is pretty weird, but fairly common. One guy I play with is right-handed in everything except writing and golf. The band I used to play in had a left-handed guitarist that played righty guitars and a right-handed drummer who set his kit up left-handed. Go figure. The only thing I ever did backward was play hockey. I never could get the hang of shooting right-handed.

[beung]

I do everything right....although I did flirt with a stint of cross-hand left had putting.

Basically you hold a left hand putter as a right hander and strike the ball on your back swing instead of your forward swing. If you are right eye dominant and putt right handed you should give the cross-handed left hand putting a try it works really well. You should see the line better with your dominant eye closer to the hole. FYI, Tiger is left eye dominant and putts right handed.

[Leek]

Sorry, newbie here so forgive me if this sounds ignorant.

Good question! No matter what it looks like, you should not have a goal to lock your left arm or even keep it straight. It's ok to have a little bend. What's important is width and proper wrist hinge on the right hand wrist cock of the left hand. While I know my left arms "looks" straight and "locked", it is actually very soft. Wrist hinge: hold your right hand straight out in front of you, try to bend your wrist backward so the back of you hand is trying to touch your forearm. Imagine a door hinge. Once you have that down, your left arm will look straight and you should automatically get your left wrist cocked.

[VanillaEps]

GREAT information everyone, thank you!

That's a great story. Curing the slice is important. I've tried almost everything to cure mine, except one thing - the one thing that the owner mentioned you do - strengthen your grip. I'm going to be trying that out on my next outing.

[tigerstripes]

I would try to learn on an iron (say 5 iron) rather than a driver, since you have to learn to "hit down" on the ball and "pinch" it. It'd be much easier to learn on an iron and translate the swing to hit a driver than vice versa since you hit slighty on the upswing for a driver.

If you learn to swing with a driver, you will most likey also try to hit your irons on the upswing and you'll be a big mess. You will also hit many more iron shots on the course than a driver. Just my 2 pennies.

Great to hear there's a new golf addict there, welcome to the club.