Righty: Left Arm Not Stiff Results?

[claypotsmoke]

Hi 

I haven't played golf in about 5 years or so, and went to the range a few times in the last few weeks.  I have been having some shank issues with my gap wedge, and I realized its being caused by my left arm bending.  After swinging in front of a mirror I noticed my left arm on the backswing is nearly at 90 degrees.  Does this cause the shanks?  Seems it was for me.

After realizing this, and resolving it by keeping the left arm straight on backswing, my shanks stopped and I'm hitting it straight and high.

Does this issue sound familiar to anyone?

[Vinsk]

25 minutes ago, claypotsmoke said:

Hi 

I haven't played golf in about 5 years or so, and went to the range a few times in the last few weeks.  I have been having some shank issues with my gap wedge, and I realized its being caused by my left arm bending.  After swinging in front of a mirror I noticed my left arm on the backswing is nearly at 90 degrees.  Does this cause the shanks?  Seems it was for me.

After realizing this, and resolving it by keeping the left arm straight on backswing, my shanks stopped and I'm hitting it straight and high.

Does this issue sound familiar to anyone?

We’d have to see your swing to really know. But it’s likely more about why your lead arm was bending and what it was doing on your downswing. In other words the bent arm may have been a symptom of the real problem that was indirectly corrected by you consciously trying to keep it straight. Also, did you see your swing to confirm you weren’t still bending your lead arm? Feel ain’t real and that is an understatement. You may find that your shanks stopped despite still having a bent lead arm as the root problem was somewhere else. It may sound crazy but I’m telling ya...it’s astonishing how you can really feel you’re making a swing change only to find on video you’ve done nothing different.

Edited February 27, 2019 by Vinsk

[claypotsmoke]

26 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

We’d have to see your swing to really know. But it’s likely more about why your lead arm was bending and what it was doing on your downswing. In other words the bent arm may have been a symptom of the real problem that was indirectly corrected by you consciously trying to keep it straight. Also, did you see your swing to confirm you weren’t still bending your lead arm? Feel ain’t real and that is an understatement. You may find that your shanks stopped despite still having a bent lead arm as the root problem was somewhere else. It may sound crazy but I’m telling ya...it’s astonishing how you can really feel you’re making a swing change only to find on video you’ve done nothing different.

You are correct - my lead arm was bent on the downswing since at the end of my backswing my arm was bent ~90 degrees.  It was definitely bent when beginning the downswing, and I am not sure how long it was bent or if it ended up straightening at some point on the downswing.  

After realizing the issue: When I was hitting straight and high, my left arm was straight on the backswing and "felt" straight on the downswing.  

[boogielicious]

Here is a good thread that may help. I do agree with @Vinsk, that filming your swing will help.