Straight Left Elbow in the Golf Swing: Is it a Myth?

By Ty Andersen

Do I Have to Keep My Left Arm Straight in My Golf Swing?

Whenever I teach I try to dispel some myths that are going on out there. How many people have every heard that they need to keep their left arm straight when they have a golf swing? That is fine for most people, but I tell you, I can't do that. I have lifted weights all my life. Played hockey as a kid growing up, I am pretty thick through the chest area and through my arms. So are a lot of ladies, they are pretty well endowed in the upper body. And the same thing with football players and a lot of athletes out there. So when I swing the golf club, when I get up to here, the top of my backswing, as you notice there is a nice little hinge in my left elbow, a nice little break right there.

Free Up Your Golf Swing

What have I done? I have broken that left elbow. I don't know how many golfers once I give them permission to break that left elbow it is like someone lifted a piano off there back. It frees them up so that they can swing. If you are big through the upper body and try to swing the club and keep that elbow straight, all you are going to do is lift yourself up in the air. If I can take that club back and just bend my elbow nice and comfortably, and the key word here is comfortable, if we drop our arms down we will talk about it, but it has to be nice and comfortable to get that club up there. When I do that it will free me up, generate more clubhead speed and it is going to help me out with my golf swing. So, if someone tells you to keep your left elbow straight, once again, it just depends on what you are built like.

Category: Arms

Sub Categories: Backswing, Swing Mechanics

About the Instructor

Ty Andersen

Director, The Ty Andersen Golf Academy
Highland Oaks Golf Course
904 Royal Parkway
Dothan, Alabama 36305
Phone: 239-272-7086
E-mail: TyPgaPro@aol.com

Ty Andersen serves as Director of Instruction at The Ty Andersen Golf Academy, and has been named one of the Top 50 Kids Teachers by the US Kids Golf Company. He has developed seven different teaching programs that are registered with the PGA.