How to Not Chicken Wing in Golf

That frustrating finishing position where your lead elbow bends weirdly and points to the sky is costing you power and creating weak, slicing shots. Known as the chicken wing, this common fault is one of the biggest roadblocks to a consistent and powerful golf swing. This article will show you exactly what causes this move and give you three clear, actionable fixes and drills to eliminate it from your game for good.

What is a ",Chicken Wing", in Golf (And Why It&apos,s So Damaging)

The "chicken wing" describes the look of the lead arm (the left arm for a right-handed golfer) immediately after impact. Instead of staying relatively straight and rotating through the shot, the lead elbow bends sharply and separates from the body, pointing out and away from the target. The finish looks weak, disconnected, and cramped - because it is.

While it might just seem like a strange-looking follow-through, what it represents is a fundamental breakdown in your golf swing. It&apos,s the body&apos,s emergency reaction to a flaw that happened much earlier, and it comes with some serious consequences for your game:

• Massive Loss of Power: A forceful swing depends on extension. Think of cracking a whip, the speed is at the very end. When you bend your elbow, you are effectively shortening the whip. You are slamming on the brakes right when you should be accelerating, robbing the clubhead of its maximum speed at impact. Your arms stay close to your body in a "T-Rex" like fashion, and the shot goes nowhere.
• Slices and Weak Fades: The chicken wing and an open clubface go hand in hand. To get the elbow to bend like this, your body's rotation has usually stalled. When the body stops turning, the arms and hands take over, but they can't square the clubface on their own. The result is a clubface that is wide open at impact, sending the ball on a high, weak flight to the right (for a righty).
• Pain and Discomfort: This bent, collapsed motion puts unnecessary strain on your elbow, shoulder, and wrist joints. It’s an unnatural movement that can lead to discomfort and even injury over time, including tendonitis or golfer’s elbow.

In short, the chicken wing is not just an aesthetic issue, it's a symptom of a swing that lacks power, consistency, and proper mechanics. To fix it, we have to look past the symptom and see what’s really causing it.

The True Causes of the Chicken Wing Fault

The chicken wing isn&apos,t the real problem, it&apos,s your body&apos,s solution to a different problem. It&apos,s a compensation, a panicked survival move, made in the split seconds around impact. Understanding the root cause is the only way to find a permanent solution.

Cause #1: The Over-the-Top, Steep Downswing

This is, by far, the most common culprit. An &apos,over-the-top&apos, move is when your first move in the downswing is to throw your hands, arms, and shoulders out and away from your body, causing the club to travel on a steep, outside-to-in path. From this steep position, you literally have no room to swing. If you were to extend your arms, you would either slam the club deep into the ground way behind the ball or hit a violent pull to the left. To save the shot, your body’s only option is to pull the arms in tight and bend the elbow. The chicken wing is born out of self-preservation.

Cause #2: Stalled Body Rotation

Power in the golf swing flows from the ground up: your hips fire, then your chest, then your arms, and finally the club. This is the kinematic sequence. Often, golfers stop rotating their hips and torso through the impact zone. When the big muscles of the body stall, the energy flow is broken. The arms get stuck behind the body with nowhere to go. They can&apos,t extend out toward the target because the body is in the way, so their only path is to collapse and fold up, creating the chicken wing.

Cause #3: The Impulse to "Lift" the Ball

Many amateur golfers still believe, consciously or subconsciously, that they need to help or "scoop" the golf ball into the air. This impulse leads to a desire to pull the handle upwards through impact instead of driving the clubhead down and through. This scooping action stalls rotation and causes the lead wrist to break down and the lead elbow to bend prematurely. You have to trust that the loft on the golf club will get the ball airborne. Your job is to deliver the clubhead with speed and a downward angle of attack (with irons), the club&apos,s design will handle the rest.

How to Fix Your Chicken Wing for Good

Now that you understand the causes, you can stop just focusing on keeping your arm straight and start working on the real fixes. These solutions retrain your body to move correctly, making the chicken wing unnecessary.

Step 1: Get Your Body Rotating Through the Shot

Your number one priority is to get your torso and hips turning aggressively through impact and into the follow-through. When your body rotates properly, it creates space for your arms to extend naturally toward the target.

Drill: The Towel Drill

This is a classic for a reason. It physically connects your arms to your body, forcing your torso to be the engine of the swing.

1. Take a standard golf towel and tuck it under both of your armpits, holding it pinched against your sides. Your goal is to keep the towel from falling throughout the swing.
2. Start by making slow, half-swings (from 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock). Focus on the feeling of your chest and belly button turning back to initiate the backswing, and your hips and chest turning towards the target to initiate the downswing.
3. To keep the towel in place, your arms must stay connected to your body&apos,s rotation. You cannot let your arms run off on their own.
4. As you swing through the impact zone, feel how your chest must keep turning toward the target. If it stops, the towel will drop. Notice how this continuous rotation clears a path for your arms to swing through without bending.
5. Gradually build up to fuller, faster swings. This drill brilliantly teaches you how to sync up your arm swing with your body pivot.

Step 2: Learn the Sensation of a Proper Release

A proper release isn’t about manipulating the club with your hands, it’s about allowing the club to naturally unwind as your body rotates. It’s a feeling of "letting go" rather than "holding on."

Drill: The Split-Hand Release Drill

This drill helps you feel how the trail arm (right arm for a righty) should "overtake" the lead arm through impact, helping the club release and keeping the lead arm extended.

1. Grip the club normally with your lead (left) hand at the top.
2. Slide your trail (right) hand down the shaft about 6-8 inches, leaving a significant gap between your hands.
3. Make some smooth, three-quarter practice swings. As you swing down and through the impact area, you will feel an powerful sensation where your right hand and arm straighten and roll over your left.
4. This motion is the release. It&apos,s impossible to chicken wing your left arm when your right arm is actively extending and rotating through the shot. This action squares the clubface naturally.
5. Feel how your entire right arm straightens past the ball, and your left arm is forced to stay long and extended as a result. After hitting a few balls this way, put your hands back together and try to recreate that same sensation of the right arm delivering the force through impact.

Step 3: Shallow Your Downswing Plane

To give yourself the space to rotate and release, you must get the club off the steep, over-the-top path. You need to feel the club dropping slightly behind you on the downswing, approaching the ball from the inside.

Drill: The Headcover Blocker

This drill provides immediate visual and physical feedback to stop you from coming over the top.

1. Take a spare driver or wood headcover and place it on the ground about 12-15 inches outside of your golf ball, and slightly in front of it.
2. Set up to the golf ball. Your goal is simple: hit the ball without hitting the headcover.
3. If you have an over-the-top swing, your immediate instinct will be to come down on top of the headcover. To avoid it, your body will be forced to reroute the club.
4. Your downswing will have to start by dropping the club more "behind" you, allowing it to approach the ball from the inside. This is the shallowing move.
5. When you do this correctly, you will feel a world of difference. Suddenly, there is plenty of room for your body to rotate and your arms to extend fully through the ball and towards the target without fear of pulling it left.

Final Thoughts

The "chicken wing" is a frustrating but fixable flaw. Remember, it&apos,s just a symptom of a deeper issue, typically an over-the-top swing path caused by a lack of proper body rotation. By focusing on turning your body through the shot and feeling a proper extension and release, you eliminate the cause, and the symptom will disappear with it.

Diagnosing these kinds of swing mechanics on your own can feel like frustrating guesswork. Understanding if a bad shot came from a chicken wing, a stalled rotation, or something else is tough, but it’s the type of problem Caddie AI simplifies. You can get instant, personalized coaching by describing your issue or even snapping a photo of a tricky lie. Caddie AI offers clear explanations and provides tailored drills you can use right away, taking the uncertainty out of your practice and helping you play with more confidence.