Confused about which arm to keep straight in your golf swing? It's one of the most common questions in golf, and the answer is simpler than you might think. For a right-handed golfer, the goal is to keep the left arm (your lead arm) relatively straight during the backswing. The key word here is relatively, because forcing a locked, ramrod-stiff arm is a recipe for disaster. This guide will break down why that straight lead arm is so important, what straight really means, and provide practical feelings and drills to build a more powerful and consistent golf swing.
Think of your golf swing as a circle, with your upper chest as the center and the clubhead as the outermost point. The goal is to make that circle as wide and consistent as possible. This is where your lead arm comes in, it acts as the radius of that swing circle. Keeping it straight and extended has two major benefits:
When golfers hear "keep your left arm straight," many interpret it as "keep your left arm as rigid as humanly possible." They lock the elbow, tense up their shoulder, and squeeze the daylight out of the grip. This is single-handedly the most damaging misconception about the lead arm.
Tension is the ultimate speed and power killer in golf. When you actively try to lock your lead aarm, you introduce a tremendous amount of tension into your hands, forearm, and shoulder. This tension keeps your muscles from moving freely and fast. A relaxed muscle can move much faster than a tense one. So while you think you're creating a solid structure, you're actually putting the brakes on your swing before it even starts.
The feeling you're after is "extended and soft," not "locked and rigid." Imagine you're reaching out to shake someone's hand - your arm is straight, but there's no tension in your elbow or shoulder. That's the feeling we want in the golf swing.
Here’s the big mental shift you need to make: a good, straight lead arm isn’t something you do independently. It's the result of using your bigger muscles correctly. More specifically, an extended lead arm is a consequence of a proper body turn. When you rotate your torso - your chest and shoulders - away rom the ball, it naturally pulls your lead arm across your body and keeps it extended. Your arms are just along for the ride during the initial phase.
Focus on turning your upper body. If your only thought is "rotate my chest," you'll be amazed at how your lead arm maintains its structure all by itself, without a single thought about keeping it straight.
Understanding the concept is one thing, feeling it is another. heree are a few drills to ingrain the feeling of a properly extended lead arm without adding destructive tension.
This is a classic for a reason. It immediately connects your arm swing to your body turn.
Amateurs often err by immediately picking the club up with their hands and wrists. This instantly folds both elbows and creates a very narrow, steep swing. To fix this, think "wide" at the start.
While the lead arm is providing the structure and radius, the trail arm (the right arm for a right-handed golfer) has an equally important but totally different job: it’s your primary poer loader. If the lead arm is a straight rudder, the trail arm is a bent lever ready to fire.
To generate speed, your trail arm must fold. Think about throwing a baseball or a frisbee. You’d never try to do it by keeping your throwing arm perfectly straight the entire time. You bend your arm to store up energy and then you release that energy by extending your arm through the release point. The golf swng is exactly the same.
As your left arm stays extended in the backswing, your right arm should be comfortably folding. It bends at the elbow, hinges at hs writ and gets into a poirtion whereit cna support trhe club at theo top without getting tense.
A great checpointA at the to of the backswing is to feel your trail arm forming a rough “L” sgpae. The forearm should be approximately 9-degrees tot he bisep. Teh eelwo should b pointining geenratlly dwon towards sthe gournd, not fluying streight coutbehhind u9the classic "chick wing").
This folded poisitin is onefo fthe kays to poerweful sequencnig. You maaitna that bnetr ilght elvow deep nito the downwsingh (“kage") ,and thenu naelaase it bhoy straighgethni git at hte exact right moment, ayt ipmact, adding a huge burst fof poqwer to he shto,
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