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Do you keep your left arm absolutely straight?

interesting question imo. what is right or wrong I don't know if there is one but I think just like a lot of other things about the swing and individual bodies we are all different. I know that when why left arm is bending too much it creates too much vary in my swing. Sort of the same affect I get from letting the right elbow fly out. When a fairly straight left arm then the better and more consistent the ball striking for me. There are times when I'll be hitting at the range and things get a bit erratic. Some of those times I have realized that I'm allowing bending the arm too much so I stiffen it just up a bit and I am then back on track. I have even locked it just to force it though only when trying to fix it and as a reminder. Otherwise its just held fairly straight with minimal comfy tension about the same as the grip tension imo. What happens is if there is no tension at all I tend to forget and that's when it strays even further away from being fairly straight and leaves me guessing what is going on. So for me, yes straight but a comfy straight
 
I try to keep my left arm as straight as I can. When I bend at the elbow, I tend to do two really bad things. First, I usually overswinging. Second, I almost always cross the line at the top.

Both are death moves for me, which is why I try to keep my arm straight.
 
Ive always kept mine as straight as possible without forcing it
 
I try to keep my left arm straight, but there is certainly bend in it. It's really just a swing thought to make sure I'm not getting more bend than I should and getting me completely off plane.
 
Nope. I just swing the club, lol. My left arm stays fairly straight but nothing like some pro's do.
 
Straight all the way. It helps me from over extending on the back swing.
 
The only time I make a concerted effort to keep my leading arm straight is when I am trying to hit a punch fade. Firming up the arm seems to help me keep the face from turning over. Otherwise I don't give it a thought.
 
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I keep it fairly straight but do not focus on stiffness. As long as my takeaway/backswing is wide (leading to wrist hinge) everything typically falls into place. Making things too mechanical for me is no good. Feel is my friend!
 
I've given up trying. Here's my driver swing, flat with some left arm collapse but I'm running with it. From mid irons down though, my arm stays relatively straight.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EgP7KRn049Y
 
While I don't think about keeping my left arm straight I think it should be straight at impact. It leads to consistent ball striking. I don't have a problem when some say a little bend is fine, but most just use this as an excuse to bend the left arm instead of turn the shoulders.
Take your hands back to waist high and from there just turn your shoulders. That's as far as you can take a backswing under control with your current level of flexibility. Too many try to take a longer backswing than they have the capabilitie to do with efficient technique. Try to hit some balls and notice how much crisper you hit the ball and how much you get out of very little effort. When learning a new physical move I think one should concentrate on technique and add speed/power after technique becomes second nature.
 
At the top of the backswing I have always had a bend in my left arm similar to Curtis Strange. I can only keep it perfectly straight when hitting 3/4 shots.
 
Curtis Strange / Notah Begay/ Eamon Darcy .. Look at their left arms ?

been playing since I was 8 and I'm 42 now . Always a slight bender . Do what you need to do OP. Do what you need to do should be your main theme , a lot of ways to play this game .. Just choose one
 
Do you keep your left arm absolutely straight?

The straight left arm is another of these golf myths is it not. I don't keep my arm straight, I'm just not flexible enough. I can still hit a 280 yard drive without a straight left arm though.
 
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Mark_UK said:
The straight left arm is another of these golf myths is it not. I don't keeps arm straight, I'm just not flexible enough. I can still hit a 280 yard drive without a straight left arm though.
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I had my 8 year old daughter videotape my driver swing yesterday on a par 5 tee shot where I knew I would be going all out. My avatar picture on the left is a frame from that exact swing.

I definitely had a bent left arm at the top and went slightly past parallel. I'd love to tighten that up a bit but the bottom line is the hole was 518 yards and I had 194 to the middle back flag for my approach. So if my math is right my bent-arm 49 year old golf swing can still hit it 320+ with a little help from the wind. :act-up:
 
tahoebum said:
I had my 8 year old daughter videotape my driver swing yesterday on a par 5 tee shot where I knew I would be going all out. My avatar picture on the left is a frame from that exact swing.

I definitely had a bent left arm at the top and went slightly past parallel. I'd love to tighten that up a bit but the bottom line is the hole was 518 yards and I had 194 to the middle back flag for my approach. So if my math is right my bent-arm 49 year old golf swing can still hit it 320+ with a little help from the wind. :act-up:
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I'm sure there are other tour pros that do it, but Lee Westwood is the only tour pro I know that has a bent left arm at impact. It leads to consistency with a straight left arm at impact, how you get to that position is of little importance.
 
tpluff said:
This is exactly me too Jason. It's great feedback.
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Yes it is

I've been told numerous times there is two ways to create distance length and width, length doesn't work for me so I have to go with width and the straight left arm creates that width to get the ball out there
 
Mine has quite a bit of bend. I'm not pro long but I can poke it out there anywhere from 260-280
 
majBC said:
I'm sure there are other tour pros that do it, but Lee Westwood is the only tour pro I know that has a bent left arm at impact. It leads to consistency with a straight left arm at impact, how you get to that position is of little importance.
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This is my thinking too. Chicken winging the left arm at impact is not good. Finishing the backswing with a bent left arm is not a big deal if you get it straight by impact. That being said, I try to keep my left arm as straight as I can. It helps me stop my backswing at the right place to optimize consistency and power. Folding my left arm and/or cupping my right wrist to get more turn always leads to crappy swings.
 
I try to keep my arm as straight as possible but I wouldn't say I put any effort into doing it.
I'd kill for the rotation that McIlroy has.

4yduheve.jpg
 
blugold said:
Don't wrap your arm around your neck. I would just focus on taking very slow swings. Like full swings that will only put a 7i 100 yards or less. Once the left arm starts to breakdown, then you're done. I am working on this as well. It isn't easy. But to try and force you're arm straight is more of a power sap that having a little flex. IMO anyways.

Plus, aren't you hitting 300 yard drives right now anyways? Why change what's working?
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I am really getting into the Hogan fundamentals, and I just can't pick and choose them. He advocates very specific movements, and I think it comes down to power and consistency. The power is coming around but I have a long way to go in the consistency department, Blu!
 
ArmyGolf said:
I try to keep my arm as straight as possible but I wouldn't say I put any effort into doing it.
I'd kill for the rotation that McIlroy has.

4yduheve.jpg
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Looks good dude!
 
Mark_UK said:
The straight left arm is another of these golf myths is it not. I don't keep my arm straight, I'm just not flexible enough. I can still hit a 280 yard drive without a straight left arm though.
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Honestly Mark, it is hard for me to call any of Hogan's teachings a myth. If you dissect the swing of Tiger you can see everything Hogan was advocating. At this point I am taking Hogan's teachings as gospel.
 
robmypro said:
I am struggling not to bend my left arm on my back swing, and I was wondering how many of you keep it absolutely straight? Seems to be pretty unnatural to me! Also, if you do have a little bend, do you lose a lot of power because of it?
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I try to keep it as straight as possible and when I'm fortunate enough to remember to do it the results are usually pretty good, there are many ways to swing the club though and even though we're taught to do that I've seen many play with a broken left arm and play well, tempo is just a tad more important in those instances.
 
I don't think its absolutely straight. But its as straight as i can go. I was doing yoga before and it did wonders for my flexibility.


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