- Hi, Adam Bazalgette here in Naples Florida,
two-time PGA Teacher of the Year Award winner.
And today's subject is really one that's of interest
to a lot of people, and it's an important subject.
How to keep the left arm straight in the golf swing.
That's for the right-handed golfer.
Let's check it out.
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So, how to keep the left arm straight in the golf swing?
It is important, we'll give you some parameters
on what to do, what I think is the big pitfall,
I'll give you a drill for this.
And we'll talk about some of you
that maybe are a hair less flexible,
how you might be able to overcome
not having a dead straight left arm.
So, hopefully this is going to be helpful for you,
and you'll know how to keep
your left arm straight in a golf swing.
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Okay, let's get started.
Okay, so let's talk about this all-important subject.
This is from the right-hander's perspective.
How to keep the lead arm, or the left arm
for the right-handed golfer, straight.
Very very important subject.
And we're going to talk particularly in this video
about the backswing.
We're not going to deal with impact so much.
So, do in fact all great players
keep their left arm straight?
Well not necessarily, you'll see a few
Angel Cabrera, Tom Watson, Curtis Strange,
There's probably quite a few more,
if I could think of them right now,
that are a little bit bent up there.
That said, I like a nice straight left arm,
and most of them have a really straight arm.
What they all do though for sure,
is they maintain sufficient space and structure
in their backswing.
We'll talk about that, a little bit later on in the video.
But that said again, I like a nice straight left arm.
Talk about why it's so important.
Let's have a very brief look at a couple of great players
that do it a little differently,
so you'll get a sense of this.
Then we'll get back, and we'll really flesh this thing out.
Okay, Ernie Els there on the right, Tom Watson on the left,
obviously fabulous, fabulous players.
Tom Watson, not the straightest left arm you've ever seen.
Ernie Els, fabulous looking.
Now Ernie from what I'm told
is borderline, double-jointed in his elbow,
so, it gives him that accentuated look.
But either way, that is a fantastically straight left arm,
very, very flexible guy.
Tom Watson though, if I back him up just a little bit,
cos' he's gotta long swing there with his driver.
He still retains good structure and good space up there.
It's not like the club's resting on his shoulder.
So, I like that Ernie Els look there.
Let's see how we go about it.
So as I said, I like a nice straight left arm
if possible in the backswing.
Depends on your physique, and your, you know,
your flexibility, et cetera.
Here's a couple of things it does for you.
Number one, it supplies structure in your backswing,
The radius of your backswing,
the width of the circle you're making with your arms,
is consistent if your left arm is consistent.
So it's a much more repeatable motion
than a significant change in radius.
And number two, you'll find
when your left arm is nice and straight,
it creates a lot of torque through your shoulder,
your tricep, and your lat, and creates a lot of coil
that can really help you snap through the shot,
with a lot more energy and zip.
So it's got its upsides for sure.
Here's the key, the biggest key I think, though in the left,
in the left arm straight deal.
So, many people when they first start to work
on a straight left arm, they get that arm straight,
but they lose all the speed motion in the club,
the wrists stiffen up.
So, that doesn't do you any good at all.
So here's the thing, I'm gonna show you a little drill here,
that I think is great.
And the thing of it is, you've got to, with this left hand,
the wrist-cock is basically downward,
or if you like, out away from my body
pressure with the hands.
As I push down and out on the handle,
the club head comes back up towards me.
So you can kinda get both things working that way.
The structure increases in the left arm,
but you do it with mobility and the wrist.
I love this little split hand drill.
Let me show you a close-up of how to set up for it,
then I'll show you the drill.
So I'm gonna take my left hand as per normal,
near the end of the handle.
I'm gonna get my right hand about half off the grip.
Some of my fingers on the metal, some on the rubber there.
And this gets me ready to do the split hand drill.
Okay, so here we are with the drill.
Now this split hand setup helps me accentuate
the fact of pushing out with the left hand,
and sorta pulling back with the right hand,
and really sharpens that angle.
And I can feel a real, not only straightening of
the left arm, but a real stretch there
through my tricep, and left shoulder.
It is a wonderful drill,
and I would just practice that at home.
I wouldn't begin from a complete setup.
I'd begin from out here,
and just practice that feeling like that.
Let me say, although in that drill,
you're pulling that right hand back a little bit,
to accentuate this, the real role of the right hand
is actually to do something very similar to the left,
and that is to put pressure on the handle.
So, once you've done this a few times,
I'd slide that right hand down against the left thumb.
And again, I'm feeling the butt of that left hand
push against that left thumb.
And after a little while, I can just practice this,
and practice that hinge.
And I really start to feel the structure,
and I really start to feel a consistent with it.
Some of you can practice at home.
It's an easy thing to do,
and honestly if your grip is good.
And I have other videos on the grip.
If you can supply pressure onto the club,
in fact the grip is very important on that.
You are gonna have the secret
to this straight left arm sorted out.
And you can really work on this at home,
and get this knocked out pretty quickly, I promise you.
One little thought though,
when you do this, make sure
when you're adding all this pressure,
you don't push your head way off the ball.
Head should stay pretty steady,
or if you like spine pretty steady.
I see a lot of people accidentally incorporate
some lateral motion, when they first work on this.
Okay, earlier in the video,
we said that there are some great players
with a fractionally soft left arm,
they maintain great structure.
Let's have a look from the other angle,
and talk about that a little bit.
So, how can you have a slightly bent left arm,
and still retain pretty good structure in your backswing?
And I mention this not just to encourage you
to have a bent left arm.
But some of you just not as flexible as that
your arm's a little bit less,
you have the less of an ability to really keep it straight,
or maybe you're just not that flexible
through the shoulders, and back
and a little bit of bend gives you
more length in your backswing.
Here's the key.
You've gotta keep your forearms and elbows
reasonably close together.
If they get significantly wider in the backswing,
and spread, that facilitates your hands
getting close to you,
and gives you a loss of width.
So, Tom Watson, when he gets up there
his arm might be slightly bent, but his elbows,
his forearms, are pretty firmly together
about like they were at address about the same width.
And if you can do that, even if you're not super flexible
and you can't get this Ernie Els look in the left arm,
you can retain good structure up there,
and hopefully that'll give you
the consistency you're looking for.
So I hope that helps you,
gives you some thoughts with how to keep the left arm
straight in the golf swing.
It's really not so difficult when you look at it.
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including all the building blocks
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Hope you'll check that out.