The right elbow is crucial in the proper golf swing. When watching a bad take away it almost always comes from a poor connective start to backswing. Either the ball goes too far back in a hook or the front hands start to twist as the lead arm pulls back. It’s usually not a big deal, until you look at the follow through. If the ball didn’t move much in the direction of your target on your first shot, but now you can see it moving a full yard back, that’s a problem.
I’ve found the most common problems stem from the front end of the back swing. The right elbow will start to connect with the front end of the swing as the body gets closer to the ground. In other words the body is not connecting with the right arm and the swing leg correctly, causing the follow through to be non-existent. Either the lead arm starts to twist dramatically behind you, or the trailing arm curls too late and the club goes haywire in the air.
Fixing the problems are much easier than you might think. First of all, notice where I say the body is getting in the way of the swing. That’s right, the front foot. You should be swinging from the hips, not the toes. Your left elbow will also be getting in the way of the follow through, but there’s a way to fix that as well.
As you get closer to the top of your golf swing the backswing should occur with your back leg bent and the back elbow high. This allows for maximum power with the downswing, not limiting it to your lead arm. The problem occurs as you get closer to the top of the swing, as the downswing starts the rotation is actually being forced by the lower torso and your left elbow. What this does is force your hips to move, leading to an out-of-control swing.
The solution to this problem is to move the weight onto your right elbow, while still rotating the entire swing. In other words try to transfer the majority of your weight onto the right elbow as the backswing starts the downswing. As your body starts to swing around the turn of the hips begin to move. The out-of-control downswing is now occurring with your lead arm staying almost in the same position as it started the swing. The correct way to follow through here is to allow the body to continue its spin on the momentum of the swing. If you allow the turn to stop and the follow through to start with your lead arm staying high, the ball will go where you intend it to go.
One more tip to keep in mind during the downswing is to focus on maintaining a straight path between your head and your intended target. To do this you will want to look at making sure that your club remains square and parallel to the target as you swing through the ball. You also want to focus on keeping your club low to the ground as you swing through. A great example of this is if you were to swing your club straight back and hit the ball on a level plane right to left instead of your shoulders slicing the ball to right.
One final thing to make sure you stay correct in your golf swing is to make sure that your left elbow stays relatively still throughout the swing. When your left elbow begins to rotate during the downswing, it can cause your hips to begin to turn or move too much. In order to keep your left elbow staying straight, it is vital that you keep your swing motion smooth and consistent. If your swing is not smooth and consistent then you are more than likely going to have problems with your right elbow getting infected or becoming injured.
With these tips it should be very easy to swing your golf club with the right elbow staying relatively straight throughout the full swing. Of course there are always exceptions, but the vast majority of people will notice that they can easily maintain a straight line between their shoulders and golf club through their entire golf swing. This is the basic golf swing mechanics that every golfer should be working on regardless of if they have a right elbow or a left elbow. If you can accomplish these fundamentals in your golf game, you will notice that you will be hitting straighter, longer, and with a lot more power than ever before. The tips above will not only help you swing correctly, but they will also help to keep your injury free.