Rethinking one of golf’s oldest swing instruction ideas — the “stiff’ left arm (Part 2, Conclusion)

Continued from blog entry – “Why a Soft Left Arm is Better (Part 1)”

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Keep the left arm supple to reduce tension and you’ll become a more powerful hitter.

First let’s consider the three basic types of takeaway that are taught and describe how two of them scream out tension. The most common is the one-piece takeaway, which demands keeping your arms and hands a single unit as the swing begins. The tension inherent in this kind of motion creeps into your hips and shoulders, and the total swing has a stiff, inflexible quality.

The second takeaway is called “early set.” The left wrist cocks and the right wrist hinges immediately as the backswing begins. A sharp angle is created between the left forearm and the shaft of the club. The left arm straightens like a ramrod.

When I ask students who use either of those takeaway methods what they think about to start the backswing, the answers are either the left arm or the left shoulder. Taking a little semantic license, I suggest to them that if it is backswing, then the back should start it. That’s the third takeaway method, and the one I teach. The swing is initiated by your back, which turns on your hips. This reduces the arms (and hands) to passive followers rather than leaders. The arms, as a result, remain “soft.”

Back muscles do not tense when they initiate the swing, and even if they did it wouldn’t affect what we’re  after — free-flowing arms. The effect of this back ­ swing start is what I call “lag loading .” The clubhead is essen­tially the last element in the swing to leave the clubhead, so it lags behind. As the backswing continues, the clubhead eventually catches up and passes the shaft and your hands and arms, a transition that builds up or loads the clubhead for a powerful forward swing. Because the left arm is not part of the initiation of the swing, it remains slightly bent at the elbow, about as much as when you’re addressing the ball, all the way to the top of the backswing and even into the first part of the forward  swing. There is a bonus that comes with the soft left arm in the backswing. It allows for a fuller, longer extension of the club, which adds to the  power potential of the swing.

Then, at impact the Left arm straightens. This is the only time the left arm should be straight, and it hap­pens naturally. Nothing is forced. Indeed, the very straightening of the left arm when the ball is struck, adds power to the shot and  provides flight­ directional control.

How to set up for a true backswing that produces lag load­ing and a soft left arm? First you must eliminate the urge to hit the ball hard. which is a mental thing. A few shots hit this way should convince you that it works. On a pure­ly mechanical level, at address hold the club slightly and allow both your arms to hang free from your rotator cuffs — dangle, if you will. Start the swing with a turn of your back. and let the rest happen. You become a swinger of the golf club, rather than a hitter, and as is so often the case in this most contradictory of games. you become a more powerful hitter.
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Common Takeaways and Tension:

In the “early-set” takeaway, in which the wrists cock almost as soon as the backswing begins (Figs 4 – 4A), the left arm is clearly tense and will remain that way throughout the rest of the swing.

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The same thing occurs with the “one-piece”  takeaway (Figs. 5 – 5A).