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By Chuck Evans
Special Contributor |
One of the "absolutes" in golf - and what is taught - is a straight left arm
(Or right arm if you are a lefty like Phil
Mickelson). First let's define what a straight left arm is and isn't.
For the majority of people a left arm that hangs downward has an elbow joint.
This joint has between three and five degrees of bend in it. This is what a
straight left arm is.
Stretching - hyper extending - and locking the elbow is not a straight left
arm! All the golfer has done successfully is to increase the radius from the
left shoulder to the ground. This is a major cause of "fat shots!" This is what
a straight left arm is not!
Harry Vardon won the British
Open six times playing with a "bent" left arm.
Calvin Peete won the Players Championship and is the most accurate driver of
the golf ball ever! In 26-plus years of playing professional golf he hit one
ball out of bounds!
Calvin's left arm was severely bent as a result of an accident as a young
child which shattered his left elbow.
Surgeons repaired the elbow, but it remained permanently fused so that Calvin
could never fully straighten his arm.
Calvin won 11 times on Tour in a five-year span - 12 events total - plus his
Players Championship victory. He led the Tour in driving accuracy for 10
straight years and led the Tour in "greens in regulation" three times.
Another player that had huge success on the PGA Tour is Curtis Strange. Curtis won 17
times on Tour including winning the U.S. Open back to back in 1988 and 1989.
Others include Jay Haas and Kenny Perry.
Swing "Gurus" referred to Curtis' left arm as "soft."
Think of it this way, if you were to swing a piece of rope is it "locked" and
taunt in the backstroke? Of course not! But what happens when you swing it to
the ball - it becomes a straight line!
Now I'm not advocating that you intentionally bend your left arm but I am
saying not to lock it thinking that is what straight is. The arms must feel like
dangling ropes - loose. This will give you more power with less effort.
Remember, whatever angle your left arm hangs - loosely - just maintain it
during the backstroke and let it come out by itself in the downstroke.
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