Symptom: Your golf downswing causes you to lose your balance as you swing. You start the downswing poorly, and so you can’t recover.
Your golf downswing doesn’t look like the guys on TV. Nobody is saying “nice golf swing” after you hit, even if it does happen to go approximately where you were aiming. What does it take for somebody to give you that highly coveted “nice swing” compliment anyway?
Description: For a proper golf downswing, focus on starting the downswing by bringing your right elbow to your side and keeping it there until the release.
Why it Works: Starting the downswing by bringing your right elbow back to your side keeps the club on the proper plane, helps you avoid casting the club and losing your lag, and keeps your center of gravity well controlled.
Doing this promotes an inside path to the ball, which is essential for developing lag and keeping your balance. All of this allows you to spin faster through the ball, with better control, and in balance.
The Right Elbow is a Practical Focal Point in the Golf Downswing
Have a look at Rory McIlroy’s swing, and focus on his downswing, especially the start of his downswing as he drives toward the ball. Rory is not a large man, but is one of the longest drivers on tour. So it makes sense that Occasional Golfers such as us could learn something from him.
Rory McIlroy’s right elbow returns to his side aggressively on his golf downswing.
Rory does this to start the downswing, which would lead to a very inside path for his clubhead if he did not compensate by also aggressively rotating his hips through the ball.
His arms sort of “come along for the ride”, driven by the big muscles of his hips and legs, allowing the upper body to release the club down the line.
It’s this aggressive body rotation through the ball, enabled by his very-tucked right elbow at the start of the downswing, that gives him his tremendous power and balance. Plus a whole lot of talent and a lot of practice and so on.
Let’s have a look at Rory in action:
The Right Elbow Swing Thought Can Seriously Improve Your Power
In the golf swing, it always hard to separate correlation from causation. All things are interconnected. That is why golf advice is phrased in so many different ways, and every teacher thinks they have the special insight that can make it all click.
But, in my experience, the right elbow swing thought is simple and tangible enough to help you out on the range. And so it is worth giving it a try.
The point is that if you are having trouble keeping your balance at the end of the swing, you are probably throwing yourself off balance during the start of the downswing with a casting motion, and your right elbow is far from your side.
This, in turn, is giving you a poor downswing plane, and causing you to slice. Take a tip from Rory and bring that right elbow to your side sooner! You will soon see more whip in your swing, retain your lag longer, and start to split the fairway with some satisfying distance.
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