Arms
Towel under the armpit
Lead elbow bends outwards through impact
Keep your lead arm connected to your chest through impact, so that it extends because your body turns.
Recognise this?
- In photos or video your lead elbow is bent outwards after impact, like a wing.
- Your balls fly high and short, with lots of spin and little run-out.
- It feels as though you decelerate at the ball instead of swinging through it.
- Often together with a slice or a weak shot to the left.
Why it happens
TPI describes chicken winging as bending your lead elbow with a bent lead wrist through impact. That costs width and therefore clubhead speed, and it adds loft and spin. As a cause TPI points first of all to the lower body: if it delivers too little speed, or does not pass the energy on, your arms compensate by folding in. TPI also names loss of external rotation in the lead shoulder, which is needed to let your lead arm rotate normally through impact, and a steep or over-the-top path. Brittany Olizarowicz of HackMotion calls that outside-to-inside path the most common cause: it forces your lead arm outwards through impact. She adds a lead wrist too far bent at the top, an open clubface and a steep downswing.
What the drill fixes
The towel holds your lead upper arm lightly against your chest. If the arm folds outwards through impact, it falls; if it stays in place, the arm has turned with your body.
What you need
- A small towel or a golf glove
- An 8 or 9 iron
easy
How to do it
Step 1: Clamp the towel
At address, clamp the towel under your lead armpit so that your upper arm lies lightly against your chest.
Step 2: Hit at half tempo
Hit short, controlled shots at about half tempo and keep the towel in place well past impact. The marker is that it only falls once you have almost finished your follow-through.
Step 3: Let your chest turn
Feel that your chest keeps turning while your arm extends: the arm extends because your body turns, not because you push it away. Then take the towel away and keep the same feeling.
How often
2 sets of 10 shots with the towel at about 50% speed, then 5 shots without
HackMotion describes exactly this build-up: first short controlled swings until the towel stays in place, then a few balls off a tee with an 8 or 9 iron at 50%, then without the aid.
Safety
Do not clamp so tightly that you block your shoulder; it is about light connection, not about pinning it down.
Sources
- Chicken Winging | Swing Characteristics | TPI
- Fix Your Chicken Wing Golf Swing with These Tips & Drills, Brittany Olizarowicz (HackMotion)
Is this your fault to fix?
Caddium measures it in your own swing video — your first analysis is free.
Start free