How to Stop a Flying Right Elbow

Hi, Robin here. Let’s talk a little bit about the flying right elbow. You hear this expression a lot, where the elbow flies in the back swing.  The club shaft gets steep.  Perhaps gets across the line. Some players will come down steeply on it. Some people will compensate, but quite a difficult position to hit consistently good shots from.

Now, when most players are trying to fix this, they’re very much focusing on their elbow. They’re trying to keep their elbow in front of their body. Yeah, sure this can work. But what I want you to try to feel, this is a different way if you’re struggling improving this. So I want you to try to sense a little bit more what’s going on in your shoulder. Now, I’m not a physio.  I’m not going to use physio language.  I’m going to use my language. Maybe more people out there can relate to that. But when I rotate my arm, my right elbow in front, that’s the opposite of a flying right elbow. What I sense in my shoulder here is that my shoulder blade is down and back. I feel a very, I’m going to use my word, sense of packing my shoulder together.

Now, for me, when I’ve taught and helped players who’ve got this fault of their flying right elbow, I’ve explained a little bit more of what’s going on in their shoulder and the feelings they should get in their shoulder, I’ve had a lot more success.

So just with your right arm, first of all, make a few swings, feeling like your arm’s rotating.  Your elbow staying in front.  And sense this togetherness of your shoulder, the packing of the shoulder. Become aware in your shoulder, not in your elbow.

Now, when you go ahead and make some swings, I want you to sense the same thing. Even at address, you can feel a little bit of a packing of the shoulder, and then try to maintain that all the way to the top, packed.  You see I’m probably a little laid off now, rather than steep and crossed over.  And then try to maintain this same feeling in the shoulder coming down. That’s going to keep your elbow in front, stop the club getting steep.

So it’s just my way of helping people who’ve got the flying right elbow. I feel sometimes being more aware of what’s going on in the shoulder rather than the elbow is an easier way to fix it, and I’ve had a lot of success with that. So if you’re struggling with this, definitely give this a try.