How to Fix Your Overswing With This Simple Elbow Technique

00:00:00 - So, a common thing I see with a lot of golfers is making a back swing that's almost like too long and it can cause a lot of problems with just where you strike the ball in the face and then it can lead to some inconsistencies with distance. So, really want to talk about I think the misconception of what too long is and then just if it [music] is part of your problem, how we can fix it. So, we& going to use Payton here. She going to help talk me through this. Okay.

00:00:24 - All right, Payton. when wtalking about a swing that's too long. Okay,  I think a big misconception out there is a lot of people think that like turning too much can maybe be a problem. Now, while that can contribute to it, I would say that generally speaking, I don't see golfers turn too much, right? Okay. Most golfers, I would say I'll put air quotes around it. They kind of fake turning um and it looks like their swing is really

00:00:45 - long when in actuality they do basically the [music] exact opposite. They just lift their arms um and get the club really really high above their head. So, what I want you to do is I want you to demonstrate this for me, and I'll kind of talk through sort of what happens. So, you don't have to hit a shot, but just pretend you&#setting up to hit one here. Make a back swing. Go all the way to the top of your swing and stop.

00:01:02 - So, what I see a lot of golfers do, and Payton's doing a decent job of this, but I'm going to have her exaggerate it even more. I want you to separate your elbows even further. Like, really make this swing really, really [music] long. Okay? So, something like that. Obviously, that's extreme. Okay? But this is where I see people go wrong with making a back swing that's too long. Is that super uncomfortable for you? Very

00:01:19 - uncomfortable. Okay, great. We don't have to you don't [laughter] have to keep standing there. Okay. So, what ends up happening is and and this is something that we can measure here at Golf Tick, which is really cool. The distance between your elbows, okay, we call it elbow span. So, as your elbow span gets wider and wider and wider, what that essentially does, it makes it easier to make the club travel much further. Okay? Um, where this causes

00:01:39 - problems is as your elbows separate, your wrists also start to move. So, if you just did this for everybody at home, if you just held the club out in front of you with your arms really straight, like about chest high. [music] Now, separate your elbows. So, you can see how when she does this, her lead wrist, her left wrist in this case, starts to extend. Okay? It's really hard for you to keep this angle straight when your elbows are really far

00:02:00 - apart. Okay? So, what I see a lot of people do who make a back swing that's too long and pull their elbows apart, their lead wrist starts to extend. That opens the club face. That causes them to hit the ball potentially really high, not very far. And because the swing's now super super long, like you said, it was really uncomfortable. Yeah. Becomes really hard to hit the ball in the center of the face [laughter] every time. Okay. So, if this is part of your

00:02:19 - problem, it's not stop turning like that would be the exact opposite of what you want to do. You still want to rotate your shoulders. You still want to turn your hips, but you need to keep your elbows closer together. Okay? So, a really good way to practice this is basically I would do this in front of a mirror or just have a friend grab a grab an iPhone film this uh for you from the face on position. Get an idea of how far apart your elbows are. [music] So most

00:02:40 - of the best golfers in the world start around 8 in. Depends obviously on how big, tall, broadchested you are. I mean, all of that plays a role in it. But if you just use kind of a baseline of here's where I start, can I keep the distance between my arms effectively the same as I make a back swing? [music] Okay. The best golfers, what they do is they actually separate by about 4 in. So their trail elbow starts to flex a [music] little bit, their lead elbow

00:03:01 - flexes a little bit, they start to pull apart a teeny tiny bit, but they go from 8 in to 12 in at the top of the swing. [music] Okay? this is something that you struggle with, I wouldn't try to match that pattern. I would try to keep it 8 in the entire time. Okay? So, what I want you to do now, again, do this without a ball. So, set up like you're going to hit a shot. So, I would say, let's just pretend that for argument sake, this is 6 in for you. Try

00:03:21 - to keep that distance between your elbows the exact same as you make a back swing. So, you still turning your hips, you still turning your shoulders. Perfect. So, you can see how Payton can still turn a bunch and make a back swing that's plenty long. But now what that helps you do is create some consistency because you're not separating the distance between those two joints. Okay? So if this is something that you struggle with, really

00:03:42 - good place to start is just get a baseline for where you at. Practice making some swings where you just try to keep that elbow span the exact same. [music] And then the final step is hit a shot. So the way that I would implement this for you is take your setup, make a back swing, keep your elbows the same distance apart, make a down swing, and hit keeping your elbows the same distance apart. just never actually flex or separate your elbows at all. And just

00:04:04 - see what that does from a strike standpoint. So, it probably going to feel like for you the swing's a little shorter. I would say when we actually show it to you on camera, you& probably go, Oh, yeah. That's basically how far I take it back anyway. Okay, but let's practice one of those. So, take your setup, distance between your elbows, that going to stay the same. Back swing, down

00:04:21 - swing, everything stays the same. This doesn't have to be a full swing either, Peyton. Like, if you want to kind of take a little three/arter sort of punch shot, that's totally fine. So, let & show everybody what that looks like. Perfect. So, that strike was super super solid. Again, not super worried about the direction, not super worried about the distance, [music] but how big of a swing did that feel like? & Not that big of a swing.

00:04:40 - Yeah, probably like half to 3/4 for you. Like we can play the video back and and you see it. Like that was well above your shoulder. Like that was close to like what a full swing would be. But really where that helps people is it helps them with the consistency of the strike. Like [music] get that solid strike every single time. That's really what you're looking for. And then you just build that up and go faster [music]

00:04:58 - and faster as you feel more comfortable. Perfect. [music]

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