My wife and I were in the Rochester NY area and we stopped at an Italian restaurant to grab a bite before seeing a movie.

As often happens to me at odd moments, I had a brainstorm – or as my friends and family often refer to it – an attack of brain gas.

I challenged my wife to an arm wrestling contest right there at the table, much to the amusement of two older ladies who were sitting nearby. 

My wife reluctantly accepted the offer – she’s used to unusual requests from me –  and slowly, excruciatingly – she pinned my right arm.

I thought that the two older ladies were going to start cheerleading, as Mary was apparently their new hero.

My wife asked me why I let her pin my arm, and I replied that it was necessary in the interest of research.  I had just discovered the cure to a common golfers malaise, the flying right elbow.

A flying right (left for lefties) elbow occurs when a player tries for too much length in their backswing, or when they have poor technique to begin with.

For better players, it happens when they try to get too much out of their backswing. 

The elbow disconnects from their body line too much, and the result is an over the top move on the downswing, which usually causes an outside in swing path and a horrible shot.

This disconnect is often caused by inadequate elbow flexion – the

elbow gets pulled back from the body line instead of rotating.

There are at least two easy ways to work on your elbow flexion.

One is to do what I did in the restaurant, get into an arm wrestling position, and let the other person pull your arm down slowly, resisting mildly all the way down.

Another is to put your arm in an arm wrestling position while holding a light weight, and then lower your arm as if it’s going down in an arm wrestling match.

Chose a light weight for starters, the important aspect is the range of movement, not the amount of weight.

Either of these exercises, done regularly, will allow your right elbow to stay down in the backswing and help keep your swing path correct on your downswing.

It will even allow you to go for a little more length on those reachable par 5’s

Try it, you’ll like it.

Enjoy,

Tom