Morris · check your swing
Left elbow collapsing in the backswing
For a right-handed golfer, the left arm is the lead arm. Start by checking when its shape changes, rather than trying to force it straight throughout the swing.
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Symptom, possible cause, useful check
The symptom is the hands moving closer to the shoulder as the lead elbow bends. One possibility is that the arms keep travelling after the body has finished its comfortable turn. Another is that the camera makes the elbow look more folded than it is. Those are things to check, not a diagnosis from a keyword.
Film face-on with the whole club and body visible. Compare a normal swing with a deliberately shorter one using the same camera position. Look at contact and balance as well as the top position. For a left-handed player, apply this question to the right lead arm.
What the teaching reference supports
Eric Cogorno's arms-straight lesson is our corpus reference for elbow extension. The practical focus here is maintaining usable width through your own turn. It does not mean locking the joint or forcing the club to reach a particular top position.
Morris would first connect the visible change with your reported strike. If the shorter rehearsal improves the contact pattern, keep exploring it. If it only changes the picture, that is not enough evidence to call the original elbow position the cause.
A shorter-turn rehearsal
Practice proposal by Morris, informed by the reference topic; not an instructor transcript or an attributed prescription.
- 1
Set a comfortable width
Without a ball, hold the club with relaxed arms and make a slow takeaway. Keep room between the hands and your chest without pushing the lead elbow rigid.
- 2
Stop with the turn
End the backswing while your chest and arms still feel connected. Do not add an extra arm lift to make the swing look longer.
- 3
Compare the strike
Make a gentle short shot, then compare it with your normal swing. Keep the same club and target and note where the ball meets the face.
Self-check: Keep the rehearsal only if contact or control improves without extra tension. The goal is a repeatable shot, not a perfectly straight line drawn on your arm.
Teacher reference
Eric Cogorno Golf — Arms Straight In The Golf Swing (My BEST Tip)
Morris wrote this explanation. The link credits the teaching topic; it does not imply the instructor endorses Morris or reproduce a transcript.
Apply it to your own game
A swing video and a description of your miss help turn a general idea into a specific check.
Sources
- Eric Cogorno Golf — Arms Straight In The Golf Swing (My BEST Tip) — Reference from the instruction corpus. Our own explanation; the Morris rehearsal is not a transcript of this video · Reviewed 20-10-2026.
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Common questions
Must my left arm stay completely straight?
Do not force a locked elbow just to match a picture. Use comfortable extension and check the resulting contact. Morris needs the movement and ball flight before treating a visible bend as a fault.
Is this the same as a chicken wing?
No. This page examines the lead elbow during the backswing. The term chicken wing is commonly used for a lead-arm pattern through or after impact; the timing matters.
Can Morris diagnose it from a still photo?
A photo can show a position but not the sequence that produced it. A face-on swing video and a description of your usual miss provide a better starting point for the free analyzer.
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