After the dip from the last lesson I was then standing too tall on the backswing. Does it ever end?! Patrick is continuing to explain that if we take the arms out of it and allow your left lat to complete the backswing, all of these issues will slowly go away. Yeah, easy enough.
As someone that has used his arms for almost all sporting activities his entire life, it is extremely difficult to not use my arms to lift the club on the backswing. I felt as if this is going to be a problem for quite some time moving forward.
We also discussed the importance of the right elbow folding on the backswing. Throughout my entire life, my right elbow has been pushed away from my body when doing activities. Think of bench press and lat pull downs. I always made certain my elbows were pointing out, away from my ribs, rather than pointing in or on my ribs. Patrick showed me the value of the leverage of keeping my elbows in and it was so different. If your elbow is out on your backswing, you have absolutely no chance.
As Patrick has explained, as soon as your elbows get outside your shoulders in the golf swing, bad things are going to happen. That said, trying to explain to an amateur to keep their elbows inside their shoulders means absolutely nothing. They are going to overcompensate and do things that are detrimental to their health and their golf swing. So, keep your elbows inside your shoulders but do it correctly!
UPDATE: So, this was the first time Patrick opened my eyes to the flying right elbow going back. I am now 106 lessons in and I am still trying to keep the right elbow soft, bent and inside my shoulder going back. At this point (February 2020), it stays inside for much of the backswing but as we approach the top of the backswing, it still wants to flair out. Much more on that in 100 lessons.
It is so refreshing to read these early lessons as it shows me just how far I have come with my golf swing. While I am still not “playing” golf, I have a much better understanding of what is necessary to hit the golf ball correctly. Still many, many lessons to go, but it is fun to look back.
I also now understand that flexibility and strength in the obliques, especially the back side of your obliques, it necessary for the correct swing. No matter how badly you want to have the perfect swing, it is going to take years of practice, stretching and patience.
