There is a damaging golf swing myth that may be destroying your backswing and, worse, your hope for improvement.
It is perpetuated by golf instructors who do not understand biomechanics and by many golf fitness "gurus."
Want to feel this in YOUR swing? Try a free AI-powered golf lesson → — GOATY gives you real-time voice coaching, pose tracking, and instant feedback on every rep.
The Hope-Sapping Trail Arm Golf Backswing Myth...Busted
Myth: Lack of flexibility prevents you from making a full turn in your backswing.
Truth: The real culprit is almost always a faulty movement pattern.
In other words, you ARE physically able to make a full turn in the backswing! When you use your trail arm correctly in the golf backswing, you will be able to make a complete turn, regardless of your flexibility!
Use the Trail Arm Correctly for a Full Turn in Your Backswing
In this article and video, I am going to cover one faulty movement that almost always prevents a full turn in the backswing:
Misuse of the trail arm.
If you do not use the trail arm correctly in the golf backswing, you will inevitably look like the picture below at the top:
Do you have trouble making a full turn and look like this at the top of the backswing? There's a simple fix.
Ready to find out how the trail arm is supposed to work and what you must feel in order to make a full turn?
Then read on and watch the video to enjoy all of this:
- Full shoulder turn,
- Tour-caliber width,
- A dead-straight lead arm, and
- Much more power!
Your Elbow "Pit" & A Backswing-Killing Movement
This video builds on the Trail Elbow Pit golf instruction video.
When the trail elbow pit is positioned correctly, this move becomes much simpler to execute. If the trail elbow pit is not positioned correctly, the trail elbow is going to want to fold early, which is detrimental to a full turn.
" I now believe this move is the most critical piece to success in the backswing (at least for me)...Almost instantly, the club was going back better on plane, my swing was much shorter and it resulted in more power not less. It also dramatically helped the sequence of the downswing and the release seemed very natural. I had much more control of the shot with a great penetrating ball flight that jumped off the club."
-Tom S. | Aug 12, 2012 | Atlanta, GA
What you will see in this video is that when the trail arm is allowed to fold early, the lead arm is allowed to work deeply across the body early in the backswing.
As this happens, the muscles in the lead shoulder girdle get stretched and feel loaded. When they near their maximum load, a signal is sent to the brain to release the tension.
As a result, the golfer stops the turn since they feel fully loaded and powerful, and of course there appears to be no reason to turn any further.
A Weird Swing Feeling That Works Wonders - Master The Golf Backswing
To avoid this situation, I demonstrate how the trail arm must work during the backswing and provide you with drills to sequence this movement correctly.
However, what may help you most is one specific feeling I will share with you in the video. It will feel completely different at first but will give you amazing, visible results in a hurry! To see how your backswing width and shoulder turn compare to elite standards, try a free AI swing analysis.
"Great addition to the video library. This helped a lot to control my tendency to overswing. The swing thought...in the backswing was key. It's also helping me maintain the feeling of pulling from the right side to the top. Thanks for adding it."
-Tom S. | May 29, 2012 | 9 HDCP
Start Improving...Without Leaving Home
Like everything else in RST, you can begin mastering these drills in the comfort of your own home and without a golf club.
Learning this movement pattern will give you more power with less effort, and you can make significant progress without ever hitting a ball by simply working in front of a mirror.
"Just doing this drill only, I went from 115ish club head speed to 125ish and have even broken into the 130's a few times. That is just with this drill!!! No downswing work AT ALL!!!! This is confirmed on several launch monitors and swing speed radars. Legit proof of this. Thanks Chuck!"
-KC T. | May 30, 2012 | Utah
Video Transcription: How Trail Arm Works in the Golf Backswing
In another video I discussed how the trail elbow pit needs to be pointed out, away from you at address, and stay that way as you go back.
Narrow backswing
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One of the key aspects of getting a full turn is having the trail elbow in the correct position at setup and during the backswing, but there is also another sensation that many golfers do not have. When they lose it, it causes them to not make a full turn and they create a very narrow backswing.
A narrow backswing would look something like this. The arms are very close to the body. You can see there is not much of a turn and the trail arm is very flat with a lot of flexion.
Frequently the lead arm breaks down, resulting in a really narrow, weak golf swing rather than having a big, full turn with substantial width, where the lead arm stays straight. That is what I want to address.
Right elbow in the backswing
Once you have the trail elbow in the correct position during the swing, the most important feeling for most golfers — and I am speaking in broad generalizations here, as not everybody is exactly the same — is that the trail arm should feel like it never folds, all the way to the top of the backswing. Period.
What happens most commonly when golfers do not make a full turn is that the trail arm starts folding early. They go back and it is already folded. By the time they reach this position, their arms and their shoulder girdle — especially the lead shoulder girdle — feel fully loaded, so they stop turning.
You can see my trail shoulder on the trail side of my head. When you look at a Tour player, you actually see their trail shoulder blade on the other side of their head, when viewed face on. That looks like this, where you can start to see the shoulder popping out behind the head on the lead side.
Lots of shoulder turn
The only way to get there is for your trail arm to stay straight for as long as possible. When you are practicing this, just like everything else, you do not need a club at first.
What I am going to practice: I have my trail elbow pit in the correct position. As I go back, I am going to keep the arm straight as long as I can. If I keep it straight, it is going to act almost like a piston, moving my trail shoulder blade back. As soon as it bends, it acts like a shock absorber, so the shoulder stops moving.
The club is still traveling a long distance. You will see that my shoulder is really going to slow down versus if I keep the arm straight — then my shoulder really has to keep moving in order for the club to turn. That is how you make a full turn. For real-time coaching on your backswing and trail arm mechanics, try a free AI golf lesson.
A bent elbow is like a shock absorber
If I practice turn, turn, turn, turn — you are going to see my trail shoulder start to appear over on the other side. Now I have a small amount of flexion at the top. The less flexion I have, the easier it is to keep the lead arm straight.
When golfers get all collapsed at the top and the lead arm has broken down, it is almost always because the trail arm is bending too much, way too soon.
You really need to check this on video, because to keep your arm straight you are going to feel like you are at the top and your arms look like they have not folded at all. But they will have. I have never had anybody not actually fold their trail arm. But the feeling is that it does not fold during the entire swing.
It is just a sensation, but you have to maintain it. In order for your body to make this full rotation, you have to keep that trail arm straight. Of course, just like in the other video, it has to be in the correct position, but you need to make sure it stays straight as long as humanly possible, and that will act as a piston.
You want a lot of width
It will push that trail shoulder blade back. You are going to get a big, full turn, feel really loaded up, and more importantly that is going to help keep your arms in front of you and wide. You are going to feel like your hands, at the top of your swing, are as far away from you as possible because you are not going to develop that narrow swing.
We want substantial width. That is going to help the club stay in front, and it creates tremendous torque in your body because you are forced to turn more to move the club. Keep that trail arm straight as long as you can — it will feel like you never fold it — and you will be in a significantly better position at the top.
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Watch part 2 now to see how you're moving your body in the opposite direction of the pros!
