Face-on
Bent lead arm.
A bent lead arm is a lead elbow that folds in the backswing, so the club has less room to travel. It is not a chicken wing, and it is not an order to lock the arm straight.
By Dwain Kinghorn · Updated
Face-on · Takeaway, Backswing, Top
Understanding the idea.
On a face-on video, watch the lead elbow from the Takeaway through the Top. Bent lead arm means that elbow folds during the backswing and the lead side of the swing no longer reaches the way it did at address. The clubhead has less room to travel, and the top often looks short or narrow.
Some bend is ordinary. A perfectly straight lead arm is not a requirement, and plenty of good swings show a little fold. The pattern is worth an experiment when the elbow collapses early, the club gets cramped, and the golfer has to rebuild that room on the way down. Rebuilding it in time is a hard job.
Chicken wing is a different guide. That one is the lead elbow through the strike and into the follow-through. A golfer can fold the elbow going back and still have a quiet lead arm through the ball, or the reverse. Do not rename one as the other. The trail elbow is a third picture, covered by the flying-elbow guide, and it is the other arm.
This film brief does not require the clubhead in frame. It does require the lead elbow and both shoulders. A tight shot of the hands hides the elbow. Video cannot measure an exact elbow angle, cannot see grip pressure, and cannot tell you by itself whether the fold helped the strike. You still look at contact.
How to read this pattern.
Width and a straight arm are not the same idea. The club can travel on a wide arc with a little softness in the elbow. It can also look stiff while the hands stay pinned across the chest, which is narrow in a different way. Read the room the club has, not a straight line drawn from shoulder to club.
Forcing the lead arm rigid makes the shoulder work harder and can shorten the turn even while the elbow looks straight. If the strike is already solid and the elbow only softens late, leave it. Experiment when the fold is early and the club has nowhere to go.
A practice cue.
Let the clubhead travel on a wide arc away from the ball.
Try the exercise.
Wide arc, soft arms
Use a mid-iron. No ball for the first rehearsals. Face a mirror or a face-on camera framed from the knees to above the head, so the lead elbow stays visible. Swing the clubhead away on a wide arc and through to a finish. Do not lock the elbow to manufacture the arc.
Watch one rehearsal. If the clubhead's path got wider only because the arm went rigid and the turn stopped, the task is too big. Make a shorter swing and let the arc be wide relative to that shorter swing. If the elbow folds immediately and the clubhead stays near the chest, give the clubhead a wider start and try again. One change, then swing.
Hit easy balls at a modest target. Compare the backswing with contact. A wider-looking arm that makes you miss the ball is not the goal. Room for the club, and a strike you can repeat, is the goal.
What to record
Note whether the club had more room, and whether contact got better or the swing got tighter. A rigid arm is not the goal.
Practice set: 5 rehearsals, then 2 sets of 6 easy mid-irons.
Keep in mind: The clubhead has room to travel around you.
Review the result.
For a practice comparison, record 5 full mid-iron swings from a face-on view. Use the same setup for both sets; label shorter drill swings separately.
Record five full mid-iron swings from face-on, with the lead elbow and both shoulders in frame. The clubhead may leave. Compare Takeaway, Backswing, and Top, then look at the strike. Do not score a straight arm. Note whether the club had room, and whether buying that room made the swing tighter.
Watch these clips.
These demonstrations offer another way to understand the idea. Each video opens at the selected starting point and continues playing; use the note below it to focus your viewing.
Face-on, he keeps a little room under the lead arm on the way to the top and calls that shape a number seven. Some players stay long, and some have a little wrist. The lesson is the room, not a locked elbow.
A different camera, mostly from above, showing how far the lead arm sits from the chest in the backswing. It is not a face-on elbow grade and it is not an instruction to straighten the arm. Use it for depth, then judge the elbow on your own face-on video.