For today's tip, I am joined by Bruce Chaffin, PT Extraordinaire and PPGS Certified Instructor, better known to many of you as The Rolfer Golfer. Bruce was at Odessa National helping me teach a golf school last week. On the first day, one of the students asked what was causing a bad case of Golfer's Elbow.
Bruce makes a great case that Golfer's Elbow is most often caused by pulling the arms in toward the body just before impact. This "chicken wing" movement puts great stress on the tendons and muscles of the elbow as the inward movement is fighting the centrifugal force generated along the swing path in the downswing. That makes sense to me, but I'm sure anyone afflicted with this kind of pain wants to know why it's happening and how they can stop whatever is causing it.
Can you guess? What do I say causes 90-95% of all swing problems? That's right, Alignment, the Big A. If you are improperly lined up right of your target, your arms have no way of clearing the body to get square at impact unless you break your dynamically flexed elbow to pull the club back toward the ball. Another possibility is that you are hitting down on the ball rather than up and through it. This will cause your arms to hyper-extend at impact and repeated abuse of your muscles and tendons will give you a roaring case of Golfer's Elbow.
Play the video to get more detail and to learn a drill Bruce uses with his students that will help you eliminate the problem.
Keep it vertical!
The Surge
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