Delo’s Divots: The back muscles should coil and develop some
torque as you turn your shoulders. Then when released, the muscles
help generate power. The problem most people have is they let the
front elbow bend during the backswing. This, in turn, allows you to
complete the backswing with just your arms and not your back
muscles.
The backswing — besides the obvious, that it’s moving in a backwards direction — is exactly what it says. It is a swing that uses the back.
The back muscles should coil and develop some torque as you turn your shoulders. Then when released, the muscles help generate power. The problem most people have is they let the front elbow bend during the backswing. This, in turn, allows you to complete the backswing with just your arms and not your back muscles.
If this happens their is no power built up in the swing, and the bent front arm now has to straighten at just the precise moment to hit the ball correctly — very difficult to do.
Try to keep your left arm straight and turn your shoulders until your left shoulder is under your chin. Even if this is only as far as you can go, it is better to swing shorter with a straight left arm and a good coil in your back than to swing longer with a bent left arm and no coil at all.
