Left Arm Bend: The Difference Between PGA Tour Players and Amateurs
We get questions about the left arm (or right arm for you lefties) during the swing… should it stay straight or should it bend? Many times our amateur clients have been told they “collapse” at the top, so they try the opposite of collapsing, which is keeping that left arm ram-rod straight. Well… neither is going to help your swing.
Let’s take a look at how the pros do it.
There may be no more painful affliction in golf than the “yips” – those uncontrollable and maddening little nervous twitches that prevent you from making a decent stroke on short putts. If you’ve never had them, consider yourself very fortunate (or possibly just very young). But I can assure you that when your most treacherous and feared golf shot is not the 195 yard approach over water with a quartering headwind…not the extra tight fairway with water left and sand right…not the soft bunker shot to a downhill pin with water on the other side…No, when your most feared shot is the remaining 2- 4-foot putt after hitting a great approach, recovery or lag putt, it makes the game almost painful.
And I’ve been fighting the yips (again) for a while now. It’s a recurring nightmare that has haunted me most of my adult life. I even had the yips when I was in my 20s, but I’ve beat them into submission off and on most of my adult life. But just recently, that nasty virus came to life once again. My lag putting has been very good, but when I get over one of those “you should make this” length putts, the entire nervous system seems to go haywire. I make great practice strokes, and then the most pitiful short-stroke or jab at the ball you can imagine. Sheesh.
But I’m a traditionalist, and do not look toward the long putter, belly putter, cross-hand, claw or other variation as the solution. My approach is to beat those damn yips into submission some other way. Here’s what I’m doing that is working pretty well, and I offer it to all of you who might have a similar affliction on the greens.
When you are over a short putt, forget the practice strokes…you want your natural eye-hand coordination to be unhindered by mechanics. Address your putt and take a good look at the hole, and back to the putter to ensure good alignment. Lighten your right hand grip on the putter and make sure that only the fingertips are in contact with the grip, to prevent you from getting to tight.
Then, take a long, long look at the hole to fill your entire mind and senses with the target. When you bring your head/eyes back to the ball, try to make a smooth, immediate move right into your backstroke — not even a second pause — and then let your hands and putter track right back together right back to where you were looking — the HOLE! Seeing the putter make contact with the ball, preferably even the forward edge of the ball – the side near the hole.
For me, this is working, but I am asking all of you to chime in with your own “home remedies” for the most aggravating and senseless of all golf maladies. It never hurts to have more to fall back on!
Over the last couple of decades, golf has become much more science-based. We measure swing speed, smash factor, angle of attack, strokes gained, and many other metrics that can really help golfers improve. But I often wonder if the advancement of golf’s “hard” sciences comes at the expense of the “soft” sciences.
Take, for example, golf instruction. Good golf instruction requires understanding swing mechanics and ball flight. But let’s take that as a given for PGA instructors. The other factors that make an instructor effective can be evaluated by social science, rather than launch monitors.
If you are a recreational golfer looking for a golf instructor, here are my top three points to consider.
1. Cultural mindset
What is “cultural mindset? To social scientists, it means whether a culture of genius or a culture of learning exists. In a golf instruction context, that may mean whether the teacher communicates a message that golf ability is something innate (you either have it or you don’t), or whether golf ability is something that can be learned. You want the latter!
It may sound obvious to suggest that you find a golf instructor who thinks you can improve, but my research suggests that it isn’t a given. In a large sample study of golf instructors, I found that when it came to recreational golfers, there was a wide range of belief systems. Some instructors strongly believed recreational golfers could improve through lessons. while others strongly believed they could not. And those beliefs manifested in the instructor’s feedback given to a student and the culture created for players.
2. Coping and self-modeling can beat role-modeling
Swing analysis technology is often preloaded with swings of PGA and LPGA Tour players. The swings of elite players are intended to be used for comparative purposes with golfers taking lessons. What social science tells us is that for novice and non-expert golfers, comparing swings to tour professionals can have the opposite effect of that intended. If you fit into the novice or non-expert category of golfer, you will learn more and be more motivated to change if you see yourself making a ‘better’ swing (self-modeling) or seeing your swing compared to a similar other (a coping model). Stay away from instructors who want to compare your swing with that of a tour player.
3. Learning theory basics
It is not a sexy selling point, but learning is a process, and that process is incremental – particularly for recreational adult players. Social science helps us understand this element of golf instruction. A good instructor will take learning slowly. He or she will give you just about enough information that challenges you, but is still manageable. The artful instructor will take time to decide what that one or two learning points are before jumping in to make full-scale swing changes. If the instructor moves too fast, you will probably leave the lesson with an arm’s length of swing thoughts and not really know which to focus on.
As an instructor, I develop a priority list of changes I want to make in a player’s technique. We then patiently and gradually work through that list. Beware of instructors who give you more than you can chew.
So if you are in the market for golf instruction, I encourage you to look beyond the X’s and O’s to find the right match!
Most pros take months, even years, to win their first tournament. Lottie Woad needed exactly four days.
The 21-year-old from Surrey shot 21-under 267 at Dundonald Links to win the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open by three shots — in her very first event as a professional. She’s only the third player in LPGA history to accomplish this feat, joining Rose Zhang (2023) and Beverly Hanson (1951).
But here’s what caught my attention as a coach: Woad didn’t win through miraculous putting or bombing 300-yard drives. She won through relentless precision and unshakeable composure. After watching her performance unfold, I’m convinced every golfer — from weekend warriors to scratch players — can steal pages from her playbook.
Precision Beats Power (And It’s Not Even Close)
Forget the driving contests. Woad proved that finding greens matters more than finding distance.
What Woad did:
• Hit it straight, hit it solid, give yourself chances
• Aimed for the fat parts of greens instead of chasing pins
• Let her putting do the talking after hitting safe targets
• As she said, “Everyone was chasing me today, and managed to maintain the lead and played really nicely down the stretch and hit a lot of good shots”
Why most golfers mess this up:
• They see a pin tucked behind a bunker and grab one more club to “go right at it”
• Distance becomes more important than accuracy
• They try to be heroic instead of smart
ACTION ITEM: For your next 10 rounds, aim for the center of every green regardless of pin position. Track your greens in regulation and watch your scores drop before your swing changes.
The Putter That Stayed Cool Under Fire
Woad started the final round two shots clear and immediately applied pressure with birdies at the 2nd and 3rd holes. When South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim mounted a charge and reached 20-under with a birdie at the 14th, Woad didn’t panic.
How she responded to pressure:
• Fired back with consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th
• Watched Kim stumble with back-to-back bogeys
• Capped it with her fifth birdie of the day at the par-5 18th
• Stayed patient when others pressed, pressed when others cracked
What amateurs do wrong:
• Get conservative when they should be aggressive
• Try to force magic when steady play would win
• Panic when someone else makes a move
ACTION ITEM: Practice your 3-6 foot putts for 15 minutes after every range session. Woad’s putting wasn’t spectacular—it was reliable. Make the putts you should make.
Course Management 101: Play Your Game, Not the Course’s Game
Woad admitted she couldn’t see many scoreboards during the final round, but it didn’t matter. She stuck to her game plan regardless of what others were doing.
Her mental approach:
• Focused on her process, not the competition
• Drew on past pressure situations (Augusta National Women’s Amateur win)
• As she said, “That was the biggest tournament I played in at the time and was kind of my big win. So definitely felt the pressure of it more there, and I felt like all those experiences helped me with this”
Her physical execution:
• 270-yard drives (nothing flashy)
• Methodical iron play
• Steady putting
• Everything effective, nothing spectacular
ACTION ITEM: Create a yardage book for your home course. Know your distances to every pin, every hazard, every landing area. Stick to your plan no matter what your playing partners are doing.
Mental Toughness Isn’t Born, It’s Built
The most impressive part of Woad’s win? She genuinely didn’t expect it: “I definitely wasn’t expecting to win my first event as a pro, but I knew I was playing well, and I was hoping to contend.”
Her winning mindset:
• Didn’t put winning pressure on herself
• Focused on playing well and contending
• Made winning a byproduct of a good process
• Built confidence through recent experiences:
- Won the Women’s Irish Open as an amateur
- Missed a playoff by one shot at the Evian Championship
- Each experience prepared her for the next
What this means for you:
• Stop trying to shoot career rounds every time you tee up
• Focus on executing your pre-shot routine
• Commit to every shot
• Stay present in the moment
ACTION ITEM: Before each round, set process goals instead of score goals. Example: “I will take three practice swings before every shot” or “I will pick a specific target for every shot.” Let your score be the result, not the focus.
The Real Lesson
Woad collected $300,000 for her first professional victory, but the real prize was proving that fundamentals still work at golf’s highest level. She didn’t reinvent the game — she simply executed the basics better than everyone else that week.
The fundamentals that won:
• Hit more fairways
• Find more greens
• Make the putts you should make
• Stay patient under pressure
That’s something every golfer can do, regardless of handicap. Lottie Woad just showed us it’s still the winning formula.
FINAL ACTION ITEM: Pick one of the four action items above and commit to it for the next month. Master one fundamental before moving to the next. That’s how champions are built.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” on RG.org each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more Tips!
Stephen Finley
Jan 16, 2018 at 7:41 pm
This can simply be the difference between less tension or rigidity (in the pro) versus more tension and rigidity, not to mention a misconception from the get-go. I used to teach, and I never told anybody to keep a ramrod-straight left arm. I used to talk about “comfortably extended” at most, but really I didn’t even want people thinking about it. Better to think about the curvature of the arc, path and plane, and being reasonably wide, with the body supporting the motion of the arms and club. You’ll notice in the sequence in the video, the takeaway shot of pro versus amateur (2:29) already shows the pro’s shoulders and upper body supporting the swinging away of the arms and club better than the amateur’s.
Jim
Jan 10, 2018 at 11:34 am
The analysis is interesting but has no instructional value. The reason is that the best ball strikers and longest hitters on tour all straighten their left arm at impact and also extend the left arm down the line after impact. Examples include Adam Scott, Dustin Johnson, Tiger, and Jason Day. There is simply no other way to achieve maximum power and consistency. Some players with superior timing do well with bent left arms at impact (eg, Lee Westwood and Jordan Speith) but in doing so sacrifice distance and accuracy. The importance of a straight left arm at impact is nothing new: Bobby Jones, Sam Snead and Jack Nicklaus all talked about it.
Deez
Dec 21, 2017 at 3:44 pm
This stuff is awesome. Whether the commenters would like to admit it or not, even in a sport almost completely based on skill, there are still genetic/physical limitations that hold back your potential. The more you can learn about the how the best players in the world move bio-mechanically, the easier it should be to realize what physical limitations might be causing your swing flaws.
AMG
Dec 21, 2017 at 5:37 pm
Thanks, Deez. The intent with this series was to finish with a large collection of comparison swing elements as a broad reference to the difference between how the best do it and what we can apply to our own swings when applicable. Thanks for watching!
JimN
Dec 20, 2017 at 6:59 pm
I think you may be focusing on the wrong arm. I see a greater difference in the right elbow than the left. For me, that flying right elbow puts me in a great position to ‘arm wrestle’ my shot into submission, typically ending in a nasty hook.
AMG
Dec 21, 2017 at 5:35 pm
The right arm is definitely important, Jim. The guys GolfWRX already have our right arm video which should be released in the next week or two. Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment!
DaveyD
Dec 20, 2017 at 9:58 am
Regardless of what 3D models show, if my swing works for me, it’s largely based on what my body lets me do. I’m not interested in getting injured just because I decided to move my arm angle a few degrees because of videos like this.
MarkH
Dec 15, 2017 at 10:41 am
The Difference?
Amateurs have homemade swings… most pros had and still have swing coaches.
James
Dec 14, 2017 at 9:41 am
AMG?? That logo???? How have you not gotten a cease and desist order from MB? Blatant ripoff.
Anthony
Dec 9, 2017 at 5:58 am
This is BS. It completely depends on the golfer and how it affects delivery etc!
Mark
Dec 20, 2017 at 2:50 am
Anthony this guy is the definition of simple minded. Many many different functional matchups to play golf at a high level.
Nutz
Dec 21, 2017 at 3:52 pm
Simple minded? The vast majority of players on the PGA tour are in very similar positions throughout the swing. There’s a reason Furyk is known for having a weird backswing; cause its not common among the best players in the world. But even in Furyk’s case I would be willing to bet that halfway through the downswing he looks like almost every other player on the PGA tour.
Fact is there are certain positions you need to be in during the swing to be a VERY good golfer. You can either accept it and try to change, or just accept mediocrity
Someone
Dec 8, 2017 at 5:10 pm
I think there is a very huge difference at 2:30 at the top of the swing. part of the reason the am has more elbow bend is because you can clearly see how much wrist hinge is in the left hand. The pro is only holding and maintaining the angle on the way up where as the am is taking it inside and tight; you can also tell that the am is taking it basin them based on how much the right arm is bending and folding BEHIND him, whereas the pro still has it rather outside his body.
If i had to guess, with the lack of hinge at the top that maybe the pro was jason day…It is similar to jb holmes at the top where he is just holding the angle rather than making it smaller, but i wouldn’t say it’s holmes simply because holmes doesn’t take the club back as far. But just my guess…
Anyhow, i think the wrist hinge plays a huge role in whether or not the left arm can remain “straight” throughout the swing. it seems obvious that keeping it straight is not true since there is obviously some bending going on here. perhaps the “keep the left arm straight” was a lesson from old teaching days where they knew they couldn’t keep their arm straight but by consciously trying to do so, it would get their left arm in a better position through the entire swing. They didn’t have the same equipment we have these days, so it makes sense how t could be a possible explanation for the “left arm straight” guidance.
AMG
Dec 14, 2017 at 1:56 am
Well said.
Bob Jones
Dec 8, 2017 at 4:29 pm
Let your left arm hang straight down. That is its natural shape. Now keep that shape when you address the ball and throughout your swing. No need to make it ramrod straight like Ben Hogan made his. It’s YOUR left arm, do what’s natural with it for you.
Tom54
Dec 8, 2017 at 2:07 pm
Funny how your amateur you chose to depict says he is making it a point to keep his left arm straight throughout his swing. Maybe that’s why it’s hyper extended before impact. Trying to keep it straight tightens the shoulder. Maybe that’s why his impact looks so different. I didn’t see as much of a chicken wing as described. I think some bending is natural as long as it’s not too severe. Nice to see the subtle differences though in your video
Mr. Divot
Dec 8, 2017 at 1:06 pm
Good video. Shows me what I need to adjust. Appreciated. I noticed a big difference in their wrist positions at the top of the swing too. Bottom of the pro’s wrist seemed much more inline with the bottom of his forearm, where as the Amateur cocked his wrist perhaps in an effort to get his club further back. Would you agree with this?
JTG
Dec 8, 2017 at 11:27 am
So now that we know we need to keep the left arm straighter…. how do we make that happen? IS there a follow up that shows exercises or drills to help? Or is that just a point of information?
AMG
Dec 8, 2017 at 5:02 pm
We have an entire series of drills planned to release throughout the winter.
Chris
Dec 7, 2017 at 4:28 pm
Lee Westwood?
AMG
Dec 7, 2017 at 4:43 pm
No sir, not Lee Westwood.
Patricknorm
Dec 7, 2017 at 12:48 pm
I’m a left handed golfer with a permanently bent right arm from a football injury.. When I was a teenager I was tackled hard on Astro turf ( football) on my right elbow. This elbow is bent about 20 degrees. Clearly this affects my distance because my lever is a shorter. My compensation as per my instructor is that I’m about 75% accurate for fairways and greens. I play to a 7.9 factor ( index).
My bent elbow isn’t as severe as Calvin Peete’s was but, it’s close. I’ve looked into surgery but each surgeon I’ve talked with said it’s not that bad. However, there are times when the bent elbow hurts a lot.
If you saw my swing on video it doesn’t look that bad but I know I’m compensating , regardless. I would guess, based on tournament play, I’m giving up 15-25 yards off the tee . I think if I were 20 years old I’d be a mirror of the amateur in the video ( without bent elbow).
Excellent video by the way. I know there has always been discussion about Jordan Spieth’s slightly bent left elbow.
AMG
Dec 7, 2017 at 4:55 pm
It sounds like the other parts of your game are pretty solid to post those scores which is great!
Two pros come to mind that we’ve measured that have a pretty good bit of flex/bend in that lead arm in the downswing. Would not consider that element by itself in any way a swing flaw. Jordan would be a great example.
Andrew Cooper
Dec 7, 2017 at 12:40 pm
Thanks for sharing this info. Could you elaborate on the 3.6 hyper-extension in the pro’s set up?
AMG
Dec 7, 2017 at 4:50 pm
It’s not uncommon to see their left arms fairly straight but with more bend in the right arm, and almost the opposite trend with ams. We’re working on a right arm video that will go into more detail about that. Did that address what you were asking about?
Andrew Cooper
Dec 7, 2017 at 6:36 pm
Thanks, I appreciate the reply. Yes I would’ve thought fairly straight, but just surprised that it would be hyper-extended, which I take as meaning bent beyond normal range of motion. Anyhow, enjoying your videos, some great info.
jim
Dec 6, 2017 at 11:48 pm
Shall we assume that the pro and good amateur are anatomically identical? If not then the comparison is flawed.
As for the ‘chicken wing’ followthru …. Jamie Sadlowski anybody?!!
Branson Reynolds
Dec 6, 2017 at 10:24 pm
The video has an okay idea, but a 1:1 sample size is crazy. It’d be a lot more useful to have at least 10 of each.
AMG
Dec 6, 2017 at 11:55 pm
The data sample size was actually much larger than 10 of each. We chose the pro and the am in the video because they represented each sample size. The video would have to be much longer to show each and every golfer’s collected data. This is not a comparison of 1 pro to 1 am, but a representation of each group using these two golfers.
AMG
Dec 7, 2017 at 11:22 am
Is Jamie Sadlowski anatomically identical to the am or any other golfer? Can you see why we don’t just apply that criteria to looking at golf swings. None of our pros are anatomically identical, but all the ones we have data on do not hyper extended their left arm… neither does Jamie Sadlowski 😉
jim
Dec 7, 2017 at 4:54 pm
Thanks for your response to my query above. Before you can launch a comparative study between pro and amateur golfers on their lead arm biomechanics, you should first anatomically study their lead arm structure.
You can’t just take a group of pros and amateurs, examine their swing mechanics and then conclude their lead arm mechanics are different. You must determine why it’s happening.
PineStreetGolf
Dec 6, 2017 at 3:33 pm
This is actually a pretty good video that WRX kinda ruined by giving it a clickbait title.
The most important difference between pros and ams is the ability to throw weight and center of gravity down the target line without losing balance or spine angle. This video is a good one, though, especially for the short game.
If they had titled it “A helpful tip, especially close to the hole, to get cleaner contact” it would have been great. Its not the difference between pros and ams.
Bob Jacobs
Dec 6, 2017 at 2:53 pm
Might just be me, but at least from the pics, I couldn’t see a discernible difference between pros and ams. Was also very confusing for me to hear about X degrees of bend in an elbow because my elbows dont bend!!
JEC
Dec 6, 2017 at 1:52 pm
Why do instructors keep trying to compare what Pros and Ams do in the golf swing? This is why most golf instruction doesn’t help make the weekend golfer any better.
stevek
Dec 14, 2017 at 3:27 pm
It’s because they only study static pictures and postures with no knowledge of Newtonian physics which provides a Dynamic analysis through Kinematics and Kinetics.
IOW, virtually all golf instructors depend on their subjective observations with no objective proof.
It’s changing slowly with the use of Trackman, 3D video, force plates, and a proper college education.