Right elbow can help put a big wallop in golf

Use of the strength of the right forearm is one way for right-handers to add power to their swings. And here the action of the right elbow is crucial. An awful lot has been written about the right elbow on the backswing -- the "flying right elbow" of Jack Nicklaus and the rather tight right elbow of Ben Hogan for instance -- yet where the elbow is on the backswing is almost irrelevant. You don't hit the ball with your backswing.

What matters is where the right elbow is during impact. The farther across the body it is when it is released the more the power that will be added to the shot.

This power action is largely instinctive if one is skimming a stone across a pond. But with a golf club in one's hand it is not instinctive. It has to be learned and practiced.

Practice is particularly necessary because the mere action of getting the right elbow farther across the body can bring the right shoulder around, which is usually fatal to a good shot. The right shoulder has to be kept down.

But after a little practice it will be found that there is no need to put any effort into it. The elbow and the forearm will be used automatically to add power to the swing.

Don't try to do it; do it.

In alliance with a big-radius left arm swing, this stone skimmer's action with the right forearm can produce a golf swing of almost effortless power.