Chicken Wing
What is actually happening
Your lead elbow bends and pulls up through the strike, wing out, because somewhere the swing ran out of room and bending was the only exit left. The room usually disappeared earlier, in a steep downswing or a body that stopped turning. The elbow is just the last one holding the bag. Arms that should swing long and free through the ball are braking instead.
What it costs you
The wing is a brake, and it costs what brakes cost: speed and extension through the one stretch of the swing where speed pays. It drags an open face with it too, and that's the weak left-to-right ball that lands soft and short. The elbow isn't the criminal. But when it finally swings free, you'll know the real problem upstream got fixed.
Both arms chase the ball down the target line after impact, long and straight, like you're handing the club to someone ten feet down the fairway.
Towel-Under-the-Arms Connection
This drill goes back to Ben Hogan, and Jimmy Ballard built careers teaching it. Lay a towel across your chest and pin an end under each armpit, then make slow swings without letting either end fall. The towel is connection made physical: it stays put when your arms and chest turn together, and it drops the instant an elbow strikes out on its own. Pay attention to when it falls. Right after impact is the chicken wing's exact signature, the lead elbow separating as it lifts. Earn the right to hit balls first, with five to ten practice swings where the towel survives all the way to the finish. Then hit half-speed 9-irons, shorter swings at first, building length only as the towel keeps its place. Finish with five normal swings, arms chasing long down the line. Film one face-on: just past P7, both arms extended, lead elbow pointing at the ground.
Is this the one costing you shots?
Film one swing and the analysis checks for it at every position, on your video.
Analyze my swing freeCurious how the measuring works? See what we measure at each position.