A Malaska Golf Member wants to know some drills so they don’t pull their hands in on the swing instead of extending them.

Most teachers who see students come into the ball and pull their arms in call this the ‘dreaded chicken wing.’

Mike demonstrates how the chicken wing happens. People think that the answer is to straighten your arms on the follow-through. Mike explains this is not the case; your arms are pulling in because they must. People have more hand-eye coordination than they give themselves credit.

What happens is that when people swing back, they don’t push their hips back. On the downswing, their body ends up moving closer to the ball. To hit the ball, they resort to pulling in their arms to get the clubface on the ball. Hence, the ‘chicken wing.’ 

Mike explains the fix! When you swing a golf club, the thing that makes your arms straighten out is when your left hip pushes back and away. By doing this, it throws and accelerates your arms forward.

When Mike has students who do the ‘chicken wing,’ he gets them to step back from address and try to hit the ball. They usually miss the first one because their arms pull in. When they hit the ball, their arms must straighten out, and the ‘dreaded chicken wing is gone.’

The ‘dreaded chicken wing is an effect of people moving closer to the ball. Once you figure out that if you push your left hip back, your arms will straighten out, and the ‘chicken wing is gone.’