Elbows in the Swing - Eric Cogorno

bzimmer21 · June 24, 2020

I recently came across Eric Cogorno and I like some of the things he teaches from what I have seen. I am working on my backswing and am having trouble with an open face coming down. I saw this video and am confused (particularly around the 6:40 mark). In looking at a lot of pro swings, to my eye, none of them have their elbows like this. Most of what I have seen looks like it is pointed to the target; opposite of what he is teaching. Can anyone help elaborate or is this not good?

My swing from last year is below as well for reference. My miss is an open face shank, I tend to be too cupped at top and no right wrist bend, causing me to be open on the downswing, stall and flip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RROKALR1xrUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6armeRT6g-w

chigolfer1 · June 24, 2020

Not sure what you're saying but most pros don't have their left elbow pointed at the target in the backswing. All he's saying essentially is to get steeper backswing and don't suck the club inside rolling your arms clockwise like so many ams do.

bzimmer21 · June 24, 2020

Maybe I was misunderstanding. I was confused about what he says about having the elbows pointed to your midsection rather than to the target at address (around 6:45 in the video). I have never seen someone having their elbows start like that at address

juststeve · June 24, 2020

Jimmy Ballard says both elbows point down all the time.

Steve

scooterhd2 · June 24, 2020

Not sure why you think top golfers don't do this. Hogan said himself to have the elbows point towards the hips. Here is Tiger at address with the elbows pointing toward the hips. In general, the lead elbow pointing toward the target promotes a takeaway that gets inside, which is something you are currently doing.
[img]https://s3.amazonaws.com/golfwrxforums/uploads/HAGKSIP5L0BL/image.png[/img]@bzimmer21 , there is alot to like about your swing. You actually do alot of things well. But you probably don't see the rewards of that as much as you'd like because you are delivering a wide open club face. Here are some stills of your swing. Early on you get way too inside and your right arm folds too soon. This is opening the club face early. At right arm parallel to ground the club is getting behind you from the initial takeaway. You cant see the clubface here, and it is fine to swing on a flatter plane but it's quite likely you are just setting up to get stuck behind you. Towards the top of the swing, you hip, shoulder, knee angles are decent, but your club face is open and your right wrist is more cupped then you should be. Angles aren't sequenced perfectly here, but Tiger's club face is clearly more closed and keep in mind he delivers a more open face than many natural drawers of the ball. One the way down, you usually want to see the club head working down between the arms, imagining the shaft is pointed down at the ball. Your club is behind. At just before impact your club face is practically parallel to the target line, or essentially wide open. Looks like you are delivering the hosel and not the sweet spot. Tiger's is very square to his swing path. From this position you are either going to hit a shank or a weak push/slice, unless you use the hands to flip the face closed, or really work to bow your left wrist more at some point in the transition or down swing.
[img]https://s3.amazonaws.com/golfwrxforums/uploads/GTW2A4SBKEHB/image.png[/img]
The ball only does what the clubface tells it do. To fix your swing issues, you need to fix the club face. Luckily you haven't engrained a whole lot of worse flaws to address this like massively coming over the top, so you can probably fix your issues relatively quickly with some practice. First, just at home spend some minutes practicing the takeaway. I've pointed at your flaws. Here is another example. Keep that face closed a little more and not getting behind so quickly.
[img]https://s3.amazonaws.com/golfwrxforums/uploads/TNA6EQYM72CF/image.png[/img]
Next try this, on the range setup normally with an 8 iron, but then close the clubface. Massively, close the clubface at address, like 30 degrees closed. Like the picture below where the red line is your target. It should look disastrous, but dont worry about that. Block that from your mind. Address position means nothing, only impact matters. It's just the ball, the club, and swing your normal swing. No manipulations at all. Just swing away. Give it 15 balls or so and dont judge an early hook harshly if it happens. You'll find your normally open face at impact is now square and you are probably pounding it. Then we can work on a few corrections.
[img]https://s3.amazonaws.com/golfwrxforums/uploads/EM7AX3G0OI4V/image.png[/img]
Couple extra resources:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABj6x7J--uk&feature=youtu.behttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExCrpJhcyAw