A chicken wing is a lead arm that folds and an elbow that points out and away through impact. You have probably seen it on your own video and tried to hold the arm straight. That almost never works, and there is a reason.
It is a reaction, not a decision
The lead arm folds because the club is arriving somewhere your body cannot deliver from. If the path is too far out, or the face is open, folding the arm is how you avoid hitting it miles right. Your body is protecting the shot.
Hold the arm straight without fixing the delivery and you simply hit the bad shot the wing was preventing.
The three real causes
- Arms disconnected from the body turn. The most common. The arms run out of room and have to fold.
- An out to in path. The wing is the release valve for an over the top delivery.
- Standing too close to the ball. Simple, boring, and worth checking before anything else.
The order that works
- Check ball position and your distance from the ball.
- Train connection so the arms have somewhere to go. If the lead arm is physically held to the chest turn, it has no room to fold.
- Then work on path if the wing persists.
The drill
Slow half swings with the lead arm held against the body, focusing on the chest continuing to rotate through impact. Most golfers report that the arms feel like they do almost nothing, which is roughly correct. In a connected swing the body supplies the motion and the arms come along.
Take the aid off, hit five shots, and look at your elbow on video. That is the only feedback that counts. Both WidthPro and the simpler Sync Band target this directly.
