If Your Golf Swing Feels Stuck, Check Your Right Arm

There’s a specific kind of “stuck” golfers talk about that has nothing to do with flexibility or speed. You get to the top and it feels like there’s nowhere for the club to go. Your body starts turning but your arms feel trapped behind you. You either block it right or flip it just to make contact.

Most golfers then try to fix this from the top down.

You spin your hips faster. You throw your arms harder. You take the club more outside on the way back because you think you need “space.” And even if one of those things works for a few swings, it rarely feels right or holds up under pressure.

A lot of the time, the stuck feeling isn’t caused by your downswing.

What is “stuck” in golf?

In golf, “stuck” usually means your arms are too far behind your body as you start down. Your chest begins to rotate but the club is trapped behind you so you’re forced to make a last-second adjustment to find the ball.

Why most golfers get this wrong

There’s a common piece of advice that says if you feel stuck, you should “tuck your right elbow at setup.” The intention isn’t bad. The goal is to keep the arms connected.

But most golfers misapply it.

They hear “tuck it” and squeeze the right elbow into their side, trying to hold it there as they turn.

When you pin the elbow to your ribs, it doesn’t stay in front of you. As your body rotates, it often drifts behind your torso. Once the elbow moves behind you, the hands follow. Now the arms are wrapped behind the chest and the club is deeper than your body can support.

From there, the downswing becomes a recovery. Your body starts down, your arms are late and you’re forced to manipulate the club to square it.

That’s the stuck feeling.

What it should feel like instead

You’re not trying to force your arms into a perfect position. You’re trying to stop them from drifting behind you. When you get this right, the backswing feels more connected and the downswing feels like you can rotate without having to throw the club with your hands.

Here’s the step-by-step I would try if you’re struggling with this issue.

Step-by-step: How to stop getting “stuck”

• Start with a soft right arm, not a pinned one. Let the right arm feel slightly rotated outward, like the “give blood” position, but keep it relaxed. Don’t squeeze it into your side.
• Let your chest move the club back. Instead of swinging your arms behind you, feel your left shoulder and chest take the club back. The goal is to keep your hands in front of your body center longer.
• Keep the space between your arms the same as at setup. Don’t let the elbows widen early and don’t collapse the right arm. You’re trying to keep structure.
• Keep the right elbow from sliding behind your ribcage. A simple checkpoint: if your right elbow feels like it’s disappearing behind you, your hands are probably getting too deep.
• Hit small waist-high shots and check your structure. Take the club back until your hands are about waist-high and make sure they’re still in front of your chest. If your right elbow already feels behind you at this point, that’s a problem.
• From there, just turn. Don’t add more arm swing. Simply rotate your body through the ball. If your arms stayed in front of you, the strike will feel solid. If they drifted behind you, you’ll feel the need to recover.

Final thoughts

The next time you feel stuck, don’t change everything at once. Make a few waist-high swings and see if your right elbow is drifting behind you. Keep it in front of your chest, turn through the ball and build from there.