Butch's Basics : How to fix the chicken wing and avoid the wounded flamingo

Golf Digest, Feb, 2002 by Butch Harmon, Ed Weathers

The chicken wing, which I demonstrate in the top photo here, is one of the most common causes of slicing. It occurs when a player starts the downswing with the top half of the body instead of from the ground up. The club cuts to the left across the body because the player is worried about hitting a slice right, and as a result the left elbow--the "chicken wing"--comes up high and the arms never get released. If you chicken-wing the shot, you'll hit a ball that starts left and goes right, with no power. It will look like a wounded flamingo fluttering in for a landing.

Many average golfers think that releasing the club means just flipping the hands over through impact. But in a true release, the left arm folds, elbow down, while the right forearm works over it. The Split-Grip Drill shown in the bottom photo will help you feel a good release. Without a ball, slide your right hand down until your index finger is on the shaft. This will make your right arm "longer," and force you to swing the club out to the right as the right arm comes over the folding left arm--the kind of release you want for straighter, longer shots.

Butch Harmon, No. 1 among America's 50 Greatest Teachers, as ranked by Golf Digest, gives lessons at the Butch Harmon School of Golf at Rio Secco, in Henderson, Nev.