Golf Tips: Elbow Talk

Ever read Ben Hogan's Five Lessons - The Modern Fundamentals of Golf?  It is quite a technical book which is a bit heavy of a read for the average hacker.  But there is some great information contained in the book.  The setups and basics of the golf swing are well outlined. Elbows One thing that sticks out to me in Hogan's book is his approach to elbows.  There doesn't seem to be much discussion about elbows and what they should be doing in the golf swing other than the fact that neither elbow should produce a "chicken wing" in the swing.  We will talk about two of Hogan's theories on elbows in short today. Hogan says, "keep the elbows and arms as close together as possible throughout the entire swing."  The illustration in his book shows that the gap between his elbows is fairly small.  Another illustration shows his lower arms tied together with rope.  He suggests swinging as if your arms are tied together.  Doing so would prevent the take-away chicken wing with the right arm (for right handed players). Ok so now we know that the elbows should be close together through the swing.  But where to we set them up to begin with?  Should they point outward or in?  How do we know where to align them?  Hogan says, "at address, the right elbow points directly to the right hipbone.  The elbow can then fold in correctly on the backswing.  At address, left elbow points directly to the left hipbone." Conclusion The elbows will be about as wide as your hipbones and pointing at them at address.  You should try to keep them that width through the entire swing.