[lagster]

A lot of it has to do with wrist action and startdown. If you use Standard wrist action and have the left wrist Turned on-plane at startup, then the right elbow will gravitate towards being more down and "in front" throughout the stroke. On the other hand, if you employ Single wrist action and do not Turn to the plane at startup, then the right elbow will move more "behind" you.

If you get out of your chair and practice this you can see it very clearly. Take an address position, and use a right forearm pickup to transport each wrist condition to the top. First, just keep the left wrist vertical and use the right forearm to take it to the top. Then go back to address position, Turn the left wrist on-plane, and pickup to the top. Notice how the right elbow wants to move differently in each case.

Second point is how you're moving the club coming down. If you're using right arm thrust, the elbow will want to stay back and PUNCH. If you're karate chopping downplane and delaying it for a while, the right elbow will want to move down and in front into the PITCH position.

In the case of Furyk as you mentioned, he seems to be using more of a Single wrist action as he takes it back, no? Shaft arrives at the top a bit steeper than with most Tour players. No roll of Angled Hinge action in the backstroke. Punch elbow position. Then he just drops and rotates and pulls the club down.

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Very good post Matt!!! The WRIST ACTION and/or TRIGGER TYPE correlation to ELBOW position at IMPACT is interesting.