I’ve made huge strides since my private lesson back in December. Two things still plague me however
: my lead knee turning in instead of down in the backswing and this. Can’t seem to keep my lead arm straight on the downswing. The picture on the left was my normal swing. The picture on the right is when I started pushing away with my trail arm. It made it 10° straighter but I’m not sure if this is the prescribed solution or just a band aid. Anybody want to chime in on either of these problems please throw it at me.
Have you tried to start the backswing only with your shoulders.
Next idea is to tug your trail elbow at the ribcage more in front. Cant see the position of your elbow clear.
Flare out both feet like goofy, that helps you to have the weight between toes and heel and also turn your hips.
Bring your lead shoulder down and your right shoulder up. To get the lead shoulder really down it is a must to bent your lead knee. Watch out, that the knee does not move inside.
In the backswing your lead arm nearly touches your trail shoulder. Better to flatten the backswing, your lead arm should be in the middle of your trail biceps, especially if your lead shoulder shows more down.
Stop the backswing before your straight lead arm bents.
Watch that your weight is allways more in the front (in your 2. photo your weight seems to move to the trail side).
I agree with Ronald that you can only have a straight arm till the end of the swing, if your hips move and turn.
Long threat but only some simple changes.
Looks like your lead arm is bent because you are over swinging a bit. Your club is parallel to the ground and Mike’s is pointed up higher than yours and his arm is straight.
Wow. Yeah, I did a comparison with Mike Bennett. 😯
Sorry, where I said left hand in the second paragraph, I meant lead hand.
It looks to me like you are not turning the shoulder down enough. And it looks like the reason for that is you haven't turned the hips far enough. When you don't turn the hips and shoulders enough the lead arm collapses against your chest and bends at the elbow as you try to get the hands in far enough. It looks like your hips have only turned about 10 or 15 degrees. Maybe you were taught before to coil against a stable lower body and that feeling is still in your head. That idea has been debunked, finally. In order to get width and depth in the back swing, you have to turn the torso out of the way of the arms.
Try this to get a feel for turning your hips and shoulders. Stand perpendicular to a wall with the trail shoulder about a foot from the wall. Now turn toward that wall and try to put your lead hand flat against the wall. If you don't turn your body, your left hand probably cant reach the wall. Only when you turn to face the wall using both your hips and your shoulders will you be able to reach the wall with the lead hand. Practice the correct turning of the shoulders and hips a few times to see how much you can turn more using the hips and shoulders.