Take your address position right now — or picture it. Straight left arm, slightly bent right elbow, club resting on the ground. Most players think of that as a starting point they leave behind the moment the swing begins.
It's not a starting point. It's the position your swing has to return to at impact to strike the ball consistently. Everything in between is just the club leaving home and finding its way back.
Ben Hogan's Flying Wedges
The image comes from Ben Hogan's 1957 book Power Golf — a straight left arm and bent right elbow at address that Homer Kelley later termed the "flying wedges." The rationale is simple once you see it: the club must return to where it started in order to hit the ball the same way twice. So the address position isn't cosmetic. It's the blueprint.
The Left Wedge
Here's where most players get confused. Yes, the left wrist hinges during the backswing — that's normal. But the shaft stays geometrically in line with the straight left arm the whole time. That's the "in-line" condition, and it's what returns at impact as the wrist flattens and slightly closes, producing compression and maximum power transfer.
This is exactly why a flat left wrist at address is a trap. It looks like it's "prepping" for that in-line impact position — but it actually produces an open face at impact. Most golfers then try to fix that by flipping or bending the wrist through the ball to square the face. That flip is not a swing flaw you were born with. It's a compensation your setup created.
The Right Wedge
The right arm stays in line with the shaft, on a more horizontal plane. A straight or overextended right arm at address pushes you too far from the ball, and most players respond by letting the arms hang straight down and then lifting or extending through impact to compensate — what I call "over-reaching." It throws off your balance, your weight distribution, your posture. All from one small setup error.
The feeling I want in that left arm isn't a bar of steel. It's a rubber band — straight, but not tense.
The Full Sequence
Here's how I build it in a lesson, start to finish: club held above the waist, angled toward the belly button. Left hand placed — heel pad, then thumb pad slightly right of center, fingers closed. Right hand slides down onto the left thumb pad with slight pressure. Bow to the ball, relax the knees — don't squat. Then set the club behind the ball, with the ball centered on your intended low point.
Notice what's missing from that sequence: ball position first. Most players set their feet and the ball position before they've even built their grip and arm structure. I build the arms and grip first, every time — because your setup should serve your swing, not the other way around.
One more thing worth flagging: too much knee bend at address limits your body's ability to rotate — and rotation is where your power lives. Bend enough to be athletic. Not enough to sit into the shot.
Get the flying wedges right, and you've built the one position your swing is guaranteed to need again in about a second and a half. That's not a small thing to get right.
Want to know how your body's natural arm alignment fits your swing type? Take the In-2-It Golf Diagnostic.