Benefits of a Hinge The elbow is a hinge joint. Keeping the elbow close to the body and having a rounded start has many benefits: (*) reduced hand tension into the swing; (*) upper body moves forward with the start; (*) due to the torso moving forward, the head (eyes) sets-up closer or to where it will be at release allowing a longer period of accurate visual target 🎯 lock; (*) less vertical head movement in the slide; (*) quicker tempo and a shorter power step. A great timing cue for a 5-step