Bowed trailing wrist at impact

[circledot]

I haven't played golf for many years, but I do hit a few balls almost daily in my back yard area. This one plane swing approach intuitively seems like a good way to swing a golf club. Most of the pro golfers of my era -60s and 70s - had a pronounced upper body passivieness that allowed the arms to simply drop and shallow out the downswing. You don't see that in swings like Tiger's and others today. My own swing has never been much good fundamentally - even when I was playing regularly. That's one of the reason I gave it up. The problems that bother me most is my lack of body rotation thru impact, some loss of club lag, and a bowed out trailing wrist at impact. And, I don't know how to fix it. Photo below : The first pic show the bowed right wrist at impact in a full swing. The other two pics are the positions just after impact and just prior, in a half swing where I've removed the index finger and thumb from the club and made a concerted effort to maintain the wrist positions.


Just after impact


Just prior to impact


These last positions are an improvement, but I can seem to achieve them in a full swing. Any thoughts on this ?

[GregJWillis]

Re: Bowed trailing wrist at impact

Try my wall impact drill...this will get you in the position you want. Then try my Right Hand Drill. This will put it to use on the course.

http://mysite.verizon.net/gregjwillis/LESSON3.htm

[circledot]

Re: Bowed trailing wrist at impact

Thanks for the help. That drill certainly addresses my particular problems of insufficient hip rotation at impact and the wrist cupping. The drill does require a bit of supplleness to get that much rotation. A problem that I've always had with drills - no matter how much or how long I practice the drill motion - when I'm eventually confronted with the prospect of actually hitting a golf ball, my subconscious seems to take control and old swing habits reappear. My thinking is that if I performed a drill that actually involved hitting the ball, I would start to ingrain the the motion both mentally and physically, after many reps of cource.

[GregJWillis]

Re: Bowed trailing wrist at impact

Did you read the drills? There are 2 "take it to the range" drills you have to do after the wall excersize...exactly what you are asking for.

[mconn]

Re: Bowed trailing wrist at impact

The drill by "GregJWillis" is excellent....Not being an instructor, I can only say that works for me to help maintain a flat left wrist. If I slow or stop my body rotation through the ball, it takes a more effort to manipulate the hands and keep the lead wrist flat. I find there is so much "flipping" force w/o that hip turn, it's almost impossible to not hit behind the ball. Bottom line, professional instruction and video replay would do wonders as well as this great drill.

Let me add that you include his "walking drill" also. It's more dynamic and, contrary to what you may feel, committing yourself to the back foot on the back swing is as important as turning over the front foot at impact.
If you've done any ballroom dancing, adding the waltz tempo to the drill is helpful as well...best of luck.

[BrianW]

Re: Bowed trailing wrist at impact

Get an impact bag and learn to hit into it so that you have a good impact position. I dont like to ingrain excess hip rotation as it tends to get you trapped behind the right hip on the downswing creating blocks, shanks and pushes.

[kbp]

Re: Bowed trailing wrist at impact

As others have implied, you must use your body turn to advance the hands TO the impact area, rather than trying to use the arms to advance the hands. Most "flipping" is born out of necessity to advance the club head to the ball when the body turn does not move the hands up to the hitting area. The arms can only reach so far ahead of the body turn and if that’s not far enough, you flip the clubhead forward to get to the ball. "Stalled" or "blocked" are the generic terms.

How to unblock yourself is the problem. My first suggestion is to make sure you’re pivoting on your front leg in the downswing and not on your back leg. These articles show some transitions where the weight clearly sets on the left foot BEFORE the downswing.

http://www.aroundhawaii.com/lifestyle...ransition.html
Especially looking at the video of Tiger in the orange shirt and black vest.

http://www.aroundhawaii.com/lifestyle...on-part-2.html
Especially look at the video of Harrington.

Tiger and others can get "stuck" as Brian says, but YOU will not get stuck IF you set and rotate correctly, that is, without jutting the hips out to the target line aka. "humping the goat". You are not nearly as flexible as they are. They can rotate properly and still get stuck. You will only get stuck if you rotate improperly. You are probably not flexible enough to lag the shoulders far enough behind the hips to get stuck.