It's All In The Hands...

[Big Sheesh]

I just had another lesson from a teaching pro last weekend. He told me something that none of my other instructors in the past have told me. I did a few swings which he recorded on camera and then he told me that my wrists were moving incorrectly. I realized I was playing golf all wrong since the day I started.

He told me this: Throughout the entire swing, your right hand is cupped from beginning to end. It never flips in the opposite direction. The opposite is true for the left hand/wrist. It's supposed to be flat on impact and flat through to the followthrough.

He showed me video clips of actual PGA tour players and it was clear what my instructor says is in fact true. The reasoning is that by keeping the hand movement as simple and quiet as possible, you are more able to establish accuracy and consistency.

It took me 3 days to visualize and do what he told me. If I put his words into action, there really isn't much to the golf swing. Any comments are welcomed.

[bonzi_532]

Re: It's All In The Hands...

I agree....early in my career.......i started to be really handsy in all of my shots.....it got worse and worse.....i simplified hand movement and compacted my swing and i like it a lot!!

[pnearn]

Re: It's All In The Hands...

Yep, something I advocate too. Less moving parts=better swing. Its so true

Pre-set your hands at address and forget about them. The hands, wrists and arms should only move in relation to the shoulder turn on the backswing and downswing

[Ian Hancock]

Re: It's All In The Hands...

Eureka.............


I do hope we are not going to start the wrist cock thread again......seriously if you watch Gregs right hand drill and wrist cock drill you will see that it is a simple up and down move with a bowed wrist............like you say once mastered you wonder what you have been doing all these years.


Great to hear things are going well



Ian.

[Big Sheesh]

Re: It's All In The Hands...

I guess a great way for me to describe and visualize the right hand movement is by that of saying it's very similar to doing a topspin in table tennis.

[gord962]

Re: It's All In The Hands...

Correct - you want to turn your wrists over, not flip your wrists or 'swat' at the ball.

[Big Sheesh]

Re: It's All In The Hands...

Gord,

By turning over your wrists properly, can that produce more distance and a more boring trajectory than that produced by flipping the wrists?

[gord962]

Re: It's All In The Hands...

Turing your wrists is definitely a stronger move and more easily repeatable, producing a more accurate result. As for flight path, I would suggest that it would be a bit more of a boreing flight pattern, but that depends on the rest of your swing as well as where you contact the ball in your swing path (upswing, bottom, downswing).

[sinuetblue]

Re: It's All In The Hands...

This is correct but most people don't know why. The reason is quite simple and is that, when taking your normal stance with the left wrist higher on the grip, the left wrist is (or should be) almost flat and the right wrist is cupped. In a good swing, this relationship is maintained.

During the swing, the wrists and forearms should roll over each other so that at the top of the backswing your wrist watch (if you're wearing one ) should face staight up to the sky and at the end of the follow through to the ground. This will make sure also that the clubface is parallel to the swing plane halfway through both the backswing and the follow through (ie when the left arm is parallel to the ground. Remembering this simple picture may help you to properly rotate the clubface through the impact zone.

I just had another lesson from a teaching pro last weekend. He told me something that none of my other instructors in the past have told me. I did a few swings which he recorded on camera and then he told me that my wrists were moving incorrectly. I realized I was playing golf all wrong since the day I started.

He told me this: Throughout the entire swing, your right hand is cupped from beginning to end. It never flips in the opposite direction. The opposite is true for the left hand/wrist. It's supposed to be flat on impact and flat through to the followthrough.

He showed me video clips of actual PGA tour players and it was clear what my instructor says is in fact true. The reasoning is that by keeping the hand movement as simple and quiet as possible, you are more able to establish accuracy and consistency.

It took me 3 days to visualize and do what he told me. If I put his words into action, there really isn't much to the golf swing. Any comments are welcomed.

[GPF]

Re: It's All In The Hands...

Is this rolling over the hands the same Hogan's "supination" thing?

Also, if the hands are not supposed to "flip over", what then are Vijay's right and Phil's left hands doing after impact? They looked very much flipped over.

[sinuetblue]

Re: It's All In The Hands...

I think that the advice about keeping the right wrist cupped throughout the swing is a bit overdone. In my humble opinion, it is excellent advice to maintain it through impact. What happens after that is neither here nor there, the ball is gone! It may be good to feel as if the position is maintained until after impact because that ensures that it is actually done through impact. Very good teaching pros advocate that the left wrist should be flat though the backswing and on the downswing until after impact but that after that the right wrist shoud straighten and that the left wrist should point to the ground at the end of the follow through.

[pgmetcalf]

Re: It's All In The Hands...

Is this rolling over the hands the same Hogan's "supination" thing?

Also, if the hands are not supposed to "flip over", what then are Vijay's right and Phil's left hands doing after impact? They looked very much flipped over.

Not quite supination is keeping the wrist infront of the club at impact - think hitting the ball with the back of the hand rather than the club head.

What they're talking about in this thread is keeping the club head and the back of the left hand facing (square) to the target line throughout the swing - even though it doesn't look like it. Lots of people have problems with twisting the wrist rather than just moving it back and forwards.