wrists/hands after impact

[Goldfinch]

Can someone describe me the wrists/hands action /movements after impact? What do they exactly do?? and what they don't have to do... Thanx

[Neil18]

Re: wrists/hands after impact

Hands are a controversial subject in the golf swing mate. Some players swear by using them actively, others claim that they should remain passive throughout the swing. I subscribe to the latter.

I view it like this

- The hands and wrists are the connection and hinge between your body and the club. That is all they are. If you think of a hinge on a door, the hinge does not actually do the moving i.e. it's not the muscle behind the movement. If you think of the door handle as the club head (furthest away from the fulcrum of the hinge) then that's where the movement is. The hinge simply reacts.

- For me, I think that is what is meant by "passive" wrists/hands. The aren't actively manipluating the club. They react to contrifugal force. The only time I actively use the wrists in the swing is in the backswing. After that they should take care of themselves.

- Active hands destroy the natural path of the golf swing. The big muscles control that (shoulders/back/upper arms). The golf club design and the correct grip to suit your swing will apply the clubhead squarely at speed naturally. Any conscious effort to flick at/hit at the ball will destroy the powerful flowing arc of swing created by the bigger muscles.

- What many players do (myself included until recently) is have their left wrist (right handers) collapse through impact as they are hitting at the ball rather than swinging through where the ball is. The result is that the clubhead is cut hard across the ball causing all sorts of funny happenings dependent on the timing. It makes consistently good shots very difficult to achieve.

- Just try to let the release happen naturally. Allow the clubhead to follow the ball after impact. It'll feel less snappy than using your wrists and prolongs the period of time that the clubhead is travelling toward your target during impact, hence greater consistency.

Try a little drill:

Take an old club that your don't care much for and swing it, but throw it (preferably don't do this in a fine china store or kiddies playground). What many people find at first is that the club will go left (for the right-hander). Try to swing using the bigger muscles and release the club from your grasp and get it to fly straight out infront of you. Soon you'll get the feeling that impact and releasing the club toward the target whether holding onto the club or letting it go, reinforces the idea of passive hands through and after impact. Let everything follow the ball.

N18

[golfonenemesis]

Re: wrists/hands after impact

There should not be any conscious manipulation of the hands as they will take care of themselves, timing cannot be counted on consciously under pressure, and, assuming proper grip etc, your release will happen dynamically.
Got it mate?