Wrist Hinge

[rezadue]

I am a beginner golfer who has played somewhere around 14 rounds of golf so far with a best score of 100. Beyond all of the regular problems that are associated with newbie golfers' consistencies, I have some issues with distance. Typically my 7 iron only flies around 115 yards. My 3 irons flies around 165 yards.

I understand that a good part of distance comes from hinging the wrist during backswing and releasing the hinge at ball impact. But I can't seem to get myself to perform this action during my swing.

Are there any tips on what I could do to practice this?

Thanks,

[1972Apex]

Try using the hinging of your wrists to start your swing instead of trying to do it during your swing. That's what I do on the practice range and it helps me to repeat it on the course.

[BC MIST]

I am a beginner golfer who has played somewhere around 14 rounds of golf so far with a best score of 100. Beyond all of the regular problems that are associated with newbie golfers' consistencies, I have some issues with distance. Typically my 7 iron only flies around 115 yards. My 3 irons flies around 165 yards.

I understand that a good part of distance comes from hinging the wrist during backswing and releasing the hinge at ball impact. But I can't seem to get myself to perform this action during my swing.

Are there any tips on what I could do to practice this?

Thanks,

Assuming you are right handed, as you take your backswing, the left wrist kocks, while the right wrist flexes. Extend your left arm out directly in front of you with the palm facing to the right and the thumb up. Bend the wrist so that the thumb moves toward you. The left wrist stays flat and you probably cannot bend it very far. This is the kocking of the left wrist.

Extend the right arm in front of you thumb up. Bend the hand backwards as though you are trying to have the back of the hand touch to top of your forearm. This is basically how the wrists work. To get a sense of how this works try the preset drill seen in the enclosed pictures. (Excuse the clothes) I set my wrists so that the left wrist is flat and the right wrist is bent, BEFORE I SWING. From this position just finish your backswing without any further conscious setting of the wrists and you should be in perfect position.

[dlaville]

Is that you in the pictures?

[Started2k3]

This instruction site helped me.

http://members.cox.net/gregjwillis/LESSON1.htm

[rezadue]

Thanks for the advice.

I taped a few swings and replayed them in slow motion using V1 Home. As close as I can tell, I am kocking my wrist all the way to the top of my backswing since the angle between my club and my right arm (and yes, I am right handed). What appears to be the problem is that I "de-kock" the wrist as my downswing starts.

I am not sure how to instill the "keeping the wrist kocked feeling until striking the ball" feeling in my swing. I will try to post a couple of pictures as soon as I find a place to host them.

[rezadue]

Here are the pictures:

[dbleber]

I'm no pro but you maybe hinging the wrist to late in the backswing. Once the club is parrallel and the toe is up, thats when you kock the wrist. Alot of us do this to late and the wrist never really get loaded. Give it a try!

[rezadue]

Clarification:

Top Picture is during downswing and the bottom picture is the backswing.

[rezadue]

Is there a drill that can instill keeping the wrsit from releasing until the appropriate time?

[BC MIST]

Is that you in the pictures?

Yes, it is. I would welcome your thoughts on the preset motion that I use.

I use a single axis swing and while I understand that you don't necessarily agree with the concept, any comments would be appreciated.

[Started2k3]

Is there a drill that can instill keeping the wrsit from releasing until the appropriate time?

I guess you didn't like my earlier post on a drill. Any reason why?

This instruction site helped me.

http://members.cox.net/gregjwillis/LESSON1.htm

[rezadue]

Started2k3,

I did like the tip and the web site, but was not quite able to easily incorporate what the person in the video said. It felt quite awkward. I am still working on it though. In the mean time I wondered if ther were any other tips.

[BC MIST]

rezadue As an aside to the topic, the form that you display at the top of the backswing is very good. If you were to draw a line where your spine is, you would notice that the line would be vertical. If this line was on a bit of an angle where your head would be positioned farther to YOUR right, you would have more weight on your right leg. It appears that you are in or almost in a REVERSE PIVOT position where a lot of your weight is still on your left leg. Unless you move only your lower body at the start of the downswing, you will not be able to establish the second spine tilt, around which you would rotate through the ball.

This may be why you lose some of the wrist kock angle as you start the downswing.

[rezadue]

Thanks for the tip BC MIST. I will keep that in mid.

[Started2k3]

Started2k3,

I did like the tip and the web site, but was not quite able to easily incorporate what the person in the video said. It felt quite awkward. I am still working on it though. In the mean time I wondered if ther were any other tips.

I have been working on it for a couple of weeks. I agree that at first it doesn't make much sense but when you incorporate some of the other lessons you get the full picture (especially the "impact drill").

[Thimble]

here's a little drill to help you with your release...

i find that sometimes its easier to learn things on a smaller scale first.

i'll call this the 45 to 90 drill. 45 is the angle in degrees that your arms are extending from your body. if you arms reached a point where they were parallel to the ground, i'd call this 90. if they reached the point where they were almost vertical to the ground (full swing), i'd call this 180. so 45 is only 1/4 of a full swing.

even at a 1/4 swing, you should be able to make a normal, non-handsy swing with a full wrist cock. non-handsy = you shouldn't feel like your hands are "involved" in the swing. they're still basically reacting. full wrist cock = fully flexed just like your second photo.

swing, hit the ball, then continue on through until your weight is transferred to your leading leg, arms up high to a 90 degree (arms toward your target, shaft pointing up vertical).

how this drill will help is that you can't release early from this position since you're already at the point at which you should begin releasing anyway. the key to becoming good at this drill, is to LET the club do the work. don't try and manipulate the clubhead into meeting the ball in time.

here's a crappy diagram i made: