Flattening the left wrist

[James Marshall (Hogan1953)]

What is the most efficient way of flattening the left wrist without disrupting the ability to trace a straight plane line, bending the right wrist, bending the right elbow or a bit of both?

Thanks for any advice.

James

 

[Jared Willerson]

IMO, bending the right elbow keeps the straight plane line.

Keeping the feeling of the forearms being pressed together, while sending my right shoulder straight back (thus a flat shoulder turn) on the backstroke, keeps the club on plane quite nicely for me.

Joe Durant is a good example of what I'm talking about.....statistically the best ball striker on tour this year and in the top 10 nearly every year since he's been on tour.

 

[Brian Manzella]

What is the most efficient way of flattening the left wrist without disrupting the ability to trace a straight plane line, bending the right wrist, bending the right elbow or a bit of both?

Thanks for any advice.

James

On the backswing or downswing?

 

[golfbulldog]

IMO, bending the right elbow keeps the straight plane line.

Keeping the feeling of the forearms being pressed together, while sending my right shoulder straight back (thus a flat shoulder turn) on the backstroke, keeps the club on plane quite nicely for me.

Joe Durant is a good example of what I'm talking about.....statistically the best ball striker on tour this year and in the top 10 nearly every year since he's been on tour.

Bold by me, Thanks GLCoach for describing your feel... i have often wondered about that bit where Hogan describes the same sensation..but then most commentators then say that he didn't do it...

Bottom line is that Hogan spent a good page ( text and diagram) of 5 lessons describing his forearms bound together etc... so it must ( like for you) have been important.

Do you think that it is a "forearm sensation" that is really a way of getting you right (trail) elbow to do the right thing ( hogan liked it to stay pretty close to right hip throughout most of swing it seems)?

 

[James Marshall (Hogan1953)]

I was thinking of the backswing.

 

[Brian Manzella]

Bend the RIGHT WRIST STRAIGHT BACK.

That's it.

No extensore action.

No Fanning.

Just Bend the RIGHT WRIST STRAIGHT BACK and your LEFT WRIST won't be bent anymore.

 

[Mick Stup]

Bend the RIGHT WRIST STRAIGHT BACK.

That's it.

No extensore action.

No Fanning.

Just Bend the RIGHT WRIST STRAIGHT BACK and your LEFT WRIST won't be bent anymore.

Brian, if I bend the right wrist straight back at start of takeaway the club goes back under the plane. At least it looks like that on video. Should I be doing something else as well to keep it tracing the plane line?

 

[joeparr]

I press with the pad of my right thumb down on my left thumb and my right wrist cocks and my left wrist is straight. and when I strike down on the ball my left wrist is straight at impact. So far its working for me,is there any thing wrong with this ?...joe

 

[Jared Willerson]

Do you think that it is a "forearm sensation" that is really a way of getting you right (trail) elbow to do the right thing ( hogan liked it to stay pretty close to right hip throughout most of swing it seems)?

Thanks for the comments.

You are right, the sensation gets my trail elbow to do what it's supposed to.

It's really 3 things happening at once - right shoulder going straight back; bending the right wrist; and the sensation of pressing the forearms together to get my right elbow pointed more down on the backswing.

Basically it's my interpretation of Brian's "Building Blocks" backswing.

 

[James Marshall (Hogan1953)]

Thanks for all the input. With my students and my own swing I've been tending to bend the right wrist straight back as you suggest, Brian. However, one of the things I've found that is that there is tendency for some of the students to fan open the face and roll the left forearm. In my case I tend to keep the right elbow a bit too straight and having been experimenting with the feeling of freezing the right wrist and letting the bend of the right elbow flatten out the left wrist to some success. I suppose it's a question of tailoring the chocies to the students and seeing what works best for that individual.

 

[tourdeep]

Thanks for all the input. With my students and my own swing I've been tending to bend the right wrist straight back as you suggest, Brian. However, one of the things I've found that is that there is tendency for some of the students to fan open the face and roll the left forearm. In my case I tend to keep the right elbow a bit too straight and having been experimenting with the feeling of freezing the right wrist and letting the bend of the right elbow flatten out the left wrist to some success. I suppose it's a question of tailoring the chocies to the students and seeing what works best for that individual.

the key is straight back for the wrist,,, level while bending right wrist. A visual might be experimenting bending the right while keeping the face of the club facing toward the ball.

A cocking motion can fan the club and create left forearn roll...

 

[Mr Inconsistent]

Today I was trying to get a flat left wrist by bending the right wrist, and it feels a lot different than how I normally swing. Normally, I take the club back with my entire body and very little wrist action and then about halfway back my wrists would 'hinge' up to the top. This resulted in a bent left wrist at the top. So today I was really bending the right wrist to get the left wrist flat and it felt like my hands were much more 'under' on he backswing (like Nicklaus looks I guess) and then the downswing felt like much more of a mashing downward action as opposed to the more sweeping action I normally have. Also, releasing the club was a little bit awkward at first and I actually got a couple nerve stinger sensations running up my left forearm. But I got past that and ended up hitting it pretty well with my irons. It felt like my clubface was rotating much less than it used to, almost felt like no rotation at all, which was a little unsettling actually. And with the driver it didn't go as well, it felt like the more descending mashing wasn't as conducive with the big stick, maybe it just needs some getting used to. What are your thought on all of this? Am I on the right track? Am I doing things incorrectly?

 

[Mr Inconsistent]

For anyone who's interested in my flattening of the left wrist situation, I realized today at the range that the reason I had those pains in my left forearm was because I was still trying to flip my hands through impact and with a flat left wrist it seems like that turns into a biomechanical train wreck. So today I was dragging the hands through and releasing later and "lefter" and it resulted in extremely straight short iron shots and with a slightly lower ball flight, which I like. It was a joke how every wedge through 7 iron went no more than 15 feet from the pin, I was laughing to myself a little bit. Inconsistency with the approach shots has always been my main problem (I don't convert birdies from 125 yards on 450 yard par 4s better than maybe anyone on earth) so this is looking like it could be a really productive change. However, I still am having some trouble maintaining the flat left wrist at the top as the clubs get longer, esp the driver.

Anyone have any comments or tips? Brian?...being the flat left wrist virtuoso that you are I'd love a quick comment here.

 

[mjstrong]

...However, I still am having some trouble maintaining the flat left wrist at the top as the clubs get longer, esp the driver.

Anyone have any comments or tips? Brian?...being the flat left wrist virtuoso that you are I'd love a quick comment here.

One thing I've noticed is that the longer the club, the longer people seem to think they need to swing. One way people accomplish this is to finish the swing with more wrist cup than they would with a wedge. Try feeling that you "shorten" your swing with the longer clubs, even just a little bit. I've had some students use that feel to help prevent them from cupping the wrist and opening the face at the top of the swing.

 

[Mr Inconsistent]

I will try that tomorrow, but I still would like to get in a postion like Vijay is in here comfortably. I can get in that position with a driver, but I have to really think about it, with the short irons my swing is still very near parallel but it's more stress free. Maybe the longer clubs having a flatter motion might be what's making it harder?

 

[mjstrong]

I will try that tomorrow, but I still would like to get in a postion like Vijay is in here comfortably. I can get in that position with a driver, but I have to really think about it, with the short irons my swing is still very near parallel but it's more stress free. Maybe the longer clubs having a flatter motion might be what's making it harder?

Longer clubs surely have a flatter motion, but how much of that is a result of the setup with a longer, flatter club, and how much is intentional may differ from person to person. I think the ideal would be to have the intention of making the same move every time and letting the different setup dictate any difference in plane. Just my opinion...