Tiger Woods - Arched left wrist

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BigBadDonkey

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Watching Tiger at the Memorial, looked like he arches his wrist at the top more than most pro's I've seen.
Until I discovered this forum, I never thought much about the straight left wrist at the top, and now watch the Pro's in this position on TV. Seems like 95% have a flat left wrist or just off.
Noticed Ernie's left wrist was very slightly cupped\bent at the top.
Interesting stuff.
I've been trying to create this position in my own swing, and succeeded generally, although I find it puts tremendous pressure on my left thumb, and sometimes my thumb can't hold and will go into a flat(long) position on the shaft at the top.
 
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MizunoJoe

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Tiger knows that by arching the left wrist, he can do a full roll of the left arm through impact without fear of going left.
 
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mclare

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quote:Originally posted by MizunoJoe

Tiger knows that by arching the left wrist, he can do a full roll of the left arm through impact without fear of going left.
Click to expand...

Arched wrist and left arm rotation = ball going left!
 
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densikat

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It's more important what the left wrist is doing at impact [:p]

Getting it flat at the top doesnt mean you will retain it through impact.
 
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MizunoJoe

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mclare,

Set up to the ball in adjusted address position with a neutral grip. Now arch your left wrist. The clubface will open. With a strong grip it will open even MORE. Only with an extremely weak grip will the clubface NOT open. Combine this with standard wrist action(turn and cock) and you must full roll the left arm to start the ball right of the target and draw it back.

If you hit the inside of the ball with an open clubface face with a flat left wrist and with the clubhead on plane through the impact interval, you cannot swivel the left arm enough to send the ball left. With an arched left wrist, you MUST full roll to keep from fading.
 
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southpaw

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An arched left wrist at the top with a strong grip is a closed clubface, not an open one. It's more neutral with Tiger because of his grip, but still not in a good position, because the arched wrist has caused him to lay it off a little at the top. The reason why Tiger's been hitting it all over the place is that he's been pushing the club out with his hands at the start of his backswing, which gets the club flatter going back and more laid off at the top (with an overly arched left wrist). Coming down, the club's too far behind him. With his fast hips, if the club is too far behind him, he has to overuse his hands to square up the face. That causes a lot of inconsistency with the driver, and distance control problems with the short irons.

You'll notice that in Tigers practice swings, he's been working on trying to keep the handle from going out so that he can get the club going up a little steeper and pointing less towards the left at the top. That's the swing change he's been working on.
 
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MizunoJoe

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southpaw,

At normal address position, arch your lead wrist. Remember the direction of the arching is perpendicular to the back of the lead hand and the top of the lead forearm. The face will be open with respect to the plane line.

If it's open down there, it will be open at the top.
 
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southpaw

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No, it won't. The relationship between wrist position at address and its effect on the face the top of the backswing is the opposite. An arched wrist at address usually equals a shut face at the top. Take your arched wrist to the top and you'll see a shut face pointing skyward (unless you have a neutral to weak grip).

That's why Brian advocates erring towards a bowed or arched wrist at the top in his "Never Slice Again" article- better that slicers err towards the closed face, rather than an cupped wrist at the top, which produces an open face pointing down at the ground.

An arched wrist at address generally leads to a laid off shaft and a shut face at the top.
 
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MizunoJoe

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Your 1st paragraph doesn't make any sense to me. With standard wrist action(cock and turn) and a FLAT left wrist, the leading edge of the clubface will lie in the plane of the swing. With an arched left wrist, the leading edge will be below that plane and open. When this is delivered to impact, a full left arm roll will be required to keep from fading the ball

Brian is doing a "twistaway" in that article, which results in a "slightly arched left wrist". The "twistaway" is different than just an arching of the left wrist. This results in a "less open" clubface, not a closed clubface. Explain to me how you could hit the inside of the ball with a closed clubface.
 
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southpaw

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First off, take the club to the top with an arched left wrist and look in a mirror- the toe will hang up to the sky, which is closed at the top. Second, why would a "slightly arched left wrist" be closed and an arched wrist not be closed. And why do I need to explain to you why you could hit the inside of the ball with a closed clubface? What does this have to do with the original topic, except to say that you can come from the inside with an open, closed or square clubface.
 
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cherrybarry

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Arched left wrist = closed clubface.

WHY? Because arching the left wrist is usually accompanied with a slight but nevertheless significant rotation of the left forearm toward the target. Hold out your left hand like you're giving a thumbs up sign. Then drop the thumb to make a fist. Then arch the left wrist. You will notice that the left forearm has a tendency to rotate towards the target as you arch the left wrist. You will be able to see the palm side of the wrist. Of course, you can arch and hinge without forearm rotation, but the act of arching and bending tends to create some forearm rotation.
 
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MizunoJoe

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southpaw,

Brian states in the article, that the "slightly arched" left wrist results in a "far less open" clubface. The quotes are his words. "far less open" does not mean closed. And why the question about hitting the inside of the ball with a closed clubface? Because you CAN'T hit the inside of the ball unless the the face is open, no matter how much inside you come, and I don't think Brian would cure a slicer by having him hit the back of the ball with a closed clubface. That would be like curing a dog of the mange by shooting him.
 
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MizunoJoe

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cherrybarry,

As stated above, I am not doing ANY rotation, only arching - which opens the face. What you are describing is a slight cocking of the left wrist through a clockwise rotation of the left forearm in addition to arching. Go to normal address with the leading edge of the club square and the club soled, and then to impact fix with a flat left wrist. Do you see the clubface open up? Now in the impact fix position, arch the left wrist WITHOUT any clockwise rotation. Do you see the face opening even more? You should. Square at adjusted address gives slightly open at impact fix, and "purely" arching the left wrist gives an even more open face.
 
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