I think I just discovered something

Cloran · March 1, 2008

feel like I'm keeping the face square during back swing

I was just tinkering in the garage and decided to grab a wedge. I have a cupped wrist at the top of my back swing, and even though there are some who have had fantastic pro careers with a cupped wrist, the majority are pretty "flat" at the top. I've tried to get there, but it always felt too weird.

My discovery was: I tried a couple of swings trying to keep the leading edge facing the ball the entire time. It was impossible, but I "felt" like I was doing just that. I noticed that when I completed my turn my wrist flattened out at the top. Is this the feeling I should have had all along? I'll give it a shot at the range on monday.

irishfight4it · March 1, 2008

this is a good thought, Hogan played with a cupped wrist to help prevent against a hook... the cupped wrist opens the clubface, therefore keeping the clubface pointed at the ball with lead you towards a flat wrist... keeping the leading at towards the ball closes the clubface and flattens it out

Pinehurst1999 · March 1, 2008

this is a good thought, Hogan played with a cupped wrist to help prevent against a hook... the cupped wrist opens the clubface, therefore keeping the clubface pointed at the ball with lead you towards a flat wrist... keeping the leading at towards the ball closes the clubface and flattens it out

I have been fighting the cupped wrist thing a ton recently. I naturally slice the ball but recently have been hitting a lot of pulls and hooks with the driver. The club pro caught my cupped wrist and it is hard to remember to keep it flat. I played the entire round today with cupped wrists and a bunch of big fades...I did not realize until after the round that I did not think about keeping my wrists flat. My natural swing is cupped and it is a constant struggle to remember to fight the old habit.

BigLeftyinAZ · March 1, 2008

You need to do what works for you.My wrists are cupped and have always been.I dont hit draws ,if i have to hit one around a tree i think of the flat wrist and they is my draw/hook.I hate to see a draw unless i have too.

mizuno67 · March 2, 2008

there are more factors involved then just having a cupped wrist at the top of your swing have a close look at how your upper body turns for one and what your arms do

Pinehurst1999 · March 2, 2008

there are more factors involved then just having a cupped wrist at the top of your swing have a close look at how your upper body turns for one and what your arms do

There are about 100 different things that contribute to your swing and your slice/hook, which ever it may be. My pro has me thinking on 2 major thing...over-exagerating the inside to outside swing plane, and keeping my wrist flatter at the top. I think that thinking too many things can definately hurt while at the course.

Pinehurst1999 · March 2, 2008

I just played 9 holes and hit 6 out of 7 fairways with onle one swing thought...flat wrist at the top. Don't you hate how easy this game can be at time?

mainegolfa · March 2, 2008

The position of your left wrist at the top is a product of grip strentgh and club face alignment. a weaker grip will reqiure a flatter wrist position at the top to keep the clubface square. the opposite is true of a strong grip.

What you should be more concerned with is the squareness of your clubface at the top. The leading edge of your club should be paralell to your left forearm, not necessarily the left wrist as some might tell you. If you try to flatten out your wrist at the top of the backswing without a weak grip, the clubface is going to be shut (leading edge runs more horizontally than the left arm at the top).

The position of your left wrist at the top is as individual as your grip or your swing. so keep that in mind while your tinkering*

hoganfan924 · March 2, 2008

The position of your left wrist at the top is a product of grip strentgh and club face alignment. a weaker grip will reqiure a flatter wrist position at the top to keep the clubface square. the opposite is true of a strong grip.
What you should be more concerned with is the squareness of your clubface at the top. The leading edge of your club should be paralell to your left forearm, not necessarily the left wrist as some might tell you. If you try to flatten out your wrist at the top of the backswing without a weak grip, the clubface is going to be shut (leading edge runs more horizontally than the left arm at the top).
The position of your left wrist at the top is as individual as your grip or your swing. so keep that in mind while your tinkering*

Yup! 100% right

Pinehurst1999 · March 2, 2008

The position of your left wrist at the top is a product of grip strentgh and club face alignment. a weaker grip will reqiure a flatter wrist position at the top to keep the clubface square. the opposite is true of a strong grip.
What you should be more concerned with is the squareness of your clubface at the top. The leading edge of your club should be paralell to your left forearm, not necessarily the left wrist as some might tell you. If you try to flatten out your wrist at the top of the backswing without a weak grip, the clubface is going to be shut (leading edge runs more horizontally than the left arm at the top).
The position of your left wrist at the top is as individual as your grip or your swing. so keep that in mind while your tinkering*

A lesson with my club pro and video recording had him saying that I need to flatten my left wrist at the top. It helps a ton when I remember to do it...and not think too much about a bunch of other stuff. It has been helping so much over the past few months...again, it was the pro who told me that was my biggest problem to be concerned about right now. I had a great 9 holes today with my longest drives ever on a couple of hole...a couple of 270-280 bombs for me. I usually keep it about 250-260 with my Nickent Square...today the ball was just flying a ton on a few hole.

Diesel · March 2, 2008

sometimes you have those days where everything comes together...

i too fight a cupped left wrist at the top, and leads to the majority of my crap shots... when i think about keeping my wrist flat, i strike the ball so much cleaner, and score better...

if you have too many thoughts, you'll never get to where you want to be...

congrats on the success...

birdie_man · March 3, 2008

Clubface parallel to the left arm is pretty darn orthodox...........not all do that though. (i.e. there are room for variances...at least in my world)

If you play well with cupped go for it I say.........same deal with flat, arched.

To me.

tchilds · March 3, 2008

sometimes you have those days where everything comes together...

i too fight a cupped left wrist at the top, and leads to the majority of my crap shots... when i think about keeping my wrist flat, i strike the ball so much cleaner, and score better...

if you have too many thoughts, you'll never get to where you want to be...

congrats on the success...

A friend of mine gave me a thought a few years ago...he called it "left palm down"...simply try to make your left palm face the ground at the top of your swing...this should eliminate the cupped wrist...of course you will never get it there but it's a good thought if you are trying to maintain a flat left wrist.

Cloran · March 3, 2008

Clubface parallel to the left arm is pretty darn orthodox...........not all do that though. (i.e. there are room for variances...at least in my world)

If you play well with cupped go for it I say.........same deal with flat, arched.

To me.

Welp, I may just keep playing cupped... Went to the range today. Tried the little trick which worked fabulously in my garage without a ball to hit, and to my suprise it WORKED!!! I hit some fantastic, straight shots. Problem was that I couldn't maintain the comfort in my backswing. I know it takes time to sink in sometimes, but after about 40 balls I was hitting some pretty crazy shanks, skulls, etc.

I took a break, went back to the range, and tried to swing with my "old" cupped left wrist. I started hitting 5 yard fades, just what I'm used to. I don't know what to do now. Do I stick with trying this new swing thought at the risk of not being able to take it to the course, or do I just work on tempo and keep the old style? When my tempo is good, I'm spot on... Ain't golf great... :)

TEConnor · March 4, 2008

Cupped left wrists rock! The flat (bowed) wrist is a killer...paging David Duval.

Slicefixer had a great post about cupped vs flat wrists. As I recall he said as an experiment grip the club with your left (top) hand and do two drills alternating between a flat and a cupped wrist: (1) have a buddy try to twist the club while you hold it and (2) attempt to "set" your wrist as far as possible.

What I have found with each of these is that I can "set" and "hold the set" of the wrist about 70 degrees more with a cupped wrist (setting = power) and a friend can easily "twist" the clubhead in my arm with a flat wrist, but I can almost twist his arm off with my cupped wrist (more power).

I had a pro try to change my historically cupped wrist to flat last year. I went along for a few months (hit the driver about as accurately as Tiger on his worst days) and looked at the video footage of before and after. With the flat wrist I lost about 30 degrees of lag. In turn, I think this was a very simple explanation for why I was hitting the ball 20 yards shorter and much more wildly.

Cheers,

Tim

birdie_man · March 4, 2008

Hmmm.....paging the guy who took #1 from Tiger.....paging a (British) Open winner.....

Paging Lee Trevino...

:)

Pinehurst1999 · March 5, 2008

Cupped left wrists rock! The flat (bowed) wrist is a killer...paging David Duval.

Slicefixer had a great post about cupped vs flat wrists. As I recall he said as an experiment grip the club with your left (top) hand and do two drills alternating between a flat and a cupped wrist: (1) have a buddy try to twist the club while you hold it and (2) attempt to "set" your wrist as far as possible.

What I have found with each of these is that I can "set" and "hold the set" of the wrist about 70 degrees more with a cupped wrist (setting = power) and a friend can easily "twist" the clubhead in my arm with a flat wrist, but I can almost twist his arm off with my cupped wrist (more power).

I had a pro try to change my historically cupped wrist to flat last year. I went along for a few months (hit the driver about as accurately as Tiger on his worst days) and looked at the video footage of before and after. With the flat wrist I lost about 30 degrees of lag. In turn, I think this was a very simple explanation for why I was hitting the ball 20 yards shorter and much more wildly.

Cheers,
Tim

A flat left wrist and a bowed one is entirely different. Luke Donald has been fighting the opposite of the cupped wrist, he has been trying to flatten out his left hand in the backswing. Different things work on different people, the left wrist at the top of the swing is just one small part of your swing...and every element of the swing has a cause/effect relationship with other parts of the swing.

For me, the flat left wrist has added distance and stopped my slice tendency...but that is just me.