Tour Tip: How your left wrist controls the club face
How your left wrist (for right-handed golfers) controls the club face right off the ball is very important. What Scott Hamilton talks about in this video can not only creep into a pro’s swing, but it can cause the everyday golfer a lot of issues as the swing continues back.
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Instruction
Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!
Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?
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Instruction
How a towel can fix your golf swing
This is a classic drill that has been used for decades. However, the world of marketed training aids has grown so much during that time that this simple practice has been virtually forgotten. Because why teach people how to play golf using everyday items when you can create and sell a product that reinforces the same thing? Nevertheless, I am here to give you helpful advice without running to the nearest Edwin Watts or adding something to your Amazon cart.
For the “scoring clubs,” having a solid connection between the arms and body during the swing, especially through impact, is paramount to creating long-lasting consistency. And keeping that connection throughout the swing helps rotate the shoulders more to generate more power to help you hit it farther. So, how does this drill work, and what will your game benefit from it? Well, let’s get into it.
Setup
You can use this for basic chip shots up to complete swings. I use this with every club in my bag, up to a 9 or 8-iron. It’s natural to create incrementally more separation between the arms and body as you progress up the set. So doing this with a high iron or a wood is not recommended.
While you set up to hit a ball, simply tuck the towel underneath both armpits. The length of the towel will determine how tight it will be across your chest but don’t make it so loose that it gets in the way of your vision. After both sides are tucked, make some focused swings, keeping both arms firmly connected to the body during the backswing and follow through. (Note: It’s normal to lose connection on your lead arm during your finishing pose.) When you’re ready, put a ball in the way of those swings and get to work.
Get a Better Shoulder Turn
Many of us struggle to have proper shoulder rotation in our golf swing, especially during long layoffs. Making a swing that is all arms and no shoulders is a surefire way to have less control with wedges and less distance with full swings. Notice how I can get in a similar-looking position in both 60° wedge photos. However, one is weak and uncontrollable, while the other is strong and connected. One allows me to use my larger muscles to create my swing, and one doesn’t. The follow-through is another critical point where having a good connection, as well as solid shoulder rotation, is a must. This drill is great for those who tend to have a “chicken wing” form in their lead arm, which happens when it becomes separated from the body through impact.
In full swings, getting your shoulders to rotate in your golf swing is a great way to reinforce proper weight distribution. If your swing is all arms, it’s much harder to get your weight to naturally shift to the inside part of your trail foot in the backswing. Sure, you could make the mistake of “sliding” to get weight on your back foot, but that doesn’t fix the issue. You must turn into your trial leg to generate power. Additionally, look at the difference in separation between my hands and my head in the 8-iron examples. The green picture has more separation and has my hands lower. This will help me lessen my angle of attack and make it easier to hit the inside part of the golf ball, rather than the over-the-top move that the other picture produces.
Stay Better Connected in the Backswing
When you don’t keep everything in your upper body working as one, getting to a good spot at the top of your swing is very hard to do. It would take impeccable timing along with great hand-eye coordination to hit quality shots with any sort of regularity if the arms are working separately from the body.
Notice in the red pictures of both my 60-degree wedge and 8-iron how high my hands are and the fact you can clearly see my shoulder through the gap in my arms. That has happened because the right arm, just above my elbow, has become totally disconnected from my body. That separation causes me to lift my hands as well as lose some of the extension in my left arm. This has been corrected in the green pictures by using this drill to reinforce that connection. It will also make you focus on keeping the lead arm close to your body as well. Because the moment either one loses that relationship, the towel falls.
Conclusion
I have been diligent this year in finding a few drills that target some of the issues that plague my golf game; either by simply forgetting fundamental things or by coming to terms with the faults that have bitten me my whole career. I have found that having a few drills to fall back on to reinforce certain feelings helps me find my game a little easier, and the “towel drill” is most definitely one of them.
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Instruction
Clement: Why your practice swing never sucks
You hear that one all the time; I wish I could put my practice swing on the ball! We explain the huge importance of what to focus on to allow the ball to be perfectly in the way of your practice swing. Enjoy!
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Meiko
Dec 4, 2017 at 5:47 am
Hi, does this apply to driver, as well?
don
Dec 4, 2017 at 8:58 pm
No, it’s entirely different for the driver because of the longer shaft and bigger swing arc.
Dan Jones
Dec 1, 2017 at 9:53 pm
Good Tip, although a bit too simplistic. Most people can relate to the position of the wrist through kinesthetic feel, in other words, a tactile learning or feel. In reality it is actually the two forearm bones, the Ulna and Radius, that are turning the wrist into position, the wrist itself should move very little other than a slight tilting towards the palm side to extend fully and prepare for forces generated during the downswing, as a fully extended wrist needs less energy to maintain position.
One key that amateurs usually don’t understand. As humans we do everything with our hands and wrists, so we have very good awareness of them. But the hands and wrists are the biggest destroyers of good swings (I’m as guilty too, usually with short shots when I haven’t played in a while). Let the big muscles do all the work for you, the muscles in your hands and wrists are just powerful enough to destroy the rest of a good swing. Use them to hold the club and nothing else.
If you don’t believe, try this. Go to the range and put your arms in a static position. Without the use of your arms, see how far and how accurately you can hit a ball with just your hands. Remember, the arms have to feel locked in concrete when you try it, they absolutely cannot move.
Good Luck!
Dan Jones, PGA
SK
Dec 3, 2017 at 1:54 am
Scott Hamilton only explains the orientation of the clubface in the takeaway and to club approaching vertical on plane. The point he makes is the left lead wrist flex is maintained until the left arm is at horizontal and only then the left wrist flattens out. Nothing more.
There is good reason to maintain a flexed left wrist until then and it’s to control the change of leverages of the club handle.
Neil
Nov 29, 2017 at 2:10 pm
It’s a lie angle tool, not a “face aimer.”
Dan Jones
Dec 1, 2017 at 10:01 pm
Give us Pro’s a break every now and again. Hell, one day I forgot how to write my own name, was it i before e? Or e before i? I hadn’t wrote Daniel in so long I had to stop and think about it a minute. I’m sure he knows, but in the middle of recording the video, which he did a good job mind you, it can be a little stressful. Been there, done that!