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The Inverted Praying Hands Drill


I use the inverted praying hands drill with all my students because it's quick, easy, and effective. It helps cure the "hit" or "flip" impulse at impact.

For all versions of this drill, make sure the hands follow a slight inside to inside swing circle path, not straight back and straight through.

Basic Version

Get yourself into good golf posture without a club, point your hands and fingers downward like you have inverted praying hands, then bend your wrists so that your hands and fingers point to the rear (away from the target). Your left wrist is now flat or slightly bent (palmar flexed) and your right wrist is cupped (dorsiflexed) like they would be when you set up in the impact fix position.




  • Inverted Praying Hands Drill maintaining wrist angles
    with weight forward, long arms and a good turn.

  • Your weight distribution should be 80% forward side leg, 20% rear leg. No weight should shift to your rear leg at any time during the drill, and your head should stay stationary - meaning no lateral head movement.

    Then make very short length swings with long arms through impact to a short follow through. Maintain the bent left wrist and cupped right wrist angles, and keep your arms long, all the way into your abbreviated follow through.



    Advanced Version

    When you are able to do that perfectly, practice pressuring weight down onto your flat left foot during your short takeaway, then initiating your downswing with a lateral hip slide, then body rotation, keeping your head still. Still means no lateral movement. If your head rotates naturally that's acceptable. Lifting your head usually means that you have changed your upper torso angle of inclination to the ground, which is not acceptable.

    Advanced Version, Club in Hand

    Keep working on the inverted prying hands drill - but with a wrinkle - do it with a club in your hand, gripped low near the bottom of the shaft, with the longer part of the shaft pressed along your left rib cage.



    When you turn back and turn through, the shaft pressed along your left rib cage prevents your wrists from breaking down, your left wrist stays flat.

    Do one minute of the drill with the club in hand, and one minute without.

    It takes less than two minutes to do 100 continuous repetitions of this daily, make the time do it and watch your ball striking improve like magic.