============================================== Newsletter - Issue 11 Date 02/28/07 ============================================== ============================================== Golf Tip: Delayed Wrist Cock - Yes or No? ============================================== If anyone has a golf question that they would like answered, please email your question to: teachingpro@bataviacc.com and I'll do my best to answer it in an upcoming newsletter. Q: Bob M. emailed the following question: “I read from golf magazines and videos all the time about how you should keep your wrists cocked as long as possible on the downswing. This gives the lag effect. I know you cannot have too many thoughts in your golf swing but what can you tell me about keeping your wrists hinged as long as possible, having your hands ahead of the clubhead to the ball. Do you recommend any visual that can help keep that wrist hinge or just keep trying to have it occur naturally? Also with this late unhinging won't that promote the ball to be pushed to the right?” A: The ball gets pushed to the right because either your swing path is too inside out at impact, the clubface is open at impact, or both. Not releasing your wrists/hands on time could be one reason your ball goes to the right (for righties!). There are a couple of methods that I use to teach the full golf swing. I consider a full body swing to be superior, and I break it down into segments and drill each segment until the student gets it. For Bob’s problem, repeating the top of the swing transition segment from takeaway to downswing would help him feel how the wrist cock occurs naturally. The second swing method I teach involves more conscious hands and arm action. The "hands and arms" swing is for people that have trouble making a strong body turn, have a bad back, or have other physical issues that prevent a full body swing. It requires extremely good timing, and although when done well it yields good results, if your timing is a little off it yields a worse result than a full body swing that is a little bit off. I’m going to answer Bob’s question from the full body swing point of view, but first we need to define wrist hinging and wrist cocking. Here is an example of a wrist hinge: hold both arms straight out in front of you, with your hands together like you are praying, then point your thumbs to the sky. Now bend your wrists vertically so that your thumbs point towards your face as much as possible. Your wrists are now hinged. Here is an example of a wrist cock: hold both arms straight out in front of you, with your hands together like you are praying. Now bend your wrists horizontally so that your fingers point as much to the right as possible (for righties; lefties reverse). Your wrists are now cocked. The left wrist is now in a bowed position, the right wrist is in a cupped position. When I give lessons, I show and drill my students on how and when to hinge their wrists, but I rarely if ever even mention wrist cocking. Here's why: trying consciously to set and cock your wrists and then trying consciously to delay the release to gain more lag will most definitely result in a disastrous shot. Here’s a quick story. I have two sons that were PGA Pros, and they worked at various courses in WNY. About 8 years ago I was practicing prior to a tournament at Willowbrook that my oldest son Tom and I we were playing in - I think is was one that Buick sponsored that allowed a pro in the group. I was going through a swing change of my own making; I was trying exactly what Bob describes in his question, to delay my wrist cock and subsequent delay the release of the clubhead until the last moment to gain more lag, and thus more clubhead speed. I proceeded to sh - - k ( missing letters are a & n, I can’t even bring myself to spell the word out ) three buckets of practice balls with all of my short irons. In spite of me, we ended up winning the tournament because we all putted well, and I eventually went back to hinging my wrists and not consciously cocking them. The sh - - ks went away, but to be honest it had me so messed up I was thinking about quitting golf. That’s what the sh - - ks can do to your psyche! The golf swing is kind of like a dog wagging its tail. Your lower body and trunk initiate the takeaway, your shoulders, arms, wrists/hands follow. The downswing happens essentially the same way going in the other direction. Your lower body initiates by a bump of the hips, your trunk uncoils, which unleashes your shoulders, arms, and wrists/hands towards the ball, hopefully releasing and squaring the clubface at impact for a powerful result. Let it happen naturally. Concentrate on not gripping the club too tightly, and start hinging your wrists when your left arm is (generally) parallel to the ground during the takeaway portion of your swing. To be specific, the hinging takes place sooner in the swing for short irons than for longer clubs, but here’s the point: at the top of your swing, with proper grip tension and hinging, your wrists will cock naturally when the transition from takeaway to downswing takes place, creating natural lag. Don’t try to MAKE this happen, just LET it happen. With proper body rotation and timing, the clubhead will release correctly and powerfully through the ball. It’s sometimes referred to as a controlled release, which is almost an oxymoron. Sergio Garcia used to try to gain more lag by consciously trying to delay his release. When it worked, he absolutely murdered the ball, but when it didn’t, he murdered his score. It’s no coincidence that he changed his swing to allow for more of a controlled release. I am a strong believer in good books and DVD’s on golf instruction and drills, you can learn a heck of a lot on your own. However, if there is any area of the swing where a trained eye helps, it is the release. I structure my lessons from the hole out: first putting and chipping, then the pitch shot and the 3/4 swing, then the full swing. I do it this way because the last phase takes the most practice, the full swing, where the release is critical for maximum results. So Bob, just let the lag happen naturally, but do realize that proper hinging and proper grip tension has to occur to facilitate it. With a proper downswing transition and good timing it will all come together at the ball, and when that happens you are hooked even more on this great sport! Enjoy, Tom