Power and speed are produced through a proper wrist hinge during your swing. It must be done properly and as naturally as possible to create the right amount of downward pressure. Mistakes in wrist hinges are often caused by wrong timing and wrong rotation.
What are the common mistakes in wrist movements?
There are many things to check and consider when doing a golf swing. Therefore, it is not common that mistakes can happen. The wrist hinge is often forced especially by amateurs causing them to flick and lift the ball or lose speed.
Setting your wrist too early is one of the common mistakes of golfers. Many golfers commit this mistake by getting ahead of their wrist hinges during the backswing. Hinging your wrist as soon as you swing the club away from the ball will result in a loss of power. The wrong timing of the hinge reduces the shoulder turn while making your arms over-rotate resulting in fat s or thin shots.
Snapping the wrist right after the backswing is another mistake golfers make. Releasing your wrist hinge right after the top of the backswing reduces your speed. To check if you’re releasing your hinge too early, observe where the butt of your club is facing once you start your takeaway. If the ends of your grip point toward your target, then you are committing this mistake.
Releasing your wrist too late. As mentioned, wrist hinge mistakes are usually caused by timing and rotation. When you release your wrist too early, you lose your speed. When you release your hinge too late, this also causes side spin which results in a slice or your ball travels way off your target.
Key points to a proper wrist hinge?
Hinging your wrist should start when your hands and club reach waist level. This allows you to complete your backswing without steeping the swing path and preventing your arms from stiffening.
The hinge wrist creates the downward pressure that should be released into the ball during the downswing to increase power and speed.
Your wrist must be cocked naturally NOT flicked. One common mistake is flicking the wrist in a casting way. This not only reduces speed but also over-rotates your wrist and arm ending your swing in a slice or shots on top of the golf ball.
Your forearms should remain passive during impact as your wrist cocked to produce a straight shot.
From the address position, maintain alignment from your shoulder to your arms while allowing the club head to travel along with the target light. As soon as your hands are aligned to the right of your thigh, hinge your wrist to let the club head move upward and at the same height as your hands.
How to improve my wrist hinge?
Master the takeaway fundamentals. Perfect wrist hinge by not doing wrist hinges. Right after the takeaway position is the best time to hinge your wrist. Therefore, it is best to master the wrist hinge by preventing yourself from using your wrist at all. This drill will allow you to practice your shoulder rotation both backswing and forward swing without your wrist moving. Once you get used to performing the takeaway, incorporating the wrist hinge will be easier.
Gradually improve your wrist hinge by practicing some short shots. The goal here is to just get into the right feel and mechanics. Learning how to hinge properly at the right moment helps you get into better control. Hit as many partial shots before going to a full swing. This will help you simplify the process without breaking your arms from the right plane.
Practice the proper wrist hinge at the top of the backswing and prevents excessive bending that can also cause injuries as you swing.
