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Feedback on Hinging

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Ss12108

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Hello all,

So I took a lesson on Friday, first of the year, a day after shooting my best score ever (94) at a course that usually eats me alive. I've been playing pretty good golf by my standards...this is my third year of playing, I just broke 100 finally this year, and my last two rounds have both been under 100.

So this lesson was positive...I told him what my goal was (basically no limit to what I want to be able to do), and he had me take some swings and did a video analysis. Long story short, he was very pleased with the foundation of the swing, but I don't hinge my wrists at all. I stay on plane, I clear my hips, but I need to work on hinging #1, releasing the clubhead #2 (I have a lazy finish with my upper half), and getting more torque in my turn by keeping my right hip from opening up too much in the backswing.

I'm having trouble working the hinging into my swing. First, it seems like my left wrist will not hinge fully without cupping. Second, I know that tension in the forearms is no bueno, but how do you all hinge without creating tension? My forearms muscles have to flex to hinge my wrists lol. Third, am I "purposefully" hinging both wrists, or should I focus on my left wrist and my relaxed right wrist will follow suit?

Last, when does the hinge start? To work on it, he has me starting the hinge as soon as I take the club away from the ball, but it feels so unnatural and I seem to lift the club outside the target line for some reason. That's the other problem...my arms seem to want to lift further away from my body to hinge.

Thanks for any feedback. I don't have video or any pics but this is more of a feel thread rather than "what am I doing wrong" thread.

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One thing that helped me, and I'm sure others can chime in with their experiences, was to only think about my right wrist hinging back, instead of hinging up which gave me a cupped left wrist and an open club face.
 
russtopher said:
One thing that helped me, and I'm sure others can chime in with their experiences, was to only think about my right wrist hinging back, instead of hinging up which gave me a cupped left wrist and an open club face.
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That's exactly what I did today (on my 4th large bucket lol)! I was focusing so much on hinging my left wrist and once I started thinking about the right wrist, I actually started consistently drawing the ball.
I didn't have video so I don't know if what I was doing was technically sound, but I'll go back for another lesson in a week or too and see.

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I personally thinking hinging the wrists right at the start is a bad idea.. but I will wait and see what Freddie has to say.
 
Without seeing what you are doing, this is all a bit speculative. I think the greatest restriction to a good hinge is your grip. If you are palming the grip and not using a fingers grip, you will have a very hard time getting a full unrestricted hinge. Palming the club and trying to hinge will create that tension in the forearm.
 
There is a common misconception that one needs to hinge the wrist in the golf swing. This is not something that needs to be done in order to create the angles needed to provide loft and trajectory.

If you setup to the ball and fold the right arm into a 90* angle, the club will also be a 90* angle. These angles are more then enough to impart the desired angles needed to hi the golf ball with a solid blow.

The triangle created with the left and right arm at address should remain intact until the club head passes the right shin. Once the club gets past the shin the right arm will fold into a 90* angle as the shoulders continue to turn 45*. The angle created with the club and the forearm is more than enough of angle that you don't need to add any addition wrist hinge.
 
Slight threadjack, but I know I have problems with hinging my wrists too much (at least that is what I think is causing my very flat back swing). I can't seem to figure out how to change it. Any advice Freddie? On this shot I was attempting to draw the ball and aiming left as there were 40mph cross winds, ended up being a draw, but I pulled the heck out of it.

My swing starts at 1:21.

 
haha... man I'll let Freddie handle your swing (which to me really doesn't look all that bad) but that first guy in your group - wow. I think I'd be drinking if I was on his card :D. Super long pre-shot routine that actually looks like he's practicing good mechanics... then he completely forgets them when it's time to hit the ball. funny stuff :D
 
baldguy said:
haha... man I'll let Freddie handle your swing (which to me really doesn't look all that bad) but that first guy in your group - wow. I think I'd be drinking if I was on his card :D. Super long pre-shot routine that actually looks like he's practicing good mechanics... then he completely forgets them when it's time to hit the ball. funny stuff :D
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I noticed the same thing. But, more importantly, I noticed a group of THPers having a great time; which is Par for the Course when playing with THPers. Great stuff!
 
I was only poking fun b/c I thought I recognized him from a THP outing... I might have confused two people though. No insult intended, just ribbing :D
 
Tadashi70 said:
There is a common misconception that one needs to hinge the wrist in the golf swing. This is not something that needs to be done in order to create the angles needed to provide loft and trajectory.

If you setup to the ball and fold the right arm into a 90* angle, the club will also be a 90* angle. These angles are more then enough to impart the desired angles needed to hi the golf ball with a solid blow.

The triangle created with the left and right arm at address should remain intact until the club head passes the right shin. Once the club gets past the shin the right arm will fold into a 90* angle as the shoulders continue to turn 45*. The angle created with the club and the forearm is more than enough of angle that you don't need to add any addition wrist hinge.
Click to expand...

Thanks Freddie. I think that's what I started doing when focusing on my right "wrist" instead of least wrist. The pro was having me work on it because what he saw on video was this:

1. Triangle in tact, hands at right leg, club pointing at the ground still (should be parallel)

2. Triangle still in tact, arms about parallel to the ground, club barely pointed at a slight upward angle (should be 90 degrees to the ground)

3. I then folded my left elbow at the top to get the feeling of a hinge, sapping my power and creating a different swing plane.

4. Not much release of the clubhead, if any.

I played yesterday after all the time at the range Sunday, and had the best ball striking round of my life, and best score to this point (93). If I had any confidence over short putts I would have broken 90 for sure. Anyway, I hit the ball longer and more consistently solid, and with a natural draw that I actually figured out how to play pretty quickly. I focused on getting my shoulder turn and "hinging" with my right wrist, and coming from the inside out to the ball. Something tells me what I was really doing was what Freddie described, but whatever it was it felt great and worked great. I also think having my brain locked in on my right arm is what helped me release the clubhead so well too.

When I stuck my 9 iron pin high from 140, in the air as high as a college kid in Colorado, with a slight draw into the green, I couldn't help but smile haha.

I'll see if the pro will email me the swing video when I take my next lesson. I'm so jacked up about this though...I went for some putting practice yesterday evening because I know it's in the cards to break 90 this year now!

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Steve Striker isn't a big hinger, and he hits it just fine. My .02.
 
Navyhacker said:
Steve Striker isn't a big hinger, and he hits it just fine. My .02.
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I hear you loud and clear. However, if you saw the video of my swing, you'd see what I was doing is not conducive to maximizing what I can potentially do with a golf swing. It wasn't too little hinge, it was NO hinge. I was accomplishing a "hinge" with my left elbow instead of wrists and right elbow.

I wish I had a copy of the video to post up here. Like Freddie was telling me to do, I wasn't even getting the right elbow to a 90 degree angle thinking back to that video, and that might be something the pro was trying to accomplish with me and I just wasn't getting it.

Also, I told the pro that my goal was not set...I wanted him to access every bit of potential he possibly could and whatever it is, it is lol. When he saw I was athletic and willing to learn, he admitted to putting more advanced things on me to practice than he would someone who says they play once a month and don't just want to embarrass themselves on the course.

I'm going to try to get a video of my current swing on the course next time I get out so I can post it up.

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