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No wrist hinge?

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Jeffrey1954

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I seem to hit better shots when I try to take my wrists out of the golf swing. In fact, that is my one swing thought on most of my shots. Of course, I may be hinging my wrists even though it does not feel like it to me. I try to take it back in one piece, shift my hips forward, and swing with my shoulders. if I try to hinge my wrists on the range, it is a disaster. Is this elimination of wrist action something others try to do? Any other thoughts on this? By the way, I am 70 years old.
 
Jeffrey1954 said:
Of course, I may be hinging my wrists even though it does not feel like it to me. I try to take it back in one piece, shift my hips forward, and swing with my shoulders. Is this elimination of wrist action something others try to do? Any other thoughts on this? By the way, I am 70 years old.
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You probably are by not getting overly active with them by allowing them to respond on their time, not yours. Only on specific shots would most even consider the idea because wrists are a force multiplier without which you wouldn't be able to hit out of your own shadow.
 
I'm not sure one could make a golf swing without at least some degree of wrist hinge, I think it's a natural part of the movement. But if limiting the wrist hinge works for you and allows you to enjoy the game, nothing wrong with that.
 
Some of the early MORAD stuff goes into that direction. Set up with your hands really low at address and just rotate your upper body. You set up with the necessary wrist hinge at address and just keep them that way. You can generate a lot of power that way without consciously using your hands/arms.
 
BigMac said:
I'm not sure one could make a golf swing without at least some degree of wrist hinge, I think it's a natural part of the movement. But if limiting the wrist hinge works for you and allows you to enjoy the game, nothing wrong with that.
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Works for Stricker, so it’s not impossible. It does remove some variability.
 
Not sure this is the same thing you're referring to, but for the last couple of years I've been going with a quieter wrist motion by reducing/eliminating the "rolling" motion in my wrists/forearms and going with a hinge motion only. Doing it this way, I never get the club to horizontal with the ground at the top of the back swing, but I find that I don't come over the top nearly as much on the down swing. Distance has been roughly the same.
 
Thanks, guys. Did some searching on MORAD. It is nice to see that I am not on some goofy path here.
 
As mentioned, previously, the feeling of not using your wrist probably just keeps you for being overly active. There are a few different really good concepts to think about in terms of wrist activity.

Monte scheinblum has a really good process of thinking about creating a swing without a turn while also “casting “your hands in order to make a swing.

There’s also a thought process that I heard from a former active YouTube instructor/blogger. He mentioned a feeling of a dead man’s arms, or sweeping a broomstick back and through.

Really does help creative feeling and visual of not using the wrist, but allowing your body to react to itself as you go through the swing
 
Lots of great feedback so far. I know for me, the less I think about my wrists in the swing, the better off I am. When I just concentrate on turning my shoulders fully, my wrists put themselves in a great position.

I used to hinge too much, which would get the club way out of whack at the top of my swing. So what may feel like no hinge, or minimal hinge, is actually a good/proper amount.
 
I've fully embraced the need for lead flexion in my swing. I used to overly cock my wrists and that was no bueno, fought the rights, for years
 
A couple of years ago I became fascinated with Steve Stricker’s swing. I decided to give it a try - and it has been super successful for me. If there is any wrist hinge it is extremely minute at the very end of the backswing. This has allowed me to be SO MUCH MORE consistent with my ball striking - hitting the middle of the club face far more often. And this makes sense - as you are taking away a part of the swing that can cause more variance. This change has not caused me to loose distance, either. Thanks for bringing up the topic - and much continued success with it. (By the way… I’m 70 also.)
 
Limit wrist hinge and focusing on extending my arms works really well for my long game swings
I tend to get too wristy in my swings
Focusing on my arms and swinging right/left helps
For the swings that require less energy if I think hitting up/down then it’s more wrist/body swing and less armsy m
Works well for short game
 
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I've had instructors tell me there's no need to think about doing anything with the wrists while others have recommended doing several moves. I was finally able to try various things and conclude the following:

-Lead wrist starts out cupped a bit at address while trail wrist is neutral. I want lead wrist flat and trail wrist bent at lead arm parallel with club pointing toward ball. To accomplish that I do quite a bit of "bowing" of the lead wrist. It feels like I'm imitating DJ but on video it's nowhere near that.

-I want lead wrist still bowed a bit at impact to promote shaft lean and ball first contact, so I try to hold onto the wrist angles as long as possible.

Also, I get more power and higher ball flights when I cock my wrists early in the backswing.

To summarize your wrist conditions through the swing are something you need to focus on.
 
Jeffrey1954 said:
Thanks, guys. Did some searching on MORAD. It is nice to see that I am not on some goofy path here.
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just a word of advice regarding the Morad stuff. It’s very easy to get lost in the technicality of Mac’s teachings and there are major differences between the early Morad swing from when Mac was on Tour compared to what he taught in the 90s/2000s.

So if you want look into Morad more deeply, it’s probably best to only look at a certain phase of Morad.
 
Sometimes I mimic Steve Stricker for drives and irons, and Jason Day for chips/pitches - keeping the wrists from hinging a lot can (sometimes) produce very consistent, solid shots if I've started the day without much control with my normal swing.
 
Ive almost eliminated any wrist hinge and strike the ball much better. I've also watched Stricker and hes pretty good!
 
Jeffrey1954 said:
I seem to hit better shots when I try to take my wrists out of the golf swing. In fact, that is my one swing thought on most of my shots. Of course, I may be hinging my wrists even though it does not feel like it to me. I try to take it back in one piece, shift my hips forward, and swing with my shoulders. if I try to hinge my wrists on the range, it is a disaster. Is this elimination of wrist action something others try to do? Any other thoughts on this? By the way, I am 70 years old.
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Im 71, and do the same thing on most of. My shots. I use a one piece take away and let my wrists do what they do.

The only time I might change is on longer pitch shots. I will cock my wrists immediately at the start of my back swing. This seems to help with tempo, and timing. Seems to give me a better ball impact.
 
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