Right wrist cock

[~QQ~]

So I am working on keeping that right wrist cocked as long as I can through the downswing until I'm at the ball. Just curious if that's a feeling a lot of you lower handicappers try to attain? Seems to work really well for me on the range, but I need to "make it happen". It just doesn't come naturally otherwise I'd cast.

 

[Molten]

I’m not sure I’m your low handicap speaker but I’ve worked on this in the last three months. For a while I fought to hold that position through impact but it lead to other problem, like a lack of release. Now I focus on EITHER feeling the right palm down at impact OR the back of left hand down (like I’m holding something in an open hand) at impact. They do the same thing for me but different feels work on different days.

 

[McLovin]

I am by no means a lower handicap, but I think modern teachers avoid lag. Lag is a byproduct of proper sequencing. With a good backswing position, proper use of your lower body into transition, and a relatively neutral downswing plane, lag will just happen. if you try to hold lag and time it, you could see all kinds of nasty stuff.

 

[~QQ~]

I’m not sure I’m your low handicap speaker but I’ve worked on this in the last three months. For a while I fought to hold that position through impact but it lead to other problem, like a lack of release. Now I focus on EITHER feeling the right palm down at impact OR the back of left hand down (like I’m holding something in an open hand) at impact. They do the same thing for me but different feels work on different days.

I read about this tip and tried it at the range yesterday. I'll give yours a try next time...like the idea of the right palm down. Actually really impressed with how much easier it was to make contact and get better ball flight.

 

[~QQ~]

I am by no means a lower handicap, but I think modern teachers avoid lag. Lag is a byproduct of proper sequencing. With a good backswing position, proper use of your lower body into transition, and a relatively neutral downswing plane, lag will just happen. if you try to hold lag and time it, you could see all kinds of nasty stuff.

I hear that. If I'm not thinking about it, I'm casting. What's another way to create naturally?

 

[Chef23]

I don’t think about my hands. If the rest of your swing works properly your hands will unload at the right time. If you are casting it isn’t about your hands it is about the sequencing from the top.

 

[-CRW-]

That’s a bad move/thought.

You should “feel” like you are throwing or casting from the top. However, your turn keeps you from actually casting/flipping. The lag is a passive action that is the result of the proper sequence.

 

[McLovin]

I hear that. If I'm not thinking about it, I'm casting. What's another way to create naturally?

casting isn't awful, though. you have to release the energy you've stored in your wrists. sometimes we cast because our brain knows we are not on plane. so we have to dump wrist angles and re-work the face position to try to get back to the ball. other times our lower body movement is inefficient, so we try to throw the head early to generate some power. the guys on tour who generate crazy lag aren't doing it on purpose; it's just a byproduct of good lower body movement and swing sequencing.

 

[U_of_Bucky]

Rather than thinking about the mechanics of lag I try to visualize the whole process of slinging the club though the hitting zone.

 

[~QQ~]

I want to get there. I wonder if this could be a tool to get that "feeling" for me?

Seems like it's difficult to get the right sensation from the top of the swing to the ball. My wrists want to work because I feel like my grip needs to be strong enough to hold onto and control the club. Can't seem to separate them.

 

[GolfLivesMatter]

IMO the weight of the club head traveling back while the swing transitions down creates lag if the arms and wrists aren't tense. If you were to swing a sledgehammer you'd quickly find out any movement in the opposite direction of the hammerhead going back will create lag. Too much control / tension reduces lag.

 

[OldandStiff]

It is not a feeling I really try to attain.

I think if you're using that thought to keep from casting, eh, maybe that works for a while. Stick with it a moment more than you need to and it'll probably cause other problems. And then you'll need to think about something else, or that something differently. I personally like what you said about using it to get that 'feeling', but I might be the worst low capper to ask. Your mind works differently than mine and mine works differently than most so we can be talking about the same thing and you might need to think of it entirely differently to do it the same as I do. I hear right palm down or back left hand down, and right wrist cocked, and I think 'what's the difference?' Is there?

I feel like a swing is constantly evolving and my thoughts towards mine and what I want out of it definitely are. This feels right but this is going wrong so let's do this and that doesn't feel quite right but it helps in _______ way and now I'm doing this better and I need to do this differently and now that other thing feels right and is still helping but this other thing could be better so I'll do this completely other thing a little more, etc, and forever. As long as you're successfully working towards better mechanics for you and not setting yourself back in the end, a thought is just a thought, and if it helps it helps. If you find the feeling that creates the ball flight you want, you can find it easier next time, right?

Like I said it's not something I'm really trying to attain. And like everyone said, lag mostly seems to just happen as a result of sequencing, but I definitely manipulate what I think you're calling your cocked right wrist for a huge variety of ball flights, and do intentionally (the awareness implied in that word isn't quite accurate though) delay it for increased distance. When I 'muscle' a club, I hold it longer and generate more lag. I think about it completely differently than that, but that's what happens. There's an inherent inconsistency attached to it though, which is why we don't all swing balls out all the time.

sidenote - I should really stay out of this forum, especially at night.

 

[BigMac]

That’s a bad move/thought.

You should “feel” like you are throwing or casting from the top. However, your turn keeps you from actually casting/flipping. The lag is a passive action that is the result of the proper sequence.

A guy I used to golf with had the gnarliest lag I've ever seen. It almost hurt to watch his wrists, seeing how deep he held that lag. He said it was nothing he ever specifically learned or consciously tried to do, it was just how he swung. It was, as you said, a totally passive action that was just a by-product of his sequencing.

 

[RecGolfer]

Get Harvey Penick's Little Red Book and do the slow motion drill on page 81. That is what you are looking for. Just hang on to the wrist hinge in both hands until the swing releases it naturally. This drill teaches you, among other things, to give up any notion of hitting hard with your right hand, which is what makes you release your hinging way too soon.

 

[-CRW-]

Get Harvey Penick's Little Red Book and do the slow motion drill on page 81. That is what you are looking for. Just hang on to the wrist hinge in both hands until the swing releases it naturally. This drill teaches you, among other things, to give up any notion of hitting hard with your right hand, which is what makes you release your hinging way too soon.

And yet, Hogan said he wished he had 3 right hands/arms because the trail side is what generates power. You have tour pros that feel like they are pulling/swinging through with their lead side and others that feel like they are hitting/throwing with their right/trail side, and even others who feel a mix of both. Focusing/feeling like your right/trail hand does most of the work does NOT guarantee an early release.

I hit with my right hand and hang on way too long. Using the Mizuno optimizer, the release factor is from 1 to 10 with 1 being as late as possible and 10 being super early/flip. The tour average is around 5. I'm a 3 at 96-98 mph with their test club.

 

[OldandStiff]

And yet, Hogan said he wished he had 3 right hands/arms because the trail side is what generates power. You have tour pros that feel like they are pulling/swinging through with their lead side and others that feel like they are hitting/throwing with their right/trail side, and even others who feel a mix of both. Focusing/feeling like your right/trail hand does most of the work does NOT guarantee an early release.

See this exchange is why I feel like it's all a semantic, individual thinking, how things are described clusterF when it comes to instruction. I feel like I pull with my left, and I practice my swing path swinging just with my left, and that the right is just there for the juice (power), and to help control/manipulate the club face. Someone else might describe that exact same thing completely differently.

 

[Tevenor]

I think its different depending on how you swing. If you are a very arms -centric player, engaging your wrists more is probably a good thing. If you are a very hands player and suffer from 2-way misses, then often trying to change or manage that wrist release is a good thing.

I can't say I am good enough to give advice on this one but there is a significant difference between 'wrist cock and release through' vs 'wrist cock and rotate around'. I was a "cock and rotate through impact" which gave me a lot of lag and late wrist release as part of my swing. It also led to my tendency to be a very draw centric swing path AND live in the world of the 2 way miss. Over the last 6 months I have tried to transition to the 'wrist cock and release through' model using my body rotation through impact to close the face vs relying on the wrist timing to do it. Still retain a lot of lag in my down swing and swing speed actually went up I think. The lag is still being created but now its happening during the transition versus at the takeway/backswing section and holding it into the downswing.

The feeling I get when hitting solid ball striking using this method is to quiet my hands in the back swing to the transition point, shallow my hands and club on transition and as my body starts to rotate, the lag gets created which I retain into impact by the rotation of my body into impact where the wrists release. The feeling I get is my hands go high and back at takeway, they drop into a slot at transition, and I am swinging my hands left of target through impact. Hard to explain I guess.

 

[Hamfist]

See this exchange is why I feel like it's all a semantic, individual thinking, how things are described clusterF when it comes to instruction. I feel like I pull with my left, and I practice my swing path swinging just with my left, and that the right is just there for the juice (power), and to help control/manipulate the club face. Someone else might describe that exact same thing completely differently.

See this exchange is why I feel like it's all a semantic, individual thinking, how things are described clusterF when it comes to instruction. I feel like I pull with my left, and I practice my swing path swinging just with my left, and that the right is just there for the juice (power), and to help control/manipulate the club face. Someone else might describe that exact same thing completely differently.

Out of curiosity, what would you say your split for "juice", percentage-wise is between right and left?

 

[Jmk202]

I'm playing with this now, but mostly for getting the face closed at impact not for any lag reasons. I'm also playing with @Molten comment about feeling the back of the left hand down. I've just got lazy hands (never release) and always have. Another thing that has helped in the past keeping my chest over the ball at impact, seems to help me release my hands. So tire of fade/slice my drives.

 

[Desmond]

I hear that. If I'm not thinking about it, I'm casting. What's another way to create naturally?

Try keeping the elbows closer together on the downswing.

Do this - pick up a club, get to top, and let elbows separate on downswing. Then get to top and lightly squeeze elbows closer together on downswing ... and do what McLovin said above and do proper sequencing.

I also get the cup out of my lead hand and flatten it as I get to the top by laying the trail hand so trail palm sort of looks to the sky holding a tray. This will help close your open face.

 

[OldandStiff]

Out of curiosity, what would you say your split for "juice", percentage-wise is between right and left?

My juice is all in the right. 80% maybe? I can hit the ball crisp and straight all day with just my left arm/hand, but it isn't going to go very far at all like that. All that energy is in the shoulder, not the hand/wrist.

 

[flog2424]

For me, the best thing that works for this is looking up Bradley Hughes and Drill 1. He has a 6 drill series that is phenominal but drill 1 is all about releasing the club through swing path entry and the affect is lag lasting longer..... look it up

 

[~QQ~]

Almost a year later....still don't get this.

I am being told that you shouldn't have to think about holding your right wrist "cock" to impact. But they say to bend your wrist back at the top of the backswing like you're holding a tray. Then they say on the downswing it should be in a position like you're giving a stop sign to someone to the right of you. Then it should face the ground as you continue.

Well, my wrist doesn't want to stay in that position. And there is definitely a delay in releasing that (ie tray, stop sign, ground) until your body has turned enough on the downswing so that your hands are already halfway down to the ball or more. There has to be some conscious holding on, right? If I don't think about it as I start to unwind, it starts to let go back to it's comfortable position. Which leads me to release the clubhead too early.

Check out Tommy's right wrist at the bottom of his swing there.....

He has held that wrist as he's coming down, no?

I have a feeling peeps are going to say no, it's a part of your sequence. But again, if I don't hold that wrist it wants to go back to it's natural state. Especially with a lighter club like a driver.

 

[MWard]

Tommy’s not holding onto anything angle wise. The golf swing is too fast, and the forces on that club at that speed make it weigh a whole lot more than the 310-340g it may weigh. Don’t try and force that right wrist. Set it at the top, yes. By set, I mean the whole holding a tray thing. Even then, that can be overdone. The club has weight, it’ll set your wrist for you just on its own. Let it do it.

That being said, the club will also unhinge all on its own. When you’re throwing a ball, are you actively flicking your wrist as you throw it? Or are you just rotating towards the target and the momentum of everything just does it for you?

 

[Turtlerancher]

Almost a year later....still don't get this.

I am being told that you shouldn't have to think about holding your right wrist "cock" to impact. But they say to bend your wrist back at the top of the backswing like you're holding a tray. Then they say on the downswing it should be in a position like you're giving a stop sign to someone to the right of you. Then it should face the ground as you continue.

Well, my wrist doesn't want to stay in that position. And there is definitely a delay in releasing that (ie tray, stop sign, ground) until your body has turned enough on the downswing so that your hands are already halfway down to the ball or more. There has to be some conscious holding on, right? If I don't think about it as I start to unwind, it starts to let go back to it's comfortable position. Which leads me to release the clubhead too early.

Check out Tommy's right wrist at the bottom of his swing there.....

He has held that wrist as he's coming down, no?

I have a feeling peeps are going to say no, it's a part of your sequence. But again, if I don't hold that wrist it wants to go back to it's natural state. Especially with a lighter club like a driver.

My instructor has me using one of these and it really helps me. YMMV

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