My game improved noticeably this week as we got into some of the smaller details of my golf swing.
One of the things Barrie pointed out to me is that when I’m pulling the club back into the backswing, I’m often rotating my spine too far instead of hinging my wrists.
My spine – it turns out – is too flexible.
For most golfers, hinging at the wrists happens more intuitively because they can’t get the club head as far back as I can with just a spine rotation. Both wrists should be fully hinged at the top of the backswing.
One of my problems is that my wrists are often too rigid, forcing me to get the club head high enough by over-rotating my spine. The main problem with this is that it misaligns my golf swing.
The other reason to hinge at the wrists is that it allows the club head to accelerate fast enough to get the ball a good distance with minimal exertion.
Barrie told me about a trick he uses before hitting the ball. He does a kind of false start in his swing, where he brings the club up halfway and then swings it back to the starting position – just before hitting the ball.
Barrie said that it helps to see if your wrists are moving properly within the swing before hitting the ball.
Doing this a couple of times loosens up the motion enough to get a nice fluid swing once you go for the real one.
Getting to the top of the backswing while hinging the wrists allows for the entire swing to happen in one continuous uncoiling of the spine, the elbows and the wrists. The result is a fairly effortless motion.
