Flipping at Impact Master Thread

[Zeph]

The Confessions of a Former Flipper from Brian Monzella is a good video that explains well the problem and how to fix it. At $9.99 for the downloadble version, it's no more than a couple of buckets at the range.

[TTJR]

Making more progress but not there yet. Played the back nine at our local course, chipped in on the first hole for birdie then went par, bogey, bogey, Eagle!, par, par then flipped my drive on 17 in the trees took a double then double 18! Oh well, had it going for most of the round, feel like I have a new swing, not giving up on this one.....

[Floger]

Did any of you have trouble with "chunking" the ball when trying to incorporate the Manzella instruction to your real swing? I was sold when testing it into the net in the yard and at the range, but could not even come close to hitting it pure on the course. I mean like, chunk and going 20 yds. Of the many tips I have tried and eventually embeddeed into muscle memory, this one has had the worst initial live results. I am very gun-shy about continuing but deep down I know that is the wrong approach and need to keep at it.

[nevets88]

The Confessions of a Former Flipper from Brian Monzella is a good video that explains well the problem and how to fix it. At $9.99 for the downloadble version, it's no more than a couple of buckets at the range.

Flipper was pretty good. He talks about flying wedges, the flat left wrist and the right cupped wrist, recommends starting with small chips, putting the ball way ahead in the stance, lengthening your previous divots, swinging with two clubs and a fiddle drill, where you hold the club with your fingers and a couple of other things. While it was good, it didn't exceed my expectations, but I'd say it's worth $5.

For free, watch Martin Hall's videos (his "gadgets" are free diy jobs):

[Jesh]

I've often heard that phrase when talking about losing distance. I think I may possibly flip my wrists with my driver swing. I hit my driver around 240 on my best drives, where as last year I hit it around 260 or so, I used to slice the ball a little bit, and now I normally hit it pull left. Not a hook, just a pull. Does that sound like the symptoms of wrist flipping?

[Shanks A Million]

I've often heard that phrase when talking about losing distance. I think I may possibly flip my wrists with my driver swing. I hit my driver around 240 on my best drives, where as last year I hit it around 260 or so, I used to slice the ball a little bit, and now I normally hit it pull left. Not a hook, just a pull. Does that sound like the symptoms of wrist flipping?

If you have a handicap anywhere above about 10, you probably flip, and even so, handicaps all the way down to scratch often flip a bit. I flip the club too soon after impact, and though my clubshaft leans forward at impact, it releases too much right after impact.

So, do you flip? It's 99.99% likely you do. Does it cause the problems you mentioned? Only if you were not flipping last year. And the odds of that are small. The fact of the matter is, there's a million small faults that can cause these problems, and trying to speculate is almost impossible. There's really only one thing we know, you come over the top. The difference is likely something else, but flipping is probably the single biggest fault among all golfers.

[Jesh]

Darn it, just when I thought I had a reason for the distance loss, I find out that almost everyone flips. Oh well, thanks for the info Shanks A Million.

[Shanks A Million]

Darn it, just when I thought I had a reason for the distance loss, I find out that almost everyone flips. Oh well, thanks for the info Shanks A Million.

Flipping is a reason for distance loss, but like I said, probably not your reason, unless you're flipping more. Over the top swings often use a lot of arms and hands, and therefore are weak. It could be that you're using your hands to shut the face, and therefore a more handsy swing = a less powerful one.

[nevets88]

Videotape your swing.

Even with 30 fps, if you tape enough swings, on one of them, you should be able to definitively tell if you flip or not.

The instructors on this forum would have more to say on this, but I bet if you look at all the videos of all those folks who took video lessons, in all those hard drives all over the nation and world, I bet you a more than a majority of them flip.

I've played with players who say they don't flip, a couple of times I got their swing on video, not on purpose and I noticed they flipped - big time, the release is way before the ball. I broached the subject as tactfully and some of them are in complete denial.

From experience, once I saw I flipped, I was pretty darn frustrated and from that moment, I did everything I could to work on a proper release, divot in front, ball first, shaft lean forward. It was work for me, as I'm not athletic and it came slowly. When the full swing got better, it percolated down to pitches, chips and bunker shots. Once you make a good release, you'll realize the benefit on all swings.

This may be anecdotal, but when I flipped alot, I rarely ever hit the ball longer than I planned. When I started making more solid contact with the ball, I would occasionally hit the ball longer than I expected. Compared to flipping, with a flat wrist on contact, it seems easier to generate power.

[JackLee]

Flipping is caused by an arm swing that gets ahead of your body movements. Learn to lead and power the swing with your body. You may want to do a search on Google for "body powered professional golf swing".

[keiko]

First, make sure you are hinging on backswing; on downswing, just allow the uncoiling to happen and take your arms-control-out of it.

People flip because they are steering or trying to dominate the downswing with the hands/right arm. Just let the uncoiling of the chest happen.

I've often heard that phrase when talking about losing distance. I think I may possibly flip my wrists with my driver swing. I hit my driver around 240 on my best drives, where as last year I hit it around 260 or so, I used to slice the ball a little bit, and now I normally hit it pull left. Not a hook, just a pull. Does that sound like the symptoms of wrist flipping?

[pavespawn]

I had a pro watch me at a demo day and he was telling me that I was hanging on to long. I had been hitting the ball up to 300 with roll (very rarely) but often around 270 and then it went down to 240. Is your ball flight low? Mine would be very low but straight. Then he tried to get me to release more and now I am way inconsistent because I don't have the timing.

[Jesh]

Is it possible I flip more with the driver? I haven't lost any distance off of any club, I've actually gained distance on most clubs. (5 wood is 225 instead of 210, 7 iron is 150 from 140)

[PingGKEN]

Look into buying Brian Manzellas "confessions of a former flipper" video. I watched it once and can already tell that its going to help me eliminate the dreaded flip. I am going to watch it again and see if I can absorb some more ideas from it. He really emphasizes "hitting it with your pivot" while just using your hands to hold on to the club. If you use your body correctly, you will have no reason to flip.

[Shanks A Million]

Is it possible I flip more with the driver? I haven't lost any distance off of any club, I've actually gained distance on most clubs. (5 wood is 225 instead of 210, 7 iron is 150 from 140)

Absolutely, you may be assuming you can flip more with a driver because of the old advice to hit up on it. But don't do that. I would say most people flip more as the club gets longer, but that's just a guess.

[JML22]

Telling people to hinge their wrists is what makes people believe they have to flip there wrists.
Its the worst terminology that leads to the misconceptions that a hinge is a huge motion.

[pittpanther]

Arrrgh!

My big problem with golf training - the terminology. What does "flipping" mean? Does it have anything to do with "turning the hands over?"

[jamo]

Arrrgh!

The way I define flipping is when you cup the left wrist. That's different from rolling the wrists, which I would define as "releasing" the club. But it seems like different people define those in different ways.