Overswinging with the wrists

[Open-Faced Club Sandwedge]

I had my first lesson in 2 years yesterday, and I was encouraged to find out in the video analysis that I'm hitting a lot of positions, particularly impact (the most important one) pretty well in my swing. But the pro was able to point out a couple of big no-nos that I have to eliminate as a first step, to have a swing that is conducive to consistent ball-striking.

The first one is how far I take the club back with my wrists. According to the pro, the position of my shoulders and arms at the top of my backswing is fine, or at least close enough that it's not my concern at the moment. However, the position of my club head is pretty close to John Daly's, because when my shoulders and arms stopped, my wrists just kept going.

The pro was able to get me to see what my wrist position at the top should be, and had me try to hit some balls with my backswing stopping at that position, and I had a lot of trouble stopping my wrists. I would feel like I was stopping them, but he'd show me on video I was still going way past parallel.

Any tips on drills or ways to train myself to stop my wrists at the proper position in the backswing?

-Andrew

[allin]

Is your left arm staying extended? Sometimes it helps to focus on something else, extension of your arms, connection, etc if your arms are not breaking down on the backswing. Reminding yourself that wrist cock to create lag is most important during the downswing. Would one of those special golf gloves help?

[Open-Faced Club Sandwedge]

Is your left arm staying extended? Sometimes it helps to focus on something else, extension of your arms, connection, etc if your arms are not breaking down on the backswing. Reminding yourself that wrist cock to create lag is most important during the downswing. Would one of those special golf gloves help?

My left arm is staying extended. It stays straight and kind of folds across me (left elbow goes toward right shoulder), and my right arm flexes the normal way it should in a conventional swing. The issue is that once all that is done, my arms and shoulder turn pause at the top before starting the downswing, but the club just keeps on going. When the club finally stops, my arms and shoulders are okay, but my wrists have allowed the club to go way past parallel.

I don't know what kind of "special golf glove" you're referring to. Do you know a brand/product name so I could check it out? -Andrew

[JackLee]

With a proper grip, your left thumb should support the club at the top and should stop it at about 90 degrees to your forearm. So what grip are you using that allows the club to keep going?

[allin]

My left arm is staying extended. It stays straight and kind of folds across me (left elbow goes toward right shoulder), and my right arm flexes the normal way it should in a conventional swing. The issue is that once all that is done, my arms and shoulder turn pause at the top before starting the downswing, but the club just keeps on going. When the club finally stops, my arms and shoulders are okay, but my wrists have allowed the club to go way past parallel.

There are a number of training aid gloves, many shops carry them, and most golf mags have ads. You say you have seen video? your left arm really shouldn't bend much at the elbow. The old example was stand with the club extended straight forward, cock your wrists and then turn back to your top of the swing position. How far do your shoulders turn? Especially early in his career Daly turned well past 90, 105 degrees or something. I would ask your pro if he thinks this is a connection issue etc. Ask him to explain whether this is a breakdown, to much arms not enough body or what he thinks is causing this? If you have the video see if you can post it. There are a number of forum members much more knowledgeable than I who if they saw your video my give some good feedback.

[Open-Faced Club Sandwedge]

With a proper grip, your left thumb should support the club at the top and should stop it at about 90 degrees to your forearm. So what grip are you using that allows the club to keep going?

You raise an interesting point. I do have a hitchhiker's thumb, but if I was gripping the club firmly with my pinky, ring, and middle fingers of my left hand, it wouldn't be able to go as far as it seemed to be going on the video. So maybe that's my problem; opening the fingers a little to let the handle of the club keep going back. I'll check this out when I have a chance to swing a club next; and see if I stop the club better by keeping my thumb and fingers of my left hand stronger.

-Andrew

[Open-Faced Club Sandwedge]

There are a number of training aid gloves, many shops carry them, and most golf mags have ads. You say you have seen video? your left arm really shouldn't bend much at the elbow. The old example was stand with the club extended straight forward, cock your wrists and then turn back to your top of the swing position. How far do your shoulders turn? Especially early in his career Daly turned well past 90, 105 degrees or something. I would ask your pro if he thinks this is a connection issue etc. Ask him to explain whether this is a breakdown, to much arms not enough body or what he thinks is causing this? If you have the video see if you can post it. There are a number of forum members much more knowledgeable than I who if they saw your video my give some good feedback.

I don't actually have the video. It's possible my pro can email it to me; he had a digital camera and laptop with swing analysis software on it, that we were using to look at my swings during the lesson.

He never used the term breakdown, he just stressed the need to shorten the backswing, and he looked carefully at my arm position and said he thought it was the wrists that needed fixing, not the arms. My left arm is definitely staying straight at the elbow, but it's flexing a lot at the shoulder, with my elbow coming across my body as if I was doing a shoulder stretch. I'm going to hit the range this weekend and pay attention to keeping my fingers and thumb of my left hand firm, and see if that helps me achieve the right amount of backswing. I have another lesson next Tuesday; hopefully I can hit enough balls this weekend to get some sort of timing back in my swing, with the shorter backswing. -Andrew