What is the role of the wrist hinge in a golf swing?

[jl923]

I don't hear much about wrist hinge (except suprination and pronation). I feel most natural with what seems like an early wrist hinge. However, it is possible that what feels early is in reality the proper sequencing. When should the wrist hinge occur and WHY?

Also, what goes wrong when cocking the wrist early or cocking it too late?

[Zeph]

There are different styles when it comes to the amount and timing of the wrist hinge. Some do it early, some late. Some increase it on the downswing, some don't. I like everything reaching the top together, but the wrists setting just a little bit more in the transition to pronounce the lag you want to hold through the downswing. The wrists hinge to create speed, it's all part of the sequence. On the downswing, the wrists are the last part of the sequence that "release" before the ball is it. You can see this on high speed videos of swings where the club is delievered late into the ball, hands in front of the ball at impact, creating lots of speed and giving you a good impact. An issue one might encounter with early wrist setting is the wrists unhinging too early and throwing away the lag. Give the search engine (or Google) a go, you'll find lots of threads on how the wrists work and why. Here is a video that explains pretty well how the wrists hinge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44fev4wqC6U

[canadianpro]

As Martin Hall explains in the video, the left wrist hinges vertically and the wrist wrist hinges sideways or horizontally. The retention of the right wrist angle is referred to as "the flying wedge" and also sets up the left wrist to be flat at impact. As Bobby Clampett quotes in his book "The Impact Zone" (a good read) "Any uncocking or unhinging of the wrists during the early stages of the downswing, in an attempt to add power, speed and/or loft to the club greatly decreases the chance you have of striking the ball with a flat left wrist and forward swing bottom throughout the impact zone".

[canadianpro]

Here's a good look at proper hinging which keeps the clubhead out in front of the hands...not "trapped in behind"