Left Wrist. Flat, Bowed or Cupped?

[Stuart]

I would imagine that most of you have more experience than I, and know more about what the pro's do, etc., but so far I've only really seen Fred Couples with a significantly bowed left wrist at the top of the swing. Tiger, Sergio and Luke Donald, and many others seem to have a flat wrist at the top, which to me makes the swing simpler.

[tm22721]

This is not caused by the Cupped or Bowed wrist position at the top of the swing though, it's caused by the wrists staying cocked until late in the downswing, the later you release the club head the more 'bowed' at impact your wrist will appear, the position of your left wrist at the top of your swing has little to do with the bowed wrist at impact.

A cupped wrist at the top of the swing opens the clubhead. Very bad.

A cupped wrist at impact is associated with flipping, scooping, fat/thin shots etc. Very bad. Tiger's Impact Position

[geezer]

I would imagine that most of you have more experience than I, and know more about what the pro's do, etc., but so far I've only really seen Fred Couples with a significantly bowed left wrist at the top of the swing. Tiger, Sergio and Luke Donald, and many others seem to have a flat wrist at the top, which to me makes the swing simpler.

It depends on your grip, I think.

With a strong grip you get a draw bias, so a cupped wrist will go straighter, and flat wrist = draw. With a weak grip, flat wrist=fade and bowed wrist = straighter Not 100% sure but thats what I heard. If this is wrong can someone elso clear it up fpr me?

[allin]

But what if you are more upright and have a strong grip?

That combination would tend to make it very difficult to have consistent timing when you release the club. Depending on how active your hands are you could either have a a tendancy to get stuck or hook the ball, if you swing over the top a pull would be more likely than a fade. To fade the ball from this combination that you would have to hold the release or be very flexible and as strong as an ox.

[JaY_B]

A cupped wrist at the top of the swing opens the clubhead. Very bad.

A cupped wrist at the top of the swing does not mean you will have a cupped wrist at impact, during the swing the two do not effect each other, if you were looking at extremes I would say that a Bowed wrist would be the more likely contributor to a Cupped wrist at impact (which I am aware is a contradiction of what i said).

[tm22721]

A cupped wrist at the top of the swing does not mean you will have a cupped wrist at impact.

Agreed.

I am trying to focus on a bowed wrist at impact because it helps ball contact.

[Chilidipper]

I use to cup my wrist before I started taking lessons, after that magical day I bowed/flat. If I am hitting woods I keep it flat if I am hitting irons I am bowing it a bit.

[jaacobbowden]

A cupped, bowed, or flat wrist at address, top of the back swing, or at impact are not going to absolutely determine how well you strike the ball. I've seen success with any number of combinations of these. Different people will have different experiences and results based on their own particular swing tendencies and swing styles.

One of the reasons why you see pros with a bowed wrist at impact is because with their higher swing speeds they need to arrive with the club de-lofted as such so they don't hit the ball so high that the wind starts dramatically affecting the shot. A problem for amateurs with slower swing speeds who try and copy this position is that they will have trouble getting clubs like 3-5 irons up in the air. These people would do better from a shot-height standpoint to arrive at impact with a more flat or even slightly cupped position at impact.

Curvature to the ball is more determined by the path of the club coming in to the ball and the blade position at impact. For example, given good contact an out-to-in path with a closed club face will cause a pull hook/draw, an in-to-out path with an open club face would cause a push cut/slice, etc.

Jaacob
http://www.swingmangolf.com

[deakanutz]

Congrats on the LB open scores, very nice, I am watching Tiger play Trip in his am days and his left wrist is flat as a pancacke at the top though. The anouncers even comented on it. I use to cup but my Pro got me flat and it is much easier to get on plane coming down to the inside. Cuped at top had me coming over more on the down. Just my experience.

I think success can be found with any of the three positions.

[deakanutz]

Yep, My new flat wrist can draw at will, but it allowed me to slow my swing down and get smoother so the flat is now straight shots, If I speed up I get the draw. This makes long irons easier to hit for me. Long story short, flat wrist for me = less effort same distance, but speeding up causes issues.

It depends on your grip, I think.

[TommyD69]

At address, I would say that most golfers i've watched on TV have a "cupped" left wrist at address, a "flat" left wrist at the top of the back swing, and a "flat" left wrist at impact. When my left wrist was "cupped" at impact, I hit a LOT of wicked HOOKS!!! Having my left wrist "bowed" at impact feels like my wrist is going to break, not a very "strong" feeling. I agree with the Rick Smith training glove comments. I have one and IMHO it works.....

[jaacobbowden]

Congrats on the LB open scores, very nice, I am watching Tiger play Trip in his am days and his left wrist is flat as a pancacke at the top though. The anouncers even comented on it. I use to cup but my Pro got me flat and it is much easier to get on plane coming down to the inside. Cuped at top had me coming over more on the down. Just my experience.

Thanks, funny thing was I played better on the 76 day. I think I had 11 birdie putts inside 12 feet and only made 1...didn't putt bad, just caught a lot of lips and nothing seemed to drop.

Glad you found something that is working better for you. I'm forgetting which US Amateur I saw Tiger with the cupped wrist at the top...wish I could think of it. It must be one of his earlier ones. Which one are you watching? Jaacob Swing Man Golf

[Chilidipper]

Well I have a"cupped" wrist at address and flat wrist at middle way and bowed wrist at the top of my swing. My club head I guess is closed but I seem to do well with this. I hit a lot of good shots with a hint of draw. When I do miss its a nasty hook usually low. My question is this. Is this a quick fix I am doing or is this just the way it is with some people. I was taught to bow my wrist since I cupped at the top of my swing but now its the way I have to hit my irons. My instructor I guess taught me this to either have me do it this way or to train me to stop cupping. Anyway any one out there experienced with this who can maybe solve this question for me. It been eating me.

I was told once that it was cool to do. That infact Tom Lehman bowed pretty heavy at the top of his swing. Again I was just told this.

Thanks.

[andre112]

I have been playing with a cupped left wrist since I started and have just this last week been trying to flatten my wrist at the top of my swing. I have a fairly neutral (almost weak) left hand grip and I'm not totally sure if my right hand is neutral also. Anyways it seems to me that I'm pretty much totally cupping my right wrist now to keep my left flat. Is that what it feels like to you?

Just today I noticed on iron shots if I feel my right wrist cupped to keep my left wrist bowed, I hit a bit longer and balls go straight to draw sometimes to hook. If I don't have that feeling of right wrist cupped, balls go shorter with fade to slice.

[jefftommy06]

I have been struggling with this for some time now.....what is the correct position of the wrist at the top of the swing, and up till just a few days ago I was employing the flat wrist technique. My problem with this was, because of the grip I was using the clubface at the top of the swing was closed. At the beginning of my rounds/practice I would hit nice draws, but as I got warmed up I eventually started duck hooking my longer irons/driver/woods. So I started to pay more attention to the clubface angle at the top rather than what position my left wrist was in. I changed my left wrist to slightly cupped at the top to get the clubface in the correct position. I had one practice and did not duck hook anything, and wouldn't you know it, shot my lowest score ever that next day(last Sunday). So personally I think this is dependent on the type of grip you have. At the top of the swing the leading edge of the clubface needs to be parallel to your left arm(see image below). If you are not getting to this position with a flat wrist you may need to cup it a little to compensate. Don't focus on what your left wrist is doing.....pay attention to what the clubface is telling you. But hey.....I'm no pro!



Gary Player puts this more in perspective, I really like this analysis.

[iacas]

I like a slightly bowed left wrist - very slightly bowed. Or rather, I like the feeling of it - it's probably technically a flat wrist.

In general: cupped is open, bowed is closed.

[shortstop20]

I like a slightly bowed left wrist - very slightly bowed. Or rather, I like the feeling of it - it's probably technically a flat wrist.

Same here. I've actually weakened my left hand grip slightly because the slightly bowed/flat left wrist that I like at the top causes me to hit hooks with my current grip. With my new left hand grip I can work the ball much easier as well. Before I had to hold off the release for an eternity to hit a fade.

I've noticed on video my wrist is really bowed through impact so this slightly weaker grip fits my swing quite well. On a side note, Tiger's grip has gotten weaker over the years as well, although his wrist position at the top is now flat where it used to be cupped in his early years, like the 1997 Masters for instance. http://www.golf.com/golf/generic/0,3...888934,00.html

[Zeph]

I had a very cupped wrist, but has worked on flattening it out. I'd rather have the feeling of slightly bowed than slightly cupped, but that's mostly because I really don't want to fall back to a cupped wrist.