Left Wrist. Flat, Bowed or Cupped?

[flatom]

I saw jack play one of his last tournaments and he was drawing the ball; long too.

[flatom]

Why would someone begin hooking off the tee?
I know I should know but I have ruled out alot of common faults that cause hooking.
Just wanted opinion.
Newbie here.

[Nean D Erthal]

There are two kinds of hooks:

1. Pull Hook

2. Snap Hook

Pull hook cause : Out to in swing path (mild to severe) with a closed club face at impact.

Imagine standing directly behind your ball on your target line.  draw an imaginary X in front of you, with the center of the X meeting directly over your ball.  The line that extends from the bottom right corner of the X, to the top left corner of Where the X crosses the ball is pointing directly along your ball flight path (when the ball leaves the tee before it begins to hook). Now look at where your ball landed.  This is very, very close to where your club face was pointing / aimed at impact.

Snap hook cause:  In to out swing path (mild to severe) with a closed club face at impact.

Lee Trevino said : " You can talk to a fade, but a hook won't listen " .  Usually, this occurs because you are frustrated and are trying to compensate for the hook.  So, you aim further right.  In addition, without realizing it, you begin to swing on a flatter swing plane or at worst, start looping like Jim Furyk.  Here is a suggestion.

1. Weaken your grip - This means that when your left hand is on the club at address, the knuckle on your thumb are pointing directly at your chin.  This is also true of the right hand, the palms should be facing one another.
2. Outside to In swing path - Now, when you take your club into your back swing, exaggerate a swing path that is outside the target line.  In other words, as you are looking down at the club moving back from the ball, the heel of the club will start to move above the target line as you are looking at it (if you were standing behind the swing, it would be moving outside the target line).  Now, when you swing back through to impact, attempt to swing from the outside in (like the swing path of a pull hook, above).

Because you have weakened your grip, you are going to need to rotate your hands open to get the club set (this is like swinging a baseball bat, you gotta do it to swing hard).  The club face is now quite open at the top.  And as you swing through, you are going to find it extremely difficult to close the club face down. I guarantee you, you are going to hit a weak slice.  Do not worry about this.  If you hit a straight shot, but the shot is pulled , your grip is correct for you (you have active hands) but your swing path must be corrected to move closer to your target line.  Continue to adjust this until you get the ball flight you want.  If you want to hit a fade, simply open the club face to aim at where you want the ball to land on the range.  Keep your swing path the same and your ball will start left and gently fade to your target.  To hit a draw, simply aim the club face at where you want the ball to land and set up your feet along the line you want to start the ball. Use the same grip as before and swing along that same path.  Make minor adjustments to your swing path until you have the ball flight you want.

Finally, hit balls with your feet together. Allow yourself to turn as you follow through, but keep your feet very close together.  You will discover hooks and slices also come from over swinging and getting the lower body too involved in the swing.  You will be surprised at how far the ball goes, and how much control you have.

I actually learned this from Jack Nicklaus who kept the game so simple, it was ridiculous.  Whatever you do, don't let your discomfort (you are going to be as uncomfortable as hell and want to fight it) dissuade you.  And go through a pre-shot routine before you hit every ball , with a club lying down on the ground along your target line or foot line for reference.  It will make a huge difference in your feedback.

Hope this helps.

Nean

[Nean D Erthal]

Hogan hit it with a cupped wrist.  Jack hit it flat.  Tommy Bolt hit it bowed.  Whatever works. But if you hit a hook and dont want to change to a weak grip, you most certainly should hit with it cupped.  It saved Hogan.  And made him one of the greatest shot makers in history.  Little known fact:  When Hogan first came on the tour he was the longest driver of the ball.  Typically hitting it (when he could keep it straight 290 and 300 yards.  When he went to the fade, he averaged about 270 off of the tee.  He could not control the ball when he went to the draw.  Bobby Locke also considered Hogan the best putter on tour.  It was only after the accident (he could not see out of his left eye very well) in 48 that he began having trouble with the flat stick.

Regards,

Nean

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Nean D Erthal

Pull hook cause: Out to in swing path (mild to severe) with a closed club face at impact.

I disagree, and I believe science is on my side. It's far, far more common for someone to hit a pull-hook with a club face slightly left of the target and the path square to too far inside-out. The path isn't responsible for the starting direction of the ball.

Originally Posted by Nean D Erthal

Imagine standing directly behind your ball on your target line.  draw an imaginary X in front of you, with the center of the X meeting directly over your ball.  The line that extends from the bottom right corner of the X, to the top left corner of Where the X crosses the ball is pointing directly along your ball flight path (when the ball leaves the tee before it begins to hook). Now look at where your ball landed.  This is very, very close to where your club face was pointing / aimed at impact.

It's really not. You should read this article .

Originally Posted by Nean D Erthal

Hogan hit it with a cupped wrist.  Jack hit it flat.  Tommy Bolt hit it bowed.  Whatever works. But if you hit a hook and dont want to change to a weak grip, you most certainly should hit with it cupped.

Point of clarification: Hogan's left wrist was not cupped at impact, only at the top of the backswing. It was actually slightly bowed at impact or, at the most, "flat." And often someone who bows the left wrist will cup it coming down (that's no way to hit a golf shot) and those who CUP it will tend to BOW it coming down.

I'm glad you've found The Sand Trap, and while everyone is welcome to their opinions and encouraged to share their opinions, their facts must be in order, and when poor facts informs your advice, that's won't do anyone any good. Please review your facts.

[rkim291968]

Rather than opening a new thread on this, I dug this one up.

I finally fixed my left wrist problem.   I knew it was cupped but somehow didn't apply myself to fix it.  Actually, I fixed it and it sneaked back in before I realized it.  Now, I am getting solid hit more consistently and added about 10 yards to my iron shot distances.

[Strandly]

I guess I need to weaken my grip then, I had a nice small draw on my irons at first but it seems to have grown into something that does more harm than good now.

[Kujan]

As Eric wrote, cupped left wrist at the top, naturally will flatten and then bow in the downswing. This also agrees with Gary Players' video, he advised against flipping or bowing in the take away.

[saevel25]

You got to watch out for the type of grip you have. If you take a stronger grip, your left wrist will start out cupped, and doesn't need to be come much more cupped at the top of the swing. While if you have a week grip, there's a lot more movement to get it cupped at the top.

[nick1998bunker]

It isn't that important but you have to make sure you square the hands up in time. Just watched Michael breeds number 10 tip and he says if you completely bow the wrist at the top like Dustin Johnston they you only have to deliver the club, its already square.

[AmazingWhacker]

Learning to keep a flat left wrist was what got me to break 100 for the first time.  Now .. Hogan cupping his wrist is a way different thing than Mr 100 shooter cupping his wrist.  I'm not saying everybody needs to have a flat left wrist but if a golfer is slicing every shot and has a cupped left wrist . .he/she should look into flattening it.

For me, learning to keep a flat left wrist meant making changes throughout my entire swing so that my left wrist naturally stayed flat.  Just forcing it flat did nothing for me.  It took a relatively long time for me to learn to do this and was the first of many things that took (and are taking) me a relatively long time to learn to do.

[Strandly]

Learning to keep a flat left wrist was what got me to break 100 for the first time.  Now .. Hogan cupping his wrist is a way different thing than Mr 100 shooter cupping his wrist.  I'm not saying everybody needs to have a flat left wrist but if a golfer is slicing every shot and has a cupped left wrist . .he/she should look into flattening it.

For me, learning to keep a flat left wrist meant making changes throughout my entire swing so that my left wrist naturally stayed flat.  Just forcing it flat did nothing for me.  It took a relatively long time for me to learn to do this and was the first of many things that took (and are taking) me a relatively long time to learn to do.

Really?  When I saw how a flat wrist wiped out my slicing I was all over it like a bum on a ham sandwich.  In fact, the flat wrist became such a natural part of my swing I don't know if I could do a cupped wrist now if I tried.  Are you sure you're gripping the club right?  When gripping the club the proper way the natural roll of the wrists seems to flatten it (left wrist) out without even trying.

[nick1998bunker]

When I grip the club my left wrist is cupped a good bit. Whatnots the correct way to hold the club bd what will that help with. I think I natuartally have it someone shut anyway because even if my wrist is flat to slightly cupped the club face is still shut. You can see it in my prof. Pic

[HitTheMark]

On 10/1/2009 at 2:21 PM, iacas said:

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.

Do you mean at impact?

[Vinsk]

5 hours ago, HitTheMark said:

Do you mean at impact?

FYI you’re asking a question from a comment made 10 years ago. Having a flat or slightly bowed lead wrist at impact is essentially a requirement for good ball striking. The top of the backswing we see a good mix of cupped, flat and bowed among tour players. How you grip can affect this. Whatever works for you to get your club in a good position and arrive at impact with a flat to slightly bowed wrist is fine.

[iacas]

6 hours ago, HitTheMark said:

Do you mean at impact?

Sorry, like @Vinsk said, that comment was from ten years ago. I generally prefer a flat (though a strong grip can be "cupped" and "flat" depending on how you define things) at impact. At the top, there can be reasons to be anything.