Flat wrist at the top - Slicing

[iacas]

6 hours ago, Blackjack Don said:

This is something I don't understand. I work hard on holding the lag as much as I can.

"Holding" the lag is often counter-productive. In good swings, nobody's really trying to "hold" the lag. The lag "happens" as a course of good sequencing. The lag isn't "held" - in the game's best players the lag is releasing FAST around the impact region. Holding is counter-productive, and most people who "hold" the lag flip it the most.

I could swing one-handed with a loose wrist and produce "lag."

6 hours ago, Blackjack Don said:

Video has shown me I tend to let go too early. If done properly, release comes automatically, right?

Yes, but "automatic" and "hold the lag" are almost opposites.

6 hours ago, Blackjack Don said:

My coach keeps saying "Knuckles down" and I have no idea what this means.

Then one or both of you aren't doing your job(s)!

Ask him.

6 hours ago, Blackjack Don said:

If I hold onto the lag, with relaxed wrists, left wrist forward, I hit a reasonable driver. If my left wrist breaks down, Fore Left!

I get the elbows close, but do you have "control" over your hands and wrist to release the clubhead?

To be clear, since "holding" usually implies something different than "relaxed wrists," I'm talking about actually trying to physically keep that angle in your wrists to "hold" or "maintain" the lag.

Loose wrists = lag "happens" "automatically" if the sequencing of everything else is right.

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Lag is a sequencing issue. It's a result, not something you directly "do" or "cause."

[Kalnoky]

I was led to believe the flat left wrist at the top is for people who use a weak grip. I use a strong grip and I'm cupped at the top. I don't slice at all. I don't know how other people here feel about this, but I fixed the slice using the toe up to toe up drill and an alignment rod. It forced me to get my club face square.

[Buckeyebowman]

13 hours ago, Blackjack Don said:

This is something I don't understand. I work hard on holding the lag as much as I can. Video has shown me I tend to let go too early. If done properly, release comes automatically, right? My coach keeps saying "Knuckles down" and I have no idea what this means. If I hold onto the lag, with relaxed wrists, left wrist forward, I hit a reasonable driver. If my left wrist breaks down, Fore Left!

I get the elbows close, but do you have "control" over your hands and wrist to release the clubhead?

I quoted this post, but really liked iacas' response to it. I recently saw a Hank Haney video where he demonstrated this. He said he'd been getting a lot of questions lately about "releasing the club", so many that it seemed like it was a mystery to many golfers. He said that what many amateurs think of as release is really "the flip". It's wrist "flex" not wrist "cock".

He demonstrated the moves "statically" but emphasized that they don't really look that way when you are swinging the club around your body. And he did emphasize the left hand "knuckles down" position at impact. But remember, that's a static position that only serves as a frame of reference in a dynamic process (the golf swing) that unfolds through time.

The thing to remember is that you are "swinging" a club! Imagine an attacker is coming at you and you have a baseball bat. Are you going to try to hold the lag? Are you going to cast? No! You're going to clout that guy in the skull and put him down! I think that's the best advice I can offer!