Rotate Your Wrist To Cure Slice And Improve Distance
In golf the swing is everything. Without a proper swing, you might as well be using a baseball bat to try and get a hole in one. Honestly I think it's *that* important!
The perfect swing consists of a comfortable, strong stance, a nice backswing, a deliberate and controlled downswing and a considered and accurate follow through. The swing itself uses your hands, wrists, forearms, upper arms, shoulders, back, hips and legs to achieve all this, and everything has to work together in harmony.
Today we're going to concentrate on using your forearms and wrists for better distance, and to cure a slice.
Many golfers have what's called a "weak" grip. Now this doesn't mean they can't crush a paper cup, it means they're holding the face of the club too "open". That is, tilted to the right leaving more of the club face exposed and so the ball is spun when the club strikes it, leading to a slice.
This tip will do two things: firstly, it will help fix the slice you've got going on, and secondly it will increase your power and therefore your distance.
The basic idea is to twist your wrists at the point of contact with the ball. This tiny extra motion actually produces a much bigger reaction in your whole body, and helps translate the movement you're making into energy delivered into the ball. It also helps accuracy. Here's what I mean.
Put a wrist watch on your left hand. At the point where your club head makes contact with the ball, the face of the watch should be pointing directly down the course where you want the ball to go. After you've made the impact, you can rotate your wrists so the face of the watch is facing the ground..
This is the correct way to rotate your hands during your swing to get maximum controlled force and power into the ball for a long, more accurate drive. Give it a go the next time you're on the range.
A common mistake is to flip your trailing hand like you're casting a fishing rod to try and get extra power. This is unpredictable, not a smooth motion and difficult to control. A gentle, smooth rotation will have the same effect but in a much better and more successful way.