The Golf Swing Move That Changes Everything

[July 15, 2019: This is the blog’s most-read post. It has almost twice as many views as the second-ranked post. It should. It is the first mention on the blog of the most important fundamental of the golf swing, your hands lead the clubhead at impact, that for a reason I cannot figure out is rarely mentioned in golf instruction books. But every good golfer does it, and no bad golfer does it. Period.

[How to get this right is not addressed fully here, but it is in posts that followed. In the intervening seven years, I have tried many methods of getting this right. The easiest way I know of is to feel the butt end of the club moving leftward from the beginning of the forward swing to beyond the point when the ball is struck. This method is fully explained in the recent post, Your Hands Lead the Clubhead- IV]

My son is learning how to play golf. He didn’t start until he was about 30 years old.  He is fairly athletic and hits the ball a long way, but neither he nor I have any idea of where it’s going to end up much of the time.  

The reason for that, and the one thing that he is struggling to learn, involves his right (trailing) wrist.  This post is not about him, though.  It’s about over half the recreational golfers I play with who do the same thing he does.  They flip that wrist.

In an earlier post, I talked about pronation and supination.  This is one of my most-read posts, because it is something that Ben Hogan went into at length in his book, Five Lessons.  

The Hogan mystique makes many amateurs think this is the magic move that if they get figured out, will change everything.  For once, they’re right.

In practical terms it all means a backward bend in the trailing wrist MUST BE MAINTAINED through impact.  

That wrist, right wrist for right-handed golfers, left wrist for lefties, must not be straightened out, and certainly not be bent forward (flip), until after the ball is struck. (see photo, above)

This is a golf swing imperative. You cannot play good golf if you don’t do this.

How do you get it right?  Search the blog on “hands leading the clubhead”.

See this video, or this one.

If your ball flight is a guessing game, chances are that flipping is your number one problem.  

I even see guys flip when they putt and they can’t putt worth a lick.  

Put this move into your golf swing and you will be a different golfer.  Golf will become a different game.  I absolutely guarantee it.

10 thoughts on “The Golf Swing Move That Changes Everything”

    1. Berry,
      He has grooved this move and makes it work. I would not suggest that a recreational golfer copy it.

  1. I’ve been trying this lately, having been convinced by other sources and you have only confirmed it. Saturday I played 18 holes. My only swing thought was “keep the right wrist bent backward,” backswing and downswing — so much so that my right forefinger was off the club and pointing away from the target! Result: The best contact I’ve made in years. Not one fat shot, something that has plagued me for years and infuriates the heck out of me. It even helped my putting. My irons were better than they’ve been in years. The only fly in the ointment was my driver. Being a longer club, it’s harder to control all the way through. But I hit enough good drives to know I’m on the right track. Recreational Golfer: What you say is absolutely true. Most people flip. It’s perfectly natural. But this really is the answer. If you have trouble doing it, buy Greg Norman’s “The Secret” from Amazon and learn what it feels like, at least around the green. You can take 1,000 lessons and it won’t matter a whit if you’re a flipper and don’t fix that issue first.

    1. If every golfer got this part right, and got rhythm and tempo right, handicaps would plummet. As for your driver, see the post titled, “A Driver Drill That Works.”

      – Bob

  2. Bob: I might add that “the flip” is usually imperceptible to the person doing it. I never once TRIED to flip, but I’m sure I did 99 percent of the time. The proof is in the pudding, er, golf shot. There might be a day when your timing is right and, very importantly, your lie is perfect, which might enable you to get away with flipping, but shot-to-shot and day-to-day consistency will be lacking.

  3. I am a flipper,came from hitting balls off grass in back yard.I agree about the importance of bent wrist at impact and drills are helpful.However in taking to course I ended up leaving the clubface open at impact,you can imagine the results!Am I quiting on it and not letting my lower body clear or am I holding on too tight?
    I enjoy this website! I have thought for some time that non professional teachers could be better than pros in some cases

    1. Berry,
      First, let me move you to a later post that accomplishes the same purpose but makes it easier to do. Second, being able to have the hands lead the clubhead into impact (which is the only way the bend in the right wrist will be maintained), is an essential part of any golf swing. It is not the only thing, though. If you are leaving the clubface open there is something else that needs to be changed, and that something else is an individual matter which can only be found out by a competent instructor watching you.

    2. 4 Hcp and long hitter with years of flipping and making it work most days.

      I played 24 holes today at +3 with the feel of maintaining the bent right wrist low through impact and to the finish. I was throwing darts at the end with straight or baby draws and finished my last nine holes in -3 (I’m an average putter, so I missed two other eagle/birdie putts).

      For someone leaving the face open with the bent right wrist at impact, take heart, you can fully finish your swing and release the club now that you’ve sorted out your wrist condition at impact. As a flipper, I often felt I had to hold off so as not to stall and pull. The one time today that I failed to release with the bent right wrist was a water ball pushed straight right (and not by much).

      I discovered the finish position that works for me to ensure I’ve released is to have your (still slightly bent) right wrist pointing left with high hands and the butt of the club pointing directly at your target. If you take this finish further, you look like a tour pro, but I like the visual of the butt of the club pointing exactly where the ball is flying on a beautiful piercing trajectory 🙂

      It’s amazing how maintaining the right wrist does two other things: it gives you the much coveted “flat left wrist” through impact; and it keeps the club head on the proper path post impact.

      Hope these thoughts help someone else looking for the grail.

  4. Thanks for your insightful input.
    I’ve been a lifelong flipper who has not been able to overcome this malady for 40 + years, but I’m still trying real hard to.
    Also, I took up stock trading when I retired but I’ve been very up & down, bouncing from one approach to another. I know I need to lock into a system and commit with discipline.
    Any suggestions, guidance or input would be much appreciated.
    Most of my day is spent with stocks and golf.
    Thanks!

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