Paul:
If there was a way to measure the speed at which the upper body rotates then a person could tell if their wrists were loose enough. Do you agree?
Wes
I don’t know how knowing your body speed would tell you how loose your wrists are. In a pros swing their body rotates at approx. 2.5 mph. Average amateur is 1mph. This is why my swing looks easy yet I hit the ball a long way.
Just letting you know that I played 3 rounds in a tough resort course in Bali last weekend and I played great!!!
First time my good swings lasted more than half a round since that I tried to modify my swing from an arms only swing to body driven swing about 6 or so months ago.
I could fee the release of the wrist during the swing exactly as during your favourite release drill. The legs were driving the swing and the arms felt more or less powerless.
My perceptive playing partner definitely saw the swing improvement and decided to call me his Teacher in the hope that I might impart some golfing wisdom!
I hope this lasts but I think I reached a point where the new swing feels more natural than my old swing so there is no going back.
This is thanks mainly to you. I did have some private golf lessons in my local which helped to detect some flaws in my swing but the lessons all confirmed in my mind that your method is the more “natural” one.
Very good. This stuff takes time as you know. You are getting it. Just keep doing what you are doing. Once you have done it enough you will do t all the time.
Be very careful now to not get too excited. Stay relaxed, swing easy. As you gain confidence you can go for more power. If you think you’ve “got it” you don’t. You never “have it.” To many people play a few good rounds and think this. Tiger never said he had it. This is the kiss of death.
Hi Paul;
Would you do a video regarding the flat vs bowed wrist. I found mine to be a bit bowed in my backswing which was causing the face to be open starting my downswing. When I made sure it was flat, my thumb is directly under the shaft rather than a little off to the side with a neutral grip. I don’t deliberately roll my wrists at impact, but let it happen naturally when I go thru the impact area. If my wrist is bowed at the top, the face comes thru a little open which causes my shots to go left; lefty golfer. Perhaps others might be having this issue & not realize the cause of the ball moving left or right depending on left or right handed golfer. Thanks.
I mix these 2 up when talking about them. Maybe you are doing the same in your description. If your wrist was bowed the face would be closing not opening in the downswing.
You should not be trying to get a perfectly flat wrist at the top. This wrist should be slightly cupped due to the 2 knuckle grip position. If it was flat you would have to be in a weak 1 knuckle position.
Paul ,I’m fully aware of the role of the wrists ,and as I swing I say to myself as you do “Hinge/Unhinge ” and “rollover “(You’ve already showed a video on this .
In parallel,in the course of my physical exercises I train my wrists :”wrist flexion” “,wrist extension “with rubber tubings or light dumbells(5 Lbs ).I also “stretch “my wrists both ways .
Surely ,”manually “applying (To take your phrasing ) the hinging /unhinging of the wrists helps to speed up the club,or do you let them just go for a ride…
I played 18 holes yesterday with a low handicap golfer :he hit only with the arms and wrists ,saying that his weak and sore back and his hips (One has been replaced by a prothesis ,and the second one is to follow !)prevented him from coiling .
He outdrived me on every hole by 30 yards .
Shouldn’t I bring my arms in play in addition to the fast hip turn you advocate,but then they are no longer “POWERLESS”
Cruel dilemma !
I would think this person was turning faster, had abetter lag angle, was younger, better contact, faster release etc. etc.
I could hit the ball a long way too when used to use my arms. They day I stopped hitting with my arms was the day I hit it long and in the fairway.
Go ahead and start whacking at it. See if it works. Then once you realize you get 10 more yards yet miss 70% of your fairways then don’t make this mistake again.
I think I am learning Paul. I got my daily tip email and it said. “Your wrists are not wrists.” and the first thing I thought, before I even watch the video is, They are hinges.
Nice. I love it when people read my mind. I get this sneaky feeling some people around here are understanding it. Just got to say it enough I guess. Okay, I’ll keep saying it.
Paul, I watched your back and forth video the other day. In this wrist are hinges video doing the hinge and unhinge wrist drill its ok to do the back and forth move as you demonstrated?
Mike
Hi Paul,
I am doing this drill and I noticed that left wrists gets pain after some time. Also while playing I noticed that my left wrist is tight. Is there something I am doing wrong or the pain gets over with time.
Wrist might be a bit sore because they have never hinged and re-hinged like this before. If this keep happening into the future then you would need to get us to check it to see if you are doing anything wrong. I would think they will loosen up. Mine hurt for a while many years ago too. Keep your eye on it and let us know. Be careful and don’t hurt yourself.
Hi Paul, normally I’m pretty good off the tee. It is not uncommon for me to hit 14 out of 14 fairways. In fact 3 rounds ago I was feeling all the positions and hitting tee shots 15 to 20 yards past where I normally land. However, the last two rounds I’ve actually topped two tee shots in each round where the ball just squirts low off the tee for about 50 yards. I can’t ever remember doing that before. I know it is difficult to diagnose without seeing my swing but I was hoping to get your opinion. My thought was I either was losing my extension, looking for the result too soon, not lifting my right heel or a combination of those. I really don’t know what caused it and was looking for some guidance. It’s getting into my head since it happened two rounds in a row. Thanks.
Tom
If you are fading it the face is open so you need to do the roll over drill and get the squaring earlier than necessary. Once you do this and get it hooking you straighten it out with body rotation. As you do the roll over you get used to how this feels. Not sure why you would be slapping at it but if you are you are not getting the feeling of the release. Constantly work on this until you master the feeling. Then this is the feeling on every shot forever.
Paul, recently I’ve lost a lot a distance on my irons. I hit on a launch monitor and my launch angle was way too high (avg 26 degrees on my 7 iron). Could this be caused by a poor release?
I am a bit confused about the wrists. Is the release something that is consciously done? Or is it involuntary and a natural byproduct of a sound swing with loose wrists and effortless arms?
Thanks, Mike Barrett
ps. Love the Body Swing and Ignition Golf. Keep on preaching the truth, which few other instructors are telling us.
There are times when I want to you thinking and using your arms. This is when you are working on certain positions or moves. Once you get them you turn them back off and it should still be happening on its own.
The release is conscious as you are working on it. If you were as loose as I want it would happen on its own but I know you don’t have 5 years to make this happen. I want you to do it now. So I want you do manually train it to happen. In doing so you do it earlier than necessary and get it hooking. Once you can do this you work on body to straighten it out. Wrists = spin. Body = direction.
Thanks for the lengthy reply. Great as always. I was referring to the wrists while playing. I believe from your answer I will be doing the rollover consciously on the drills but once I get the rollover properly institutionalized into my swing, the rollover should happen involuntarily on its own once my timing is correct. This involuntary rollover should serve to maximize clubhead speed and properly square the face at impact to greatly increase my accuracy. I realize this will take some time.
Very good. You are doing something until mastered. I roll it so I don’t have to think about it but I have done this millions of times. Not sure how long it will take you to master but I would think thousands if not tens of thousands of times.
Break Through! Paul, I have been working on your swing for over a year now. I was convinced it was the correct way for me to play consistently. I am just a slow learner with this stuff and so I had to watch your videos “over and over and over” as someone is fond of saying. I can now feel when I have too much arms. I can feel the hips leading. I know the club will be “laid off” if I get the hips going. But I failed to comprehend the release. I was flipping the club and still fighting a chicken wing. Then I re-watched your release vids. I realized I was opening the face a bit in the back swing and never got it closed. And you did an excellent job of EXPLAINING how the grip effects the wrist cup. I know you want to start by getting everything to go left, then speed of the hip rotation to straighten it out. For me, it meant I needed to consciously (hopefully not for long) turn the left wrist counter-clockwise to get the fact closed. WOW! went out for a practice round tonight and even shots that were a little thin or thick still went OK. No flubs off the tee. Smacked my drives effortlessly!!! My wife was with me (my caddy) and she said the ball sounded different coming off the club, the flight was a lot lower and rolled a mile. Best drive was about 250 and for me that is absolutely amazing. We were both all smiles! So even us slow learners can get it eventually. Amazing how this last little piece, in conjunction with everything else you teach just transformed my ball striking. Don’t know why it took so long but I am confident I can break 40 for 9 with some good putts. Thank you so much! Hope to see you for a class in Vegas soon.
Very good. Counter clockwise is exactly it. Just do this every night at home for a while. It really doesn’t take long to master. The sound will be different because you are now hitting it with the right loft. Distance will increase too of course. This is a huge moment. The whole game changes once you get the distance.
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32 Responses to “Your Wrists Are Not Wrists”
June 11, 2014
WesleyBergmanPaul:
If there was a way to measure the speed at which the upper body rotates then a person could tell if their wrists were loose enough. Do you agree?
Wes
June 11, 2014
Paul WilsonWesley,
I don’t know how knowing your body speed would tell you how loose your wrists are. In a pros swing their body rotates at approx. 2.5 mph. Average amateur is 1mph. This is why my swing looks easy yet I hit the ball a long way.
I did a tip on hip speed here: https://ignitiongolf.com/hip-speed-power/
Maybe this will help.
June 11, 2014
johnhoyleGreetings Paul Thanks im getting there
June 11, 2014
PaulKwonHi Paul
Just letting you know that I played 3 rounds in a tough resort course in Bali last weekend and I played great!!!
First time my good swings lasted more than half a round since that I tried to modify my swing from an arms only swing to body driven swing about 6 or so months ago.
I could fee the release of the wrist during the swing exactly as during your favourite release drill. The legs were driving the swing and the arms felt more or less powerless.
My perceptive playing partner definitely saw the swing improvement and decided to call me his Teacher in the hope that I might impart some golfing wisdom!
I hope this lasts but I think I reached a point where the new swing feels more natural than my old swing so there is no going back.
This is thanks mainly to you. I did have some private golf lessons in my local which helped to detect some flaws in my swing but the lessons all confirmed in my mind that your method is the more “natural” one.
June 11, 2014
Paul WilsonPaul,
Very good. This stuff takes time as you know. You are getting it. Just keep doing what you are doing. Once you have done it enough you will do t all the time.
Be very careful now to not get too excited. Stay relaxed, swing easy. As you gain confidence you can go for more power. If you think you’ve “got it” you don’t. You never “have it.” To many people play a few good rounds and think this. Tiger never said he had it. This is the kiss of death.
Keep us posted on your progress.
June 11, 2014
MichaelRodrickHi Paul;
Would you do a video regarding the flat vs bowed wrist. I found mine to be a bit bowed in my backswing which was causing the face to be open starting my downswing. When I made sure it was flat, my thumb is directly under the shaft rather than a little off to the side with a neutral grip. I don’t deliberately roll my wrists at impact, but let it happen naturally when I go thru the impact area. If my wrist is bowed at the top, the face comes thru a little open which causes my shots to go left; lefty golfer. Perhaps others might be having this issue & not realize the cause of the ball moving left or right depending on left or right handed golfer. Thanks.
June 11, 2014
Paul WilsonMichael,
I have a tip on this here:
Cupped or Flat: https://ignitiongolf.com/top-backswing-cupped-flat
And:
Knuckles Down At Impact: https://ignitiongolf.com/knuckles-down-impact
I mix these 2 up when talking about them. Maybe you are doing the same in your description. If your wrist was bowed the face would be closing not opening in the downswing.
You should not be trying to get a perfectly flat wrist at the top. This wrist should be slightly cupped due to the 2 knuckle grip position. If it was flat you would have to be in a weak 1 knuckle position.
How A Faulty Grip Affects Your Swing: https://ignitiongolf.com/faulty-grip-affects-swing/
Watch these too:
How A Faulty Grip Affects Your Swing: https://ignitiongolf.com/faulty-grip-affects-swing/
Grip – Strong Top Weak Bottom: https://ignitiongolf.com/grip-strong-top-weak-bottom/
How Your Grip and Setup Can Get You Shut at the Top of the Backswing: https://ignitiongolf.com/grip-setup-shut-top-backswing/
I think this is what you are doing not bowing your wrist:
How To Stop Over-Cupping At The Top of the Backswing: https://ignitiongolf.com/stop-over-cupping-at-top/
June 11, 2014
RaymondCHASTELPaul ,I’m fully aware of the role of the wrists ,and as I swing I say to myself as you do “Hinge/Unhinge ” and “rollover “(You’ve already showed a video on this .
In parallel,in the course of my physical exercises I train my wrists :”wrist flexion” “,wrist extension “with rubber tubings or light dumbells(5 Lbs ).I also “stretch “my wrists both ways .
Surely ,”manually “applying (To take your phrasing ) the hinging /unhinging of the wrists helps to speed up the club,or do you let them just go for a ride…
I played 18 holes yesterday with a low handicap golfer :he hit only with the arms and wrists ,saying that his weak and sore back and his hips (One has been replaced by a prothesis ,and the second one is to follow !)prevented him from coiling .
He outdrived me on every hole by 30 yards .
Shouldn’t I bring my arms in play in addition to the fast hip turn you advocate,but then they are no longer “POWERLESS”
Cruel dilemma !
June 11, 2014
Paul WilsonRaymond,
I would think this person was turning faster, had abetter lag angle, was younger, better contact, faster release etc. etc.
I could hit the ball a long way too when used to use my arms. They day I stopped hitting with my arms was the day I hit it long and in the fairway.
Go ahead and start whacking at it. See if it works. Then once you realize you get 10 more yards yet miss 70% of your fairways then don’t make this mistake again.
June 13, 2014
BryanRhoadesOh this is so true. Try it…you’ll be back sooner or later 😉 It just takes time Raymond.
June 11, 2014
ChuckBaumgarnerI think I am learning Paul. I got my daily tip email and it said. “Your wrists are not wrists.” and the first thing I thought, before I even watch the video is, They are hinges.
June 11, 2014
Paul WilsonChuck,
Nice. I love it when people read my mind. I get this sneaky feeling some people around here are understanding it. Just got to say it enough I guess. Okay, I’ll keep saying it.
November 9, 2014
michealcarlePaul, I watched your back and forth video the other day. In this wrist are hinges video doing the hinge and unhinge wrist drill its ok to do the back and forth move as you demonstrated?
Mike
October 3, 2015
VenuKoosuriHi Paul,
I am doing this drill and I noticed that left wrists gets pain after some time. Also while playing I noticed that my left wrist is tight. Is there something I am doing wrong or the pain gets over with time.
Regards
Venu
October 4, 2015
Paul WilsonVenu,
Wrist might be a bit sore because they have never hinged and re-hinged like this before. If this keep happening into the future then you would need to get us to check it to see if you are doing anything wrong. I would think they will loosen up. Mine hurt for a while many years ago too. Keep your eye on it and let us know. Be careful and don’t hurt yourself.
May 10, 2018
TomCHi Paul, normally I’m pretty good off the tee. It is not uncommon for me to hit 14 out of 14 fairways. In fact 3 rounds ago I was feeling all the positions and hitting tee shots 15 to 20 yards past where I normally land. However, the last two rounds I’ve actually topped two tee shots in each round where the ball just squirts low off the tee for about 50 yards. I can’t ever remember doing that before. I know it is difficult to diagnose without seeing my swing but I was hoping to get your opinion. My thought was I either was losing my extension, looking for the result too soon, not lifting my right heel or a combination of those. I really don’t know what caused it and was looking for some guidance. It’s getting into my head since it happened two rounds in a row. Thanks.
Tom
May 11, 2018
Paul WilsonTom,
Glad you are doing well. I did a tip on this here:
You Will Top It: https://ignitiongolf.com/you-will-top-it/
May 10, 2018
EdFrazierPaul
When hinging and unhinging my wrists, sometimes I am “slapping” at the ball, which produces a short fade. Any advice?
Ed
May 11, 2018
Paul WilsonEd,
If you are fading it the face is open so you need to do the roll over drill and get the squaring earlier than necessary. Once you do this and get it hooking you straighten it out with body rotation. As you do the roll over you get used to how this feels. Not sure why you would be slapping at it but if you are you are not getting the feeling of the release. Constantly work on this until you master the feeling. Then this is the feeling on every shot forever.
DRILL: Smooth Wrist Release: https://ignitiongolf.com/smooth-wrist-release/
Roll Over Drill:
DRILL: 3 Ways To Roll It Over: https://ignitiongolf.com/3-ways-to-roll/
Roll Around The Stick: https://ignitiongolf.com/roll-around-stick/
Clarifying the Roll Over Drill: https://ignitiongolf.com/clarifying-roll-drill/
Please Learn How to Hook It: https://ignitiongolf.com/please-learn-hook/
May 10, 2018
TristanThomasPaul, recently I’ve lost a lot a distance on my irons. I hit on a launch monitor and my launch angle was way too high (avg 26 degrees on my 7 iron). Could this be caused by a poor release?
May 11, 2018
Paul WilsonTristan,
Yes, poor release. You are doing a chicken wing. Follow this tip asap:
You Are Hitting A 9 Iron: https://ignitiongolf.com/adding-loft-clubs/
May 10, 2018
JonathanComptonThe one problem I am having with hinging the wrist is in keeping my grip on the club stable and not loosening it. Any recommendations? Thanks!
May 11, 2018
Paul WilsonJonathan,
You need to watch this tip:
Secure Grip Loose Wrists: https://ignitiongolf.com/secure-grip-loose-wrists/
May 11, 2018
MichaelBarrettPaul,
I am a bit confused about the wrists. Is the release something that is consciously done? Or is it involuntary and a natural byproduct of a sound swing with loose wrists and effortless arms?
Thanks, Mike Barrett
ps. Love the Body Swing and Ignition Golf. Keep on preaching the truth, which few other instructors are telling us.
May 11, 2018
Paul WilsonMike,
There are times when I want to you thinking and using your arms. This is when you are working on certain positions or moves. Once you get them you turn them back off and it should still be happening on its own.
The release is conscious as you are working on it. If you were as loose as I want it would happen on its own but I know you don’t have 5 years to make this happen. I want you to do it now. So I want you do manually train it to happen. In doing so you do it earlier than necessary and get it hooking. Once you can do this you work on body to straighten it out. Wrists = spin. Body = direction.
Here are the release drills:
DRILL: 3 Ways To Roll It Over: https://ignitiongolf.com/3-ways-to-roll/
See The Release: https://ignitiongolf.com/see-the-release/
Roll Around The Stick: https://ignitiongolf.com/roll-around-stick/
Clarifying the Roll Over Drill: https://ignitiongolf.com/clarifying-roll-drill/
DRILL: Smooth Wrist Release: https://ignitiongolf.com/smooth-wrist-release/
Modified Roll Over Drill: https://ignitiongolf.com/modified-roll-over-drill/
Roll Over Drill Span: https://ignitiongolf.com/roll-over-span/
Then:
After The Roll Over Drill: https://ignitiongolf.com/after-the-roll-over/
May 12, 2018
MichaelBarrettPaul,
Thanks for the lengthy reply. Great as always. I was referring to the wrists while playing. I believe from your answer I will be doing the rollover consciously on the drills but once I get the rollover properly institutionalized into my swing, the rollover should happen involuntarily on its own once my timing is correct. This involuntary rollover should serve to maximize clubhead speed and properly square the face at impact to greatly increase my accuracy. I realize this will take some time.
May 13, 2018
Paul WilsonMichael,
Very good. You are doing something until mastered. I roll it so I don’t have to think about it but I have done this millions of times. Not sure how long it will take you to master but I would think thousands if not tens of thousands of times.
May 11, 2018
Paul WilsonMike,
Thanks, I am going full force on promo. Sad that so many people are still struggling out there. Sad people are still telling them to hit.
November 28, 2018
lasertechjayPaul,
Do you purposely release your wrists in the swing or is it happening naturally because of loose wrists.
thanks
Jay
November 28, 2018
Paul WilsonJay,
I am letting physics release the club for me. This is not to say I didn’t work on my release many years ago. Watch:
How to Release the Golf Club: https://ignitiongolf.com/impact-wrist-release
If you are asking this question you need to work on the release. Just keep doing it over and over again until your wrists loosen with a secrure grip.
Secure Grip Loose Wrists: https://ignitiongolf.com/secure-grip-loose-wrists/
Drill – Smooth Wrist Release: https://ignitiongolf.com/smooth-wrist-release/
July 28, 2019
RichardDuffinBreak Through! Paul, I have been working on your swing for over a year now. I was convinced it was the correct way for me to play consistently. I am just a slow learner with this stuff and so I had to watch your videos “over and over and over” as someone is fond of saying. I can now feel when I have too much arms. I can feel the hips leading. I know the club will be “laid off” if I get the hips going. But I failed to comprehend the release. I was flipping the club and still fighting a chicken wing. Then I re-watched your release vids. I realized I was opening the face a bit in the back swing and never got it closed. And you did an excellent job of EXPLAINING how the grip effects the wrist cup. I know you want to start by getting everything to go left, then speed of the hip rotation to straighten it out. For me, it meant I needed to consciously (hopefully not for long) turn the left wrist counter-clockwise to get the fact closed. WOW! went out for a practice round tonight and even shots that were a little thin or thick still went OK. No flubs off the tee. Smacked my drives effortlessly!!! My wife was with me (my caddy) and she said the ball sounded different coming off the club, the flight was a lot lower and rolled a mile. Best drive was about 250 and for me that is absolutely amazing. We were both all smiles! So even us slow learners can get it eventually. Amazing how this last little piece, in conjunction with everything else you teach just transformed my ball striking. Don’t know why it took so long but I am confident I can break 40 for 9 with some good putts. Thank you so much! Hope to see you for a class in Vegas soon.
August 7, 2019
Paul WilsonRichard,
Very good. Counter clockwise is exactly it. Just do this every night at home for a while. It really doesn’t take long to master. The sound will be different because you are now hitting it with the right loft. Distance will increase too of course. This is a huge moment. The whole game changes once you get the distance.