Welcome back to the “The Ten Biggest Mistakes Amateurs Make” videos. In this lesson, we’ll look at why cocking your wrists in the backswing is a terrible idea.
You’ve been told by most every golf publication and instructional video, and most likely on the lesson tee too, that cocking your wrists in the backswing is essential to generate power. You’re told to either a) cock your wrists the instant you start your backswing or b) to “set the angle” when your club is parallel to the ground on the way up, or c) cock your wrists at the top of the backswing so the club is parallel to the ground.
Guess what? Cocking your wrists is about the worst thing you could do to avoid pain, keep your body in dynamic balance, and achieve any consistency in your swing.
I believe that “the best wrist action is no wrist action.” Phrases like this are what I call “Surgisms.” Cocking your wrists, no matter where in the backswing does not add to power. When you cock, or break your wrists, you create what I call The #1 Domino Effect.
Think of the joints and muscles in your body when you swing as dominoes lined up behind each other. When the #1 Domino falls, they all do.
When you cock or set your wrists, you change the angle of your front forearm to the shaft and change all the muscle lengths and tone of your arms and hands. Instead of working together in harmony, they are now fighting each other as you approach the moment of impact.
In the backswing, you want to do everything mentally and physically possible to ensure you never let your forward wrist angle change in the backswing. Lifting the club properly, from the takeaway to the top of the backswing, gets the club above your hands at the top without any change in muscle length or tone, and is the key ingredient to having a vertical, limited turn, 3/4 backswing.
That’s it: “the best wrist action is no wrist action.” Simple. Painless. Accurate. Powerful.
Tomorrow I’ll reveal the next Major Mistake: that relaxed, “bar stool” setup.
In the meantime, if you want more information on how my students, including my son, PGA Tour pro DJ Trahan, maintain a longer, straighter and more consistent swing, check out my complete series of instructional videos right here at www.SwingSurgeon.com.
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See you tomorrow,
Don Trahan, PGA