POOR CONTACT?? THERE’S A FUNDAMENTAL YOU’RE MISSING

Sorry…but you’ve been lied to. Remember those first group lessons you took? Without a doubt, you were introduced to Grip, Alignment, Stance, and Posture. (GASP!) You were told that these were FUNDAMENTALS. You needed to get them exactly right before you had any chance of better golf shots. A Fundamental, (noun), by definition, is a central or primary rule or principle. But when we look at Tour players…there is variation as to how

By Sue Kaffenburg

controls the clubface for consistent contact! FLAT (and even bowed) LEFT WRIST in combination with a BENT RIGHT WRIST (right handers). This IS the one critical fundamental for the full swing… one alignment that MUST BE PRESENT! While how you hold the club certainly contributes to controlling your clubface at impact, what is MOST important is that your wrists MUST be in this relationship… at and just after impact.

How to make this yours?? Take a test. Set your phone camera recording to SloMo and have your buddy stand facing you opposite the ball to capture a video of your motion. Your video of the moment of impact most probably will show a weak position at impact, where your clubhead has passed the handle. THAT is what contributes to your loss of power and poor contact. Now take a new video of your swing intending to hit the ball HARD and STOPPING abruptly just after the hit. You will be amazed how that will make your impact position a million times more powerful because you’re “holding on” and only delivering impact…no follow through. Google impact position pictures of your favorite Tour Player and you’ll see more EVIDENCE! Add to that what it would feel like for your wrists. Set your clubface against a straight edge and push on it as if you were trying to push that object towards the flagstick. Have someone take a still picture of your hands and wrists pushing the handle of the club. Flat left, Bent right!

their hands are placed on the club. Their alignments can be different. Even their posture tilts ARE NOT ALL the SAME!! Truth is GASPS are variable. So…which one shall we pick out for you to work on as a MUST?

Instead, if we compare the moment of impact for those same Tour players, the relationship of the angles made by their target wrist and trail wrist ALL LOOK THE SAME AT IMPACT! One is FLAT and one is BENT. Finally, a TRUE fundamental, a RULE, you can work on that

Now you have a clear picture, an explanation and a feel of the one TRUE Fundamental you’ve been missing. My guess is you didn’t even know that’s what you should have been working on! Time to stop over focusing on “GASP-ing” for air. Find your new impact wrist angles and work on being able to produce this non-negotiable alignment!