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Achieving left wrist supination in the golf swing (Drill)
Ben Hogan was right that the best swings in the game have this supination action at impact. It allows the club to come into the ball square.
But many players do not fully understand how to achieve this supination. Here is how you can begin to get this feeling in your swing.
One of the most important things I have discovered about this supination is that it is NOT achieved by the wrists or the small muscles in the hands. The wrists are too weak to force this position and too weak to overcome the huge forces that the swing is generating. The way to achieve this supination is to use the large muscles of the body properly in the golf swing.
That sounds a bit strange, doesn’t it? Here is an image of the left wrist supinating, but you can’t force it to happen. You allow it to happen by doing the right things in the swing.
Drills for supination
1. Left hand only half swings (do not hit the ground or a golf ball with this drill)
Start with you normal stance, but only your left hand on the club. Take the club back only until the shaft is parallel to the ground with the toe pointing straight up. On the way back you should feel your left forearm rotating. If you are wearing a watch, the watch should almost face the sky or ceiling when the toe of the club is pointing up. Your shoulders should rotate too and their rotation should stop when the shaft reaches parallel.
Initiate the downswing by rotating your hips to the left. You should feel a small delay in the arms. Take the club through until it is also parallel with the ground. The toe should be up and have rotated somewhat to the left. While you are doing these short swings, take a look at the position of your left hand, it should match the drawing. If it is not matching, don’t force it match by using your wrists. That doesn’t work. You need to feel large muscles actually driving the rotation of the club face.
It will take some practice but this drill will help you to feel the club releasing and rotating through impact. As you do this drill, you will improve your left hand arm action and it will help you hit the ball longer and straighter.
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For those confused as to what you mean by the “large muscles” of the body, the pronators and supinators of your forearms are the key muscles to control the fine elements of this action.
A common mistake in this action is that hands dont pass through the ball early enough through the club head. This causes the club not to deloft as expected, making the short go high, and not as far. This is cured by focusing on starting the downswing with the hips, and not over forcing the rotation of the wrists. Or put the ball a half ball back in your stance.
Another important issue is not to let your wrists flex, extend, radial deviate or ulnar deviate during the impact portion of the ball. i.e the only action in your wrists when the club head is one foot behind the ball, to one foot infront after impact is supination with the left, and pronation with the right. All other axis are fixed.