A new Flat Left Wrist question
 

At the top of my swing i have a little cupping in the left wrist, half way down with left arm parallel to the ground it's still there. Between this point and impact i flatten the wrist. Whilst maybe not ideal, i can still get my wrist flat at impact. Should i try to concern myself with getting it flat earlier?

Its up to you....however there will be times when you probably won't flatten at impact.

Its just easier to monitor if you keep it flat at the top.

But its still an option

For some reason i have a really rought time getting it flat at the top. Probably a little bit of a strong grip.

If you're grip is a little strong you will have a small cup.

The easiest thing to do is to take your grip and take your backswing to the top or end. Then, using a mirror, make sure that the face of the club (driver is easiest to tell usually) is PARALLEL to your LEFT FOREARM.

If you go to http://redgoat.smugmug.com , brady riggs site, he has a grip fundamental section up now that shows the differences in grip type and flat/cupped positions.

Thanks again Jim. Here's an image of me at the top, this shows the amount of cupping i have from the top to halfway down.

Link isn't working correctly when you click it so need to copy and paste into a new browser.

http://www.freewebs.com/revert/top.jpg

Looks pretty good to me, it seems like the face is matching the left forearm so you should be fine.

HOWEVER

Aren't you the one with the hooks? I bet so from that big ole' flat backswing lol. I bet you also have issues with blocks from time to time do don't ya? ;)

One more guess....do you tend to hit the ball a little low overall?

i do struggle with hooks. I've been working hard the past few weeks on this flatness. Hopefully it's getting there.

actually i have a pretty high ball flight with my Irons, drivers a little low.

I used to be pretty flat like you...here's a way to get rid of it:

Stand about 2-3 feet away from a wall with your BACK to it. Now make your backswing WITHOUT letting the clubhead hit the wall. Let me warn you that it is going to feel REALLY UPRIGHT. But that is because you're so flat. You are forgetting that the left arm must go "up" as well as "around."

I used to have this issue so i know a lot about it. When you get that flat in the backswing, if you shift down to another plane your right elbow is too far behind your hip and you get stuck. So you either flip it and hook, or like me your push slice, block them out to the right.

Also get yourself some cheap flashlights and start tracing a straight plane line. What you'll notice is that your light will point well to the outside of the line. Practice until you can keep tracing the line and it feels normal. You can practice this without hitting balls too.

Good luck

Thanks for the advice. I'll give those a try.

I forgot to add as your swing gets back on plane better you can keep moving back CLOSER to the wall.

However don't do DOWNSWINGS lol, unless you want scraps on your wall.

That's a good tip..lol. As much as i am flat on the backswing, the downswing isn't far off plane at all, it's pretty close to be honest. Having a more upright backswing is something i really want though.

I'm not saying you can't go from a flat position to an on-plane downswing. Many many many many players who shift to the elbow plane can do it. Some examples are Vijay, Sergio, Howell III....all relatively flat but shift down to the elbow plane and are ok.

The problem comes from when you can't shift right and you end up keeping the right elbow BEHIND the hip instead of keeping it IN FRONT of it and you end up getting stuck.

So you can either be more upright and then when/if you shift you won't be coming so close to being underplane and being stuck or you can keep your same backswing position and just learn (i don't know how) the right lower body movements to keep the right elbow in front of you.

I do definately want to be more upright. I can suffer from that problem of the right elbow getting stuck behind the hip. For me that's hook city, normally on the tee with a driver. It's a real killer.