After viewing Hogans swing countless times, I am fascinated by what I believe are the most Magical and dynamic use of the hands and wrists to square the club face at impact.
Speaking for myself, I believe The Impact position is the most important position in a swing motion. and the key to understanding , executing and repeating the swing motion . Furthermore, I believe, other than the ability to swing in balance, it is the first thing that should be taught.
It is my belief that the hinging of the wrist set the conditions, that are required to execute or achieve dynamic impact position. By simply observing these conditions, we can better understand our motion and understand the relation to what we feel and what is really happening.
Now what is impact position? For me, impact position is merely the position one dynamically achieves as the club face meets the ball. Once we arrive in this position, we can observe some simple things that took place and observe what must be repeated. Sort of a reverse engineering approach.
How do we know what our dynamic impact position is and how might one get into impact position?
First I would like to offer something that works for me. We can achieve impact position in a couple of ways. First, simply take your address position, now move the hands left until both hands are straight. You will notice that the left wrist went into palmer flexion and the right hand dorsi flexed or left palm up and right palm facing down. Also notice the angle that was created by the shaft and the right forearm due to the right wrist bending. Also the hips moved or rotated slightly and the right heel raised slightly as the weight shifted to the inside of the foot and over to the front foot..
The angle you have created represents half your range of motion in the wrists. The other half would be to flex or hinge the wrist the other way and move the shaft and hands to the right of you. I should make this clear, this is the swing motion, this is where you create and release lag. To me, this is the swing within the swing.
I believe lag, created by the body or hands being ahead of the motion of the club head can be set in the back swing or created in the down swing. Note there are two forms of lag we can achieve, (1),the hands behind body and (2) club face lagging behind hands. Also, lag can be created by the extention of the fingers and flexion releases this lag to accelerate the club face.
I must state that impact position is different for each shot depending on the amount of release. For example, a chip shot may use zero release where as the tee shot may release all the way into the ball. The right arm may or may not be straight at impact depending on preference. IMO, the wrist feel and manage this lag in concert with the hands.
The most important thing for to remember, is that the wrist maintain their position and execute their roles dynamically, while at the same time, going through their full range of motion, naturally. Also I believe it is easier for me to set the wrist or lag early with the left wrist(cupping) and release it with the right, after the left has bowed or supinated. This early setting of the lag also represents my optimal swing path. How you hold these positions or hinging is controlled by the muscles of the forearm. I think a certain amount of attention should also be paid to the top of the forearm and it muscles, they are keys to maintaining and executing the full ROM of the wrists. In any natural motion, this will all happen as a matter of course, but I thought bringing some attention to it might help.
For example, IMO, The highest level of execution or swing motion and use of the wrists, would be preset dorsi flexion at address,(or cupping), of the left wrist and into the back swing, and then, during transition, we would reverse or hinge back,(supination) and lead with the bowed left wrist hold. At some point, depending on timing and shot selection, we release control to the right hand to release or hinge through impact. . We must also understand that the left and right wrists act together as opposites in this motion. The right wrist will do exactly the opposite of the left. Also, there is speculation on my part that Mr. Hogan was able to execute all of this through his understanding of the rotational capabilities of the forearms. I also believe he was at times able to supinate both wrists at the same time at or during impact,(Secret).
I understand that there are many pieces to the puzzle, this is just how I see and feel one of them. Furthermore, I believe there the golf swing is actually made up of two swings. One, that the body swings the arms and the second , would be the hands and wrist swinging the club. The execution, both in the hinging of the wrist and release of the lag is, IMO, the nucleus of the swing motion. Furthermore I believe the swinging of the arms by the body should emulates and support the motion of hands and wrist in the golf swing .
Here are a few experiment videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3bvLG6iIdE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqHrKLXTRPw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGpVx9dgcyk&feature=related
As with all my post , blogs comments, I must state, I am a student of golf, and I am merely trying to chronicle what I am learning as I observe the greats , what they had to say, watching their swings, reading and researching. I practice and experiment with all concepts or theories I have put forward. As with most of you out there, I take what I can use, implement it into my swing, and save the rest.
I must also say that the biggest part of my swing is drawing on my own experiences and see how they stand up to what others had to say about motion and their swing. I have never made a single claim, observation or discovered any information that hasn’t already been thought of or put forth at some point by someone else.. My satisfaction is knowing that in my journey, I can always find comfort, knowing that I am on the right track.
Furthermore, what works for me is not what I would say is best for anyone else, but the process by which I have used to build my swing, will hopefully be of use to the next person.
Mark, 1lovegolf24
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