The Correct Way to Unhinge Your Wrists for a More Powerful Downswing

Updated January 20, 2022

Another question I’m often asked is how should the club start down in relation to leverage fundamentals. To understand that properly, we need to understand the goal of what we're trying to do at impact.

3 Things to Remember at Impact

In the impact position three important things are trying to be achieved. The right wrist is trying to hold its angle and not flip through impact, the left wrist is trying to stay in a firm position and resist the push of the right had.

Those two things are combining with the forearms rotating to add a flow of speed through impact. So we know what we're trying to do now at impact. How do we get from the top of the swing, down to the impact position without losing either radius or lag?

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Simple Exercise to Unhinge Wrists Correctly

A simple exercise to achieve this is to hold the club midway down the shaft and pump the club up and down. Feeling the start of the downswing is a flow of motion from the left arm and not from the left wrist.

In doing this, we can then let go of the club and feel the club release its energy through impact. Remember, it's the arm speed and forearm rotation that allows the wrist to unhinge; it's never a conscious effort to do this. Either through impact or indeed from the top of the swing.