In a previous article I dealt with the problems of over cocking your wrists in your back-swing.
In this article I would like to discuss the release of your wrists in your down-swing.
I find a lot of my students have a conscious forced release.
When we make a conscious effort to make the shot, we have an adverse effect on our golf swing.
In the following I will talk about the does and don'ts in the release of your wrists and the problems it may cause.
When you have a grooved, relaxed, golf swing your movements will flow naturally and your wrists will cock and release automatically.
To understand a golf swing you need to realize each movement is a logical (natural) result of the movement happening before it.
The wrists will release themselves if your swing has been correct up to the point where the hands reach the hitting area.
Where a lot of my students get into trouble is when they consciously activate their hands and create an unnatural movement in terms of the swing.
Whether they start their down-swing with the hands (starting the swing early) or consciously snapping the wrists as they enter the hitting area, both change the natural flow of the movements.
Starting the swing early changes the plane (arc) and tends to advance the club head in front of the hands and/or takes the face out of square at contact.
Consciously adding extra force (snapping the wrists) does the opposite I find most golfers are trying to carry out.
Giving that little extra for distance, in reality, it wastes a lot of the power the body generates through the swing (premature release of power/wasted power).
My favorite saying to my kids is "it's not a hockey stick it's a golf club, you swing it, not take a slap-shot".
Look at it this way, if we thought about all the steps involved to eat, from picking up the fork to all the muscles and actions to chew, we would probably choke on are food.
We would be thinking about the process not the primary goal of eating.
This is the wrong side of having a grooved swing.
Too much conscious thought actually interferes with the smoothness and fluidity of your swing.
When releasing the wrists is a deliberate act, you invariably will release your wrists incorrectly (most likely prematurely).
This is true for all the natural movements in a grooved swing, any and all conscious influence will create an adverse effect and result in a poor result at contact.
One of the top ten mistakes by amateurs, is they stand over the ball at address for too long.
Their brain has taken over and they are thinking about all the things they must do to make the shot.
This thinking process must happen before they address the ball.
At address you want a blank mind (confidence in your swing) and just swing away.