Hinging your wrists correctly during your golf swing is absolutely crucial for lady golfers as using your wrist correctly produces maximum club head speed for your golf shots and the more club head speed you can create, the further you will hit your golf ball. Hinging your wrist correctly also allows you to swing the club head around you at the correct angle and doing this allows you to achieve consistency when striking the golf ball and accuracy in your golf shots.

To correctly hinge your wrist, take up your address position. Instigate your backswing from your left shoulder (for right handed golfers) by moving your left arm and the golf club away from the golf ball and down the target line. Once your hands have moved across your body and are in front of your right thigh, your wrist needs to begin to hinge upwards so that the club head begins to rise up off the target line. By the time your hands are hip high, the club head should also be as high as your hands and the shaft of the golf club pointing to the right and parallel to the target line.

Continuing with your backswing, at chest height your wrist will have created an L shape, or 90 degree angle between the golf club shaft and your straight left arm, and at the top of your backswing you should still have this 90 degree angle. As you swing back down towards the golf ball, instigate your downswing by rotating your lower body towards the target and pull the 90 degree angle down towards the ball, returning to the hip high position that you achieved on your backswing – the club head as high as your hands and the shaft pointing to your right but parallel to the target line. From this position you can release your wrist angle and fire the club head into the golf ball at maximum speed, producing your furthest golf shots.

Swinging in this way allows you to swing the club head on the widest swing arc around you, giving you more time to build speed into the club head and then release this speed into the golf ball.

Achieving this correct wrist hinge also allows you to swing the golf club head on the correct plane, or angle around you. If you do not hinge your wrist in this way, the club head will travel too low to the floor initially, or flat. As a consequence of this, you will have to use your arms to lift the golf club up and into position at the top of your backswing and your left arm will collapse and bend at the elbow at the top of your swing. You will have a reduced club head speed so will not hit the ball as far, but also it will be more difficult to strike the ball consistently well from this position. The flatter swing plane will also result in the club head approaching the ball too much from the inside of the target line, rather than down the target line and you will have directional issues as well.

Try this drill to help you work on achieving the correct wrist hinge as you swing your golf club. Address the golf ball. Your wrist has two directions of movement, left to right/right to left, or up and down. Hinging your golf club correctly involves an up/down hinge, so from your address position move the club head directly upwards from your wrist and then down back to the ball with no movement left or right. Hinge the club head up as high as your hands, or just above them. Rotate your upper body to the right until the shaft of the club is parallel to the target line and this is the correct position for the club to be in with the correct wrist hinge.

Do this a few times to learn the position to be in and then work on moving directly into this position from address. This will get you hinging correctly and will improve your golf.