If you want to hit the ball longer and further, as we’ve discussed in the first video of this miniseries, we’re going to try and used the wrists to be able do that. And to be able to release the wrist hinge at the right point to hit the golf ball, we’ve got to make sure we get that wrist hinge in in the first instance. Now the adding of the wrist hinge happens in the backswing, so from the good address position as we swing back we’re going to set the wrist and create some wrist hinge in the backswing face. Now a lot of different elements go into creating the right amount of wrist hinge so for example if you’re gripping the golf club in the wrong way, or griping the golf club with too much tension, you’re going to struggle to get the correct amount of wrist hinge in your backswing. So let’s imagine you’re struggling to get the right amount of wrist set in this part of your swing, we might consider that if you’ve got too weak of a grip, so a weak grip is not necessarily too much tension or too little tension, but it’s more that the left hand as a right handed player, my left hand is too far underneath, if my left hand is too far underneath here maybe I can only see one knuckle or no knuckles on the back of my hand, as I swing back I struggle to really release that club or set that club up, it has to be into a quite awkward position.

But if I was to be able to turn my left hand over so it was in the correct position, I’ve got two and half, maybe even three knuckles and now I feel that I can set that club up just on its own, so a great way of checking that you’re able to set the golf club up in the right way and that your grip is ok, you just make someone handed swings, this shouldn’t feel particularly awkward or difficult to at least get the golf cub into a 90-degree wrist set position. Naturally as I swing the club up a little bit higher, effectively the club feels lighter, it probably feels it’s heaviest about here because it’s really pulling down because I set it up there. The shaft and the weight pulls into my hand and I’m in a more natural position, and it actually feels a bit lighter. So a nice neutral grip allows me to set the club up, a very weak grip is going to really make you feel awkward trying to hinge that club into a good place, so the one handed swing is a great way of checking the grip is ok for the start of the backswing.

Next thing to check is tension, too much grip pressure and the hinging and the setting of the club is going to feel really awkward, go ahead and grab your club and grab it as tightly as you possibly can and then swing it back, swing it back, swing it back and try and hinge it up, it just won’t feel natural, it would feel like it gets stuck here, my tension won’t allow the club up. But if I relax my hands and arms you can feel already there’s plenty of opportunity to hinge the wrists. So as I swing the club back, the clubs sets into a good position. Once I’ve set the club into a good position it allows me to hold that lag angle, hold that wrist hinge to generate maximum power for those longer, straighter golf shots that I keep promising you.