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The Two Basic Golf Swings

 

Golf instruction can often be very confusing. For example contradictory statements can frequently be found where both parties with genuine sincerity and equal vehemence proclaim a fundamental of golf and yet the two statements are in complete opposition to one another.

 

One such example of this, although there are many others, relates to the use of the wrists in the golf swing. One group proclaims that a key fundamental of golf is that the wrists remain passive through the swing. This means, of course, that the wrists hinge freely through impact. Another group are just as equally sure that through impact the back of the left hand remains pointing forwards and angled down through the impact zone. In other words the wrists are locked through impact.

 

As golfers we are left in a very confused state. Which one of the two fundamentals is right or could they both be wrong? The one thing we can say is, they can’t obviously both be right, when the statements are in complete opposition to each other.  Or could they?

 

The correct answer out of the three alternatives is that both groups are right and both of these statements are correct. So how can this be? How can two completely different statements both be right?

 

The solution to this puzzle is that both groups are talking about different things. In fact they are talking about different ways of swinging the golf club both of which are equally valid. The truth is that there is not just one way to swing the club at the ball.

We can identify two basic ways that we can swing the club at the ball and as we have seen above each way of swinging has its supporters. The two basic swings can be described as the flail swing and the drive/hold swing.

 

In the flail swing the arms slow down as they approach the ball. What this does is transfer momentum to the club so that the club head speeds up. This is the same action as a flail used in threshing wheat. Another example is in the use of a whip or in flicking someone with a towel. Clearly in this case the wrists must be passive so that they hinge freely as the club accelerates.

 

In the drive/hold swing by contrast the arms accelerate as they come through impact and the left wrist remains locked through impact.  We do not therefore get the flail effect and in this swing clubhead speed is therefore slower than in the flail swing. However the distance the ball can be hit is about the same for both ways of swinging. The reason is that the clubhead is braked less by the ball through impact in the drive/hold swing.

 

On the major golf tours the drive/hold swing in now the preferred way of playing. However there is no reason why a golfer shouldn’t be able to play in both ways and choose which swing will be most effective to bring off a particular shot.