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The late hit
It is commonly known that strong, flexible hands and wrists often prove to be the difference between an average and a good player. Some specialized exercising can be done to tone up these golfing muscles and open the avenue to greater power. For example, hold the club in your left hand with the thumb on top of the shaft, the arm extended and parallel with the ground. Now, bending only the wrist, raise and lower the club. If you spend a few minutes daily doing this exercise you will be pleasantly surprised at how much your control over the club will improve in a very short time. This same exercise should be done with the right hand but not as frequently as with the left. The right is stronger to begin with, and we are attempting to balance the power.
With hands that are strong enough you can work toward the action from which length results. Maintaining a wrist break on the downswing until the hands are opposite the ball—the late hit—is the trademark of all good golfers. Getting into position for the late hit isn't too difficult. The skill comes in having the club face contact the ball squarely, and this is where many golfers fail. In this position just before impact, if the left hand were carried through the ball at the speed it was traveling at up to this point, the result would be a weak slice. It is here, however, just before impact, that the left hand begins to supinate, to turn over so that the palm will be facing up to the sky at the end of the swing. This action of the left hand causes the right to accelerate its speed enormously and carries the clubhead into the ball with maximum force.
Immediately after the ball is contacted—it is all part of one uninterrupted swing, of course—both arms continue on and through, with the right being the new leader, passing the left as the left begins to break at the elbow.
BILL WOTHERSPOON, Southern Hills CC, Tulsa
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Exercise for developing the hands and wrists
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Position of hands shortly after impact
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NEXT TIP: George Gordon on a remedy for shanking
