To Hinge or Not to Hinge
I always knew that an active wrist hinge, as taught in traditional golf instruction, changed the club face and was not repeatable. This wrist hinge was done only in preparation for throwing the club head at the ball for power. Well, you may get a little power from it, but for every action, there is an opposite reaction. So, essentially, hinging on the backswing leads to flipping on the downswing. The chances of timing this to produce a solid, straight golf shot are very small. Plus, when everything is hinging at the wrists, the radius of the swing is cut in half—the length is only from the wrists to the club head. So, as my method progressed, I wanted to have a full radius at impact—the front arm in line with the shaft and leading the club head—and use the body’s rotation as the source of power. I could see this in other athletic movements, like throwing a ball. For many years, I taught “passive hands” and “constant grip pressure.” Some of my earlier teaching mentions letting the wrist...