Breakdown of left arm and wrist

Hi Thomas,

It's hard to understand what you mean by "breaking down". Can you elaborate or provide screen shots from the video?

When I see my friends try and hit the ball really hard and/or fast, they have a tendency to over swing, bringing the club back too far behind them and past parallel. The force of the club head swinging downward past the top due to the momentum pulls their wrist back (the wrist cups) and opens the club face. By not going past parallel and not exerting too much force at the top during the downswing helps to prevent strain on the wrist and they are able to maintain the face angle a lot better.

I like to ask them why they like to use so much energy moving the club upward against gravity and away from the target during the downswing. It helps them to understand where they are going wrong. I straightened out one guys drives in one range session. The other one doesn't like to listen.

Is this by chance the same thing you are experiencing?

Sincerely,

Michael U 

Yes, this is what was happening. In the videos my head was turning due to the club going past parallel, in fact I could see my driver head out of the corner of my left eye at the top of the back swing. The breakdown in the arm and wrist is when i get to impact my left arm is bent behind me and my left wrist has a flip. I think what you are saying is something that I need to address.

Thanks

Cool!

Another issue that is common, that you may need to monitor is over rotating your hips. Its hard to notice because we tend to keep our eye on the ball throughout the swing. Think about gear ratios and a small gear (your hips) attached to the same axis (your spine) of a large gear (the arms and shaft). If you rotate the small gear about 6 inches around, the end of the large gear moves maybe 3-4 feet. Move your hips 1 foot around and factor in your shoulder turn and wrist hinge, you can get the club head 45 degree past parallel. Not to mention, once you move past a  certain point, your back may start to do a reverse tilt to compensate for the pressure that your wrists cannot.

Point being, if you over rotate your hips, it will send your arms and hands way too high, adding to the over swing. Then all sorts of bad things start to happen.

The old drill I saw to help spot this on the range is to put an alignment rod through your belt loop with it pointing out towards the target. Take your full back swing and try to not move the tip of the alignment stick until after your full shoulder turn. And then make sure the alignment stick doesn't move more than necessary (for some that could be 10 degrees, and others 45 degrees depending upon flexibility). The tip of the alignment stick will give you some visual feedback as to what your hips are doing. Just don't take full swings with that thing sticking out or you could poke an eye out.

Good luck,

Michael U