As I have written before, all great swings, whether they be single-plane/two-plane, steep/flat or fast/slow, have one thing in common:
the hands are ahead of the ball at impact.
It is truly a key position for proper ball-striking. Equally as important, if not more important, is the fundamental action that produces this key position.
It is a wrist/forearm motion known as
supination. Ben Hogan emphasized that through impact, the left wrist and the back of the left hand (of a right-handed golfer) should gradually supinate.
In other words, they rotate from nearly a palm-down position toward more of a palm-up position coming into the ball. At impact, the back of the left hand faces toward the target and the knuckles of the left hand should face the ground.
In addition, the left wrist should be flat or bowed through impact.
In the April 1956 issue of Golf Digest, Hogan wrote, "I've noticed one thing that all good golfers do and all bad golfers do not. The good ones have their left wrist leading at impact. It seems a small thing, but I've found it to be universally true. At impact the left wrist of a good player is slightly convex, while that of a poor player is generally concave."
This is all easier said than done. Proper supination with a flat or bowed left wrist is an advanced concept and one that it very difficult for the average golfer to learn. The vast majority of golfers instinctively flip their left wrists forward through impact believing that such an action will produce the optimal results: maximum distance and trajectory. Unfortunately, this couldn't be any farther from the truth.
As with most things in golf, intuition must be thrown out the window. Instead, think of rotating your left wrist without breaking it.
Supination is probably the single most important action in the proper golf swing. Unfortunately, it is also probably the least understood. If you are a golfer and have never heard of "supination" before, you owe it to yourself to fully understand this concept and ensure that it is a part of your swing. If you need hands-on assistance, your friendly neighborhood PGA teaching professional is your best bet. In the meantime, check out this helpful
tip on supination. Also, here's a good reference for all the wrist actions in the golf swing:
The 6 Actions of the Wrists and Forearms.
A good drill that I've come across to teach this action is the wrist watch drill advocated by David Leadbetter. It relies on the simple image of a wrist watch on your left wrist. Concentrate on maintaining the watch face facing toward the ground at impact. Leadbetter says, "To get the feel of this, practice making smooth half-swings holding the club with your left hand alone and swinging waist-high to waist-high. Focus on the face of your watch, trying to feel it going from looking at the sky from the top of your swing to looking toward the ground through impact."
