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How to Combine Power and Accuracy in the Golf Swing

Tell me if this sounds familiar:

You are on a par 5 going for the green in 2. You really need to hit a long drive. But instead, you hit a big slice or a pull.

The moment you try to add more power, you lose control of your shot’s direction. I bet you’ve had this experience more than once.

You are not alone.

There is a fine line between power and control in the golf swing, and most golfers have a hard time determining where this line falls.

What Makes Combining Power and Control So Difficult?

When you are driving a golf ball, you are swinging the club at over one hundred miles per hour.

Even a one-degree difference in clubface angle can send your ball 15 yards off target.

Even golfers that struggle with distance would agree that a straight shot, even with 15 yards less distance, is better than these wild ball flights.

Golfers who know how to combine power and control are doing some of the same things with their wrists in their golf swing.

This is a skill you can learn.

Pro Tour player wrist action in golf swing

How to Combine Power and Accuracy in the Golf Swing

To combine power and control in the golf swing, you will need to have control of the clubface.

The more control you have, the more accurate your golf shot can be.

The best players win because they can control the clubface and do it consistently.

Researchers have found that the direction of the clubface determines more than 80% of the shot’s direction.

Even those that have incredible power and speed in their swing often struggle to have control over what the face is doing.

Luckily with the proper wrist action, control of the clubface is attainable.

How Does the Wrist Control the Clubface

Changing wrist extension (cupping) opens, and flexion of the wrist closes the clubface to the target, determining your shot’s direction.

The hands and wrists are the only parts of your body that are in direct contact with the club.

Every time you swing the club, you open and close the clubface with your hands.

extension and flexion in clubface control

How Pros Combine Power and Accuracy

Working together with leading golf instructors, we carefully analyzed pro player data.

We found that wrist extension control is the key to pro players’ accuracy.

  • From address to the top of the backswing, pros can maintain stable extension in their wrists.
  • Directly before impact, professionals decrease the amount of extension and increase flexion to square the clubface.
wrist extension vs wrist flexion

The terms for wrist motion can sound confusing, but they are actually quite simple.

  • Extension is when the hand is bent upwards (“cupping” of the wrist) and is responsible for opening the clubface.
  • Flexion is when the hand is bent downwards (“bowing” of the wrist) and is responsible for closing the clubface.
wrist extension and flexion explained in golf

1. Pros Control Their Extension During the Backswing

During the backswing, pro players are able to maintain a stable extension from the address to the top.

Take a look at the 3D hand avatar below. You can see that the wrist extension can easily change from +40 to -40 degrees. A few degree changes are not perceptible to the naked eye.

Here is an example of a PGA TOUR player’s data collected by a wrist sensor.

  1. Address: 23 degrees extended
  2. Top of the backswing: 26 degrees extended
  3. Impact: 1 degree extended
screenshot of flexion and extension data from hackmotion

The wrist extension is almost the same from the address to the top of the swing.

Interestingly from the top of the backswing down to the ball, the extension in the wrist almost completely disappears.

2. Pro Players Remove Extension During the Downswing

The downswing is where the differences between pros and amateurs show up.

Most amateurs never decrease the extension in their wrists on their downswing. This extra extension causes an open clubface and a last-minute fix to flip the club to square it up.

Flipping is the rapid removal of extension before impact and closing the clubface. Flipping of the club is difficult to time, and it is also not consistent at all.

Pros, on the other hand, do not flip through impact. Instead, pros remove their wrist extension gradually during the downswing.

On average, pros decrease extension by around 20-30 degrees from top to impact.

By removing extension gradually, pros also get their hands ahead of the ball at impact, create a descending blow, and hit consistent shots that fly high and straight.

Example of Pro Player’s Downswing Data

screenshot of Pro players downswing data

This pro tour player had 23 degrees of extension at the address and only 1 degree at impact.

By flattening his wrist, he removed 22 degrees of extension.

Take a look at the image below to see how a typical pro player’s wrists look at impact vs. at address.

pro players wrist action at impact vs at address

So how do you learn to replicate what the pros do?

It’s really difficult to feel and even see this motion that your wrists make during the swing.

The perfect solution is to have a tool that can pinpoint the exact angles and even notify you when the angles are incorrect.

That’s where HackMotion comes in.

How Can HackMotion Help?

We developed the HackMotion sensor to help players monitor wrist motion and learn to master the pro technique.

The HackMotion Wrist Sensor is a breakthrough technology for learning how to combine power and accuracy, and the world’s top golf instructors use it.

After each swing, you get precise data on what your wrists are doing.

If you want information during the swing, HackMotion can provide that as well.

Wrist movements are difficult to observe with the naked eye or a video camera. A golfer’s “feel” is often misleading.

With HackMotion, you can make effective improvements based on accurate measurements.

The HackMotion comes in three different styles, from a basic version to a professional model. With HackMotion, you won’t need to have a professional with you at the range to start to master your clubface control.

With this HackMotion tool, expect to hit more consistent shots with all golf clubs in the bag.

Whether you are new to the game or looking to make it to the professional tour, the combination of data, training, and analysis is exactly what you need.

Grab your HackMotion today and make your golf swing more efficient and effective.

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