10 Proven Drills for Maintaining a Flat Lead Wrist in Your Golf Swing
A flat lead wrist promotes forward shaft lean at address, clean contact, more distance, and better consistency in your golf game.
For most golfers, once you get the feeling of that flat lead wrist, it becomes much easier to repeat.
We love great golf drills that get you the feedback you need to make the appropriate changes to your wrist action in the golf swing.
Here are the best drills for keeping a flat wrist in golf.
Contents
10 Effective Drills to Keep Your Lead Wrist Flat in Golf
Tee Peg Up Drill
This drill from Alistair Davies will help narrow your focus and specifically be able to look and feel the exact position of the lead wrist.
For this one, all you need to do is place a tee in the velcro area of your golf glove and ensure that it points up.
When you get to the top of the backswing, keep that tee pointing up to the sky.
Motorcycle Drill
When you rev a motorcycle your lead wrist moves into a more flexed position.
If you can feel this at the top of your backswing it can help you maintain the flat lead wrist through impact.
The motorcycle drill is best performed when wearing the HackMotion wrist sensor so you can narrow down the lead wrist extension/flexion numbers that work best for your game.
Two Golf Ball Drill
The two golf ball drill is especially good for players who tend to flip their wrists through impact.
With the two-ball drill, you will set up to hit a golf ball about 10 inches behind the one you actually want to hit.
Take your backswing, and only hit the first golf ball when you come through.
It takes a bit of an exaggeration of the lead wrist position to make this happen, which is a perfect way to learn the move.
Drag the Mop Drill
Think about the action your hands and wrists make when you are mopping.
The lead wrist has to be flat or even slightly extended to drag the mop along the ground. Create this same concept on the range by tying a towel around your club head and dragging it through the impact zone.
This will help exaggerate the feeling. Then, incorporate this into your short game practice at first until you get it down.
Trail Wrist Flexion Drill
With this drill from Steve Johnston Golf (the video above), you’ll learn a simple trick that will help you keep the left wrist flat throughout the swing.
To do this drill, you have to feel a slight extension in the trail wrist as you take the club back. This is essentially the opposite feeling you want in the lead wrist.
This movement is not a hinge or a lifting of the club; it is just a slight extension.
Plate Drill
This plate drill from Eric Cogorno will help you feel the maximum extension in the trail wrist and more flexion and flat position in your lead wrist.
This drill requires you to actually take the plate in your hands and go through a slow motion swing where you feel these angles.
Always make sure that the plate is positioned at the top of your swing so that the trail hand is on the underside of the plate.
Hit Hard Than Stop Drill
If you swing as hard as you can through impact and try to stop, you’ll do a great job holding your lead wrist flat.
This happens naturally because of the concept of having to stop the club. You won’t be able to flip or add extension to the lead wrist.
Rob Cheney shows this drill, which is very similar to a golf impact bag drill, without having to purchase the impact bag.
Towel Under the Arm Drill
Chances are you have heard of this one as a way to sync your body and arms and get them to work together in the golf swing.
Luckily, you can also use this towel-under-the-arm drill to check your lead wrist position. Take your golf towel and put it under both arms. As you swing back, don’t let it fall out.
As soon as the towel starts to fall on the backswing, you are likely taking the club too upright and creating extension in the lead wrist.
Split Grip Drill
Splitting the hands on the golf club will help you become more aware of the lead wrist position.
This split grip drill helps you feel a shallower backswing, an improved angle of attack, and a better impact position with a flat lead wrist.
The best way to practice this drill is to take a few swings without hitting a ball, put the hands together, and then hit a few.
Pump Drill with HackMotion
The pump drill is a great way to feel that transition from the top of the backswing down towards the ball.
You’ll have no trouble feeling the position of the lead wrist and how to keep it flat. Practice first with split hands, then hands together, and then hit some shots.
To make this drill more effective, wear your HackMotion and check the lead wrist position when doing the drill.
When you transition to full swing shots, see if you are maintaining the flat lead wrist.
Final Thoughts
Before your next driving range practice session, take a quick look through this list of drills and pick out one or two to focus on.
Wear your HackMotion when you practice so that you can monitor your progress. HackMotion is like wearing your coach on your wrist it’s a great way to get feedback and actionable tips that will help lower your scores.
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