Trail Wrist Role in Golf – The Holy Grail of Great Ball Striking
At HackMotion, we deal a lot with data from the lead wrist. The lead wrist data is often easier for golfers to see, understand and feel. However, this does not mean we can ignore the trail wrist completely.
The trail wrist in golf plays a role, and after analyzing more than 1,000,000 swings of both amateur and professional golfers, we can see clear patterns about how the trail wrist functions.
Let’s take a look at the trail wrist role in golf and see if you can grab some information that helps improve your golf swing mechanics.
Trail Wrist Role in Golf Swing – Key Takeaways
- The trail wrist is not going to exactly mirror the lead wrist; there are slight variations that you can see with the HackMotion device.
- The key movement is increasing trail wrist extension in the downswing and maintaining it at impact.
- When we look at lead wrist extension, we are decreasing it on the downswing, making the trail and lead wrist work opposite of each other on the downswing to promote consistent impact positions.
- At impact, the trail wrist position is ideally 10 to 15 degrees more extended than the address position.
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The Trail Arm and Its Wrist Action: The Holy Grail of Great Ball Striking
European Tour coach Christoph Bausek shares his insights about the importance of increasing trail wrist extension in the downswing and maintaining it at the impact.
Watch the video below (29 min) from the HackMotion PGA Show webinar and continue reading to go over the key learnings.
Trail Wrist Role in Golf
Trail Wrist Extension on the Downswing
In most elite players’ swings, there is an increase in trail wrist extension (also called “Dorsiflexion” by Bausek) in transition. The move starts from the top of the backswing and peaks when the shaft is parallel to the ground (closest to the ball).
The move places the center of mass of the club behind the player. It creates a more shallow swing plane and is necessary to perform correct and powerful body rotation.
As recommended by Christoph Bausek, you can practice this movement using HackMotion audio feedback. Set the audio feedback range higher than the extension player has at the top of the backswing, and the golfer’s goal is to keep the sound playing throughout the transition until P6 (last shaft parallel).
Trail Wrist Extension at Impact
Now that you have seen the importance of increasing extension on the downswing, we can look at where the trail wrist ends up at impact.
At impact, the trail wrist is yet again extended when we are expecting the lead wrist to be flexed or at least neutral.
Typically, pro players’ trail wrist at impact is 10-20 degrees more extended at impact than it was at the address position.
If you remember correctly, from studying the lead wrist, we are essentially looking for the lead wrist to return to the impact position or slightly more flexed.
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Trail Wrist Mistakes Seen by Amateur Players
Before you can start to get your trail wrist mechanics sorted out, it can help to see the issues an amateur player faces vs. those of a professional.
Again, we must remember that with HackMotion data, there are no perfect numbers. Instead, we follow patterns and try to recreate those in our golf swing.
Amateur Player Example – Poor Trail Wrist Mechanics
Below you can see data of poor players (weak flip) trail wrist mechanics pattern:
- The player is starting to release trail wrist extension early, around the lead arm parallel to the ground (P5 position). The green line starts moving downwards much earlier than for tour players (tour player pattern can be seen below).
- The player is also starting to pronate (palm DOWN) his trail forearm early, tour players usually keep supinating (palm UP) longer, and the pronation happens only later, before impact.
This is a typical motion pattern of a player who has FLIP – tries to square the clubface by manipulating his wrists before impact. This leads to a loss of distance and accuracy.
- FLEXION (bowing) (-) green line negative values.
- EXTENSION (cupping) (+) green line positive values.
- Rotation in SUPINATION direction (palm UP) (-) purple line negative values.
- Rotation in PRONATION direction (palm Down) (+) purple line positive direction.
Professional Player Example
The professional golfer has some major differences in how the trail wrist manages in the golf swing.
A few of the key takeaways we can get from this data include the following.
- Professional player starts with extended trail wrist at the address.
- Adds trail wrist extension during the backswing.
- During the downswing, before shaft parallel adds a bit more extension; this is known as loading of the trail wrist.
- Release of extension before impact, not too early. Still extended at impact.
We have mostly talked about extension in the trail wrist and how that will affectaffect the impact position. Rotation is also something that can be tracked. In this situation, you can think of rotation as not just the trail wrist but the trail forearm.
- Always starts with reference position at address, 0 degrees.
- Slight rotation in pronation direction (palm DOWN) before the top of the backswing.
- During the downswing, starts rotation in the supination direction (palm UP).
- Around the shaft parallel before impact starts to rotate in pronation direction (palm DOWN) and keeps rotating through impact.
The Importance of Measuring Both Wrists
Do both wrists really need to be analyzed?
Both wrists should be observed and measured. Lead and trail wrists influence each other but do not always mirror the movement.
Coach Bausek recommends focusing on the wrist with the most irregular movement pattern. Most golfers find this to be their lead wrist, but that is not universal.
If your trail wrist is further from the recommended position, use the HackMotion audio feedback to get it back on track.
Trail Wrist Data: The Tour Player Pattern
One of the most important benefits of the HackMotion data collected is determining what good patterns look like. In this example, we will take a look at a tour player’s trail wrist data to give you a guideline or baseline to work from.
Remember that your setup, grip, and overall flexibility in your wrists are going to greatly impact the trail wrist data in your golf swing.
The tour player will have numbers that you should likely not strive for, but the patterns they have from address to backswing and backswing to impact are the most important takeaway.
Trail Wrist Flexion (-)/Extension (+)
- Starts with extended trail wrist at address, +21 degrees.
- Adds 43 degrees of trail wrist extension during the backswing and reaches 64 degrees at the top.
- During the downswing, before shaft parallel adds a bit more extension, loading of the trail wrist.
- Release of extension through impact, but still 39 degrees extended at impact (more extended than the address position.
Trail Wrist Radial (+)/Ulnar (-) Deviation
- Starts with an unhinged trail wrist at address, -24 degrees.
- Adds 29 degrees trail wrist hinge during the backswing and reaches +5 degrees radial deviation at the top.
- During the downswing, before shaft parallel starts, ulnar deviation of the trail wrist.
- The impact position is similar to the address, with slightly more ulnar deviation of -28 degrees.
Global Rotation – Pronation (+) and Supination (-)
Full Picture – All 3 Graphs
Now take a look at all 3 graphs together, pay attention to the sequencing of the 3 motions.
During the downswing, first, there is ulnar deviation, followed by the release of extension and pronation right before impact.
How to Practice Trail Wrist Role in Golf
Now that you have a general idea as to what the trail wrist patterns look like in the golf swing let’s take a look at a few of the best drills to practice these motions and become a better player.
Trail Hand Open Drill
The trail hand open drill ensures that you place your trail hand on the shaft in a unique way to encourage proper movement through impact.
With the trail hand open drill, your flat trail hand will rest against the side of the grip and push the club through the impact position. This trail hand positioning will help improve any issues with flipping the wrist, as this will be impossible to do from this position.
HackMotion Audio Feedback
When you determine if your wrist issues are a bigger problem with the trail or the lead wrist, then you can start using HackMotion audio feedback to correct the issue.
Set a range for the wrist position, and make sure you can hear the sound being played by the HackMotion during your entire backswing and downswing.
The audio feedback works in real-time, making it much easier to pinpoint the exact location where things go wrong in your golf swing. Set the range a little wide at first and then narrow it to really see a marked improvement in your trail wrist mechanics.
FAQs
Most of the information out there about the trail side in the golf swing deals with the trail arm, not the trail wrist.
However, as a golfer, you should be aware of both the trail arm and the trail wrist because the relationship between the two is quite strong.
What does trail arm in golf mean?
Trail arm in golf means the right arm for the right-handed player or the left arm for the left-handed player. As you are swinging the golf club through the ball, the trailing arm is lagging behind.
What should trail wrist do in a golf swing?
The trail wrist in the golf swing will somewhat mirror the lead wrist. On the backswing, the trail wrist will have considerably more extension than the lead wrist.
On the downswing, that extension will increase slightly before decreasing right before impact. Golfers will have more extension at impact in their trail wrist than they had at the address.
Should the trail wrist be bent at impact?
After analyzing more than 1,000,000 golf swings, HackMotion has helped us determine that extension of the trail wrist at impact is a great position to be in. With a bit more extension, it’s easier to flex the lead wrist, compress the ball, and improve ball flight and consistency.
Are their perfect trail wrist measurements with HackMotion?
Remember that, just like with the lead wrist, there is no exact amount of extension or flexion that will guarantee your success.
The trail wrist measurements will vary slightly, but you must follow a pattern of adding extension on the downswing and having more extension at impact than you had at address.
Final Thoughts
At this point, you should feel more confident about the trail wrist role in your golf swing.
Use HackMotion to work on both trail and lead wrist movement and determine which is most effective for you.
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