Our wrists play an important role in every golf swing. The ability of each player to set their wrists in the proper position is unique to each, however having a 90° angle between their wrists and forearms is very important. This topic is not new, but recently I was asked about it by a young golfer, Alex, and so I decided to address this important topic. As I perused many videos, all said basically the same thing with very few differences. Basically, the wrists should be in the right angle position by the time your lead arm is parallel to the ground. Sounds daunting, but actually it is simpler that it sounds.

I wrote an article about creating lag in our golf swing a few years back and it is salient to today’s topic. Ernie Els, The Big Easy, talks about crating a box with our arms. This supports the 90° angle requirement during our backswing. You can read the full article here.

As I read about the wrists, Andrew Rice gave the best explanation on how the wrists work during our golf swing. He explains range of motion and how the wrists should move during our backswing. This is important knowledge and something I learned quite a few years back.

The important aspect of the initial movement in our backswing is to push the clubhead out with straight wrists. As my lead hand reaches my trail knee, I start to bend my wrists in order to create that 90° angle between the club and my forearms at the parallel position. I try to avoid my first movement of a wrist bend because I find it places my clubhead out of position early in my swing and I have difficulty recovering.

In my case, tempo is very important because if I move the clubhead too fast or bend my wrists first, then my backswing is out of alignment and I usually slice the ball. Regardless of anything else, I try to create that right angle position. For full disclosure, I am still working on this right angle position to generate more lag and power. But, that is my journey.

There are so many moving parts in a golf swing. The wrists are just one component of the many. Understanding how to properly move the wrists will generate power, control and accuracy. To be fair, it does take practice to achieve or master proper wrist movement. However, travelling down this path is worth the adventure.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!