hi, i may have made a post similar to this one before. What is the best way to achieve a shut clubface and a flat wrist at the top of the swing?

And Jack Nicklaus (according to this site: http://www.freegolfinfo.com...) thinks you need to have curved thumbs to be a golfer, any truth to that?

OJ, take a backswing, stop and look at your left wrist. If it’s not how and where you want it, move it. Try again. Keep doing it until you’ve got the right position, angle, etc.

Why do you want a closed club face? I haven’t seen that recommended anywhere – most experts say it should be neutral. It’s the angle of the club face at impact that matters. If you’re coming through with an open clubface, you may have other swing faults that need correction. The simple ‘fix’ is to change the face angle at setup so that it’s square at impact. But that won’t fix other faults.

Orangej, Nicklaus did swing that way. It is a method that very few golfers use because it is the opposite of our natural instincts when we pick up a golf club. It is a common method on the PGA Tour and was around before Nicklaus. Sam Snead had this feature in his swing and so did Byron Nelson. So does yours truly (it cost me hundreds of hours on and away from the practice fairway to make it permanent).
What is it? It is a counter clockwise rotation of the wrists at takeaway with the clubhead staying square to the plane line and the hands parallel to the plane line well into the backswing with the elbows staying close together. The wrist rotation continues clockwise on the upswing. That is what the player feels. A spectator wouldn’t know the difference and wouldn’t see the rotation effort the player is making. The result is a FLW with a slightly shut face, maybe borderline square.

Raz, why do that? What does it achieve?

It keeps the clubhead on plane; gives width to the swing through extensor action; it winds the arms against against each other creating arm torque so the right arm will come in on its own with force at the bottom of the swing; it locks the elbows and wrists at the top of the backswing square to the plane line (acts like a jig, getting in the same position every time). It is also a counter balance to the shoulder turn and keeps the shoulders in a stable position with a firm tense left arm. In short it covers all the bases with the upper body leaving the player to concentrate on the feet and lower body, the elements that control pace, timing and tempo.

Sounds complicated, Raz.

Why can’t we just swing the feck’n thing?

OB, I added another sentence to my previous post as an after thought.
We can do what we want, swing how we want. I went this way at 65yo when I found my old swing wasn’t holding up. I had to teach myself this method, which is probably the best way to learn in the long run. Am hoping to teach my grand kids if they show any interest in the game.

Pure gold, OldBogey.

Why do you want a closed club face? I haven’t seen that recommended anywhere.
The simple ‘fix’ is to change the face angle at setup so that it’s square at impact.

There are no alignments at the End of the backswing of any use, assuming the hands are higher than the right shoulder.
At the right shoulder on the way up or down you can look at the shaft and see if it’s on plane and note the flat left wrist and amount of right wrist bend.
The last place you can make any alignment adjustments is at the top of the right shoulder on the way down, or the change of direction if that is lower than the right shoulder. And that’s only for clubhead delivery line. It has nothing to do with clubface alignment.

The key to OB’s second part here is at impact. Mid-body address alignments are a guess at best because the left wrist is not flat.
The place to take the grip and impact alignments is in a forward press into impact conditions first. The left wrist will be flat and the clubface should be alignment squarely or open or closed depending on your intent for the shot there, at impact.
When you shift to mid-body hands for takeaway the left wrist will be bent (cupped) and the clubface will be closed. Don’t change it. Impact alignments have already been set. If you think it’s wrong, press forward again and check it.

Now forget the clubface. We’re only concerned now with the plane and lag. The flat left wrist controls the clubface at impact and it’s already been set.
The entire objective now is to get back to that forward press impact hands’ location with a flat left wrist.

Loren
Have you had any experience with the swing I outlined? I mean not from a theorists viewpoint, but actually from a players perspective.

I have tried this and it works, helps hit the ball very straight
Beware the sore wrist and forearms though

I make sure the last thing I think of is. Keep the face looking at the ball as long as possible on the way back. When I do that I hit it really good, if I don’t do this and go for the natural toe up halfway back I have an issue of fanning the blade open and rolling the wrists open and then its a rescue mission from there.