Left Wrist

Your Left Wrist plays a key role not only in your putting, but in your whole golf game.

I was reminded of this by a recent remark I heard from a commentator on the European Tour at the Irish Open. He spoke of the importance of letting your left wrist take the hit in your putting stroke.

This simple observation of a flat left wrist goes to the heart of good golf, and in particular to the short game of chipping and putting when you need greater precision.

If you google 'flat left wrist golf' you will uncover a mine of information about maintaining the correct wrist position at takeaway, the top of your backswing and at impact. All this, of course, is referring to the full swing.

In putting Dave Stockton champions the cause of keeping your left hand pointing down the target line and letting it lead at impact and into the follow-through. There is no hint of releasing your putter to the inside or, horrors of horrors, cupping your wrists.

I am a great believer that if you set up to avoid a potential error, you are less likely to fall into the trap later on. If at address the line of your left forearm and hand is flat as opposed to being cupped, you have established a sound impact position. Now it is just a case of maintaining this position throughout your stroke.

There are several ways of doing this:

• Keeping your left elbow to your side and only allowing it to move away from your side through impact and into the follow-through.


• Putting with your left hand below your right (see above).


• Using a slight forward press at the start of your backstroke.

It is easy to see the result of flipping your wrists when you chip. However, this fault is more insidious in your putting stroke. If you think that your wrists may unhinge occasionally on a pressure putt, decide today to banish this fault forever.

Want to learn more about the technique taught by Dave Stockton and his Left-Hand-To-The-Target drill? Then I suggest that you obtain his book Putt to Win, or the book by Steve Hosid Success on the Green. This illustrates the drill for a flat wrist position in the follow-through.

Leading with your left wrist and allowing it to take the hit in your putting stroke is a great way to maintain the accuracy of your strike.

Then if you combine this with a good read and delivery speed for your chosen line or path, you will improve your putting stats - guaranteed.

And that after all is what putting is all about - Getting the ball in the hole in the fewest number of strokes.

Image Source
1 = Illustration from 'Success on the Green' by Steve Hosid