What should impact look like?  This question is very important and since I’ve been teaching, it is the most common fault of golfers at all levels. It is also one of my most common faults. I, like many of you, have a tendency to flip the clubhead through impact.

A correct impact wrist position is one where the right wrist is bent and the left wrist is flat. This is true of a chip, pitch and any longer swing action. Most of the people I see have the opposite condition(left wrist bent, right wrist flat). In the inexperienced golfer, this shows up as clubhead throwaway. Another name for this is casting. In the experienced golfer, it shows up as a shot that comes off a little too high, with too much spin and typically to the right.

The key to getting this impact shape correct is the pivoting or rotation of the body. As the club decends in the downswing, there needs to be enough internal rotation to carry the arms and club so the clubhead will land at a later place on the ground. If the body stops or the player tries to accelerate the clubhead too early, the correct wrist condition will be lost and the club head will flip past the hands.

Practice trying to hit shots out of divots. In order to hit the ball well you will need to do this part correctly. If you keep hitting it thin and fat out of the divot, that will show you that you are flipping the head through. You should be able to hit as good of a shot out of the divot as you can on the grass.