IMPACT ZONE™ DYNAMIC #3

Dr. Eric Wilson, PGA Master Instructor
IMPACT ZONE Master Instructor 

Bobby explains IZG Dynamic #3 in his book: “In order to apply power to the ball through the impact zone, you first have to establish the physics of power on the backswing. I call this ‘loading,’ and you create it via a cocking of the left (lead) wrist in conjunction with the body’s backswing, or pivot coil, so that the entire backswing is a continuous and fluid ‘loading’ motion.

What the wrist cock ‘loads’ is power, and it does so by adding leverage to the golf swing…The more you load the club via the left (lead) wrist cock, the more power you build into your swing.” The wrists can work in three ways during the golf swing, as the following photo demonstrates:

The more radial deviation one can create at the top of the backswing, the more stored power one can create. Whether you have a cupped left (lead) wrist (extension), as did Ben Hogan, or a bowed left (lead) wrist (flexion) as does Dustin Johnson, at the top of the swing, it is imperative that you combine this with maximum radial deviation to gain the benefit of loading the club properly. Left (lead) wrist pronation will happen naturally if the club is swung to the top “on-plane;” the amount of pronation will vary based on extension/flexion/square position preference of the wrist at the top of the swing. Bobby demonstrates the proper loading of the golf club in the following picture:

Loading the Club on the Backswing is Dynamic #3, but how one loads the club is a matter of style or preference. The club can be loaded early in the backswing, gradually throughout the backswing, or late in the backswing, as long as it is fully loaded at the top of the backswing or no later than the transition move into the downswing.

Experimentation and practice will determine which loading style suits you best. Bobby relates in his book, “None other than the great Bobby Jones said in his instruction film that cocking his left wrist was the one fundamental that he worked the hardest on to successfully accomplish.” The importance of loading the club on the backswing is “realizing that the left (lead) wrist will uncock before impact completely on its own during the downswing, as a result of combined centrifugal force and gravity.” This will be the focus of the next article on Impact Zone Dynamic #4, Lagging the Load Through the Impact Zone. (To contact Eric, Click Here)

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