Wrist set is one of the most important aspects of the golf swing, and one that's not discussed very often — especially in the Rotary Swing where you're swinging the club more around your body rather than trying to get it set up high. Understanding the correct amount of wrist cock can be the difference between repeatable ball-striking and a swing that constantly breaks down under pressure.
It's important to keep wrist set under control in the one plane swing — in fact, up to a point, less wrist set is better in any golf swing, as long as you don't go to the other extreme. Finding that ideal range is what separates consistent golfers from those who struggle with timing.
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Wrist angle with a midiron at address (left) and at the top (right)
Today we're going to discuss how much wrist set you need to get from address to the top of your swing.
You start out the swing with a preset wrist angle between your forearm and the shaft. The club doesn't form a straight line with your forearm, so there's obviously some angle there. The amount of wrist set you get is simply the difference between this initial angle and the angle you get at the top of your backswing. If you'd like to get precise feedback on your wrist angles and swing mechanics, an AI swing analyzer can break these positions down frame-by-frame so you can see exactly where your club is at the top.
The club doesn't approach parallel
Don't Over Swing
Chuck's wrists are fully set at the top and he's ready to go back the other way, but you can still see the shaft of his club from down the line.
Golfers learning a Rotary Swing almost never stop at this position at the top — but they should.
Practically without fail, the shaft is very, very long and gets across the line. You wouldn't even be able to see it from down the line because it would either be over the lead forearm, behind the lead forearm, or behind the hands.
It's simply not necessary to swing that long with a midiron. Even with a driver, you don't want to dip way past parallel because that just increases your dependence on timing the release of the shaft on the way down. Overswinging is one of the most common flaws we see at every level, and too much wrist set is almost always the culprit.
From the face-on view, you can see that Chuck's club doesn't approach parallel. There's plenty of room to go, and he's got about a 90° angle between his trail forearm and the shaft.
There's a very simple guideline we like to use to help people understand how much wrist set to get:
Your wrist angle should be no more than 45° sharper than it was at address. That's it. You don't need any more wrist cock than that.
If you're trying to generate speed with your body as you rotate on the way down and you have a tremendous amount of wrist set, you're going to have a lot of trouble timing the release consistently.
The Release and Why it Matters
We're not going to discuss the release in detail in this lesson, but we will take a quick look.
Wrist angle remains constant through impact
As Chuck comes back down he does nothing but turn. Watch as he comes through impact:
Notice that the angle of the shaft and his trail wrist remains constant in each frame. What does this mean?
Pay attention to the trail forearm and how much it releases — or in this case, doesn't release — on the way through. There's no rotation. There's no throwing. There's no release of that trail forearm. It's a release with the body. This body-driven release is one of the hallmarks of elite ball-striking that the GOAT Drill system is specifically designed to ingrain through structured repetition.
The Club Turns Along With the Body
You could imagine that Chuck comes into impact with the club pointing more or less at his belly button. As he goes through he just keeps turning his body and the shaft turns right along with him. He's not releasing the club face with his hands.
You don't want to try and depend on timing a release with your hands to hit the ball. That dependence on hand action is what elite players have systematically eliminated from their swings.
The club face is looking at the ball, and stays square through impact
You'll notice that Chuck's club face is very quiet through impact. The angle that's been created with the forearm and the club face remains constant so all he has to do is keep turning his body into impact.
The club face comes down right on top of the ball. It's looking at the ball, so now all he has to do is keep turning, without doing anything with his hands. The club face comes in square and stays square. It works around with his body but he hasn't released his hands. This is what solid contact and ball-striking consistency truly look like when the fundamentals are correct.
The club head has also stayed well out in front of Chuck's body rather than being flung around to the inside, which is very, very common. It's still in line with his body. You can still imagine that the shaft is stuck in his belly button through the release.
The club stays in line with Chuck's body as he rotates through
We see the same thing from the face-on view. The angle doesn't change much as he comes down into impact. His torso and everything just turns through. Everything does eventually start to release, but it's a very late release with the arms and the club. The body-driven release is the important part.
45° is All You Need
The point of this, in terms of wrist cock, is that if you have a tremendous wrist angle on the way down, at some point you're going to have to stop rotating with your body and flip the club through.
If you have a very sharp wrist angle and turn your body really aggressively through the shot, the club face is going to end up well back behind you. This is the flip at impact that destroys consistency and robs you of power.
You would have to slow your body rotation down and release the club into impact with your hands, then continue turning. It's very difficult to do both when your angles are off.
Again, you generally want to get about 45° of wrist cock beyond the angle you have at address. That's all you need for pretty much any club in the bag.
You can get a little more with the driver, but when you start getting into the longer clubs you certainly don't want to get too crazy with the wrist angle.
Just use 45° as a rule of thumb. When you're practicing you'll find that you only actually flex your wrists slightly to get that extra 45° from address to the top of the swing. You don't want to go past that.
Get that down and you'll see your ball striking and consistency improve.
Watch part 2 now to see how you're moving your body in the opposite direction of the pros!
