Keith:

Don't forget about the Level Right Wrist which is equally important as the Flat Left Wrist -- together, they give you your precision Flying Wedges Assembly -- the real Gateway to Golfing perfection!

Sorry, I still don't get this.

Which of these are wrong?

* If the left wrist is flat the club must cock directly towards the left shoulder and uncock away from the left shoulder.

* In an onplane swing, on the turned shoulder plane, after turning, the club cocks back towards the right shoulder, or where the right shoulder will be after it has turned back to plane. Or, in other words, the wrist cock occurs on plane.

* The only way the club could cock towards both the left and right shoulders would be if the left and right shoulder were both on plane (possible with a rotated shoulder plane?)

It seems to me (and I'm happy to be corrected on this!) that you need a small bend in your left wrist to cock towards the right shoulder unless the left shoulder is also on plane.

Help!

Chris

Wrist conditions and Planes
 

The Left Wrist is only Turned for the Swinger using Standard Wrist Action (10-18-A). Turned means that the Left Palm faces towards the Inclined Plane. Any Cocking occurs independently of this Turned Left Wrist Condition, i.e. amount of Cocking does not affect how much the Left Wrist is Turned.

The Flat Left Wrist Condition should be established at Impact Fix (10-8-A). The Swinger using Standard Address (10-9-A) has a Bent Left Wrist to start with which gets Flattened via Extensor Action during Start Up. This flatness of the Left Wrist is identical to that established at Impact Fix, and its condition is maintained until Follow Through.

PS: There is no Rotated Shoulder Plane Angle in The Golfing Machine. However there is a Rotated Shoulder Turn (10-13-C). The Rotated Shoulder Turn does not place the Left Shoulder On Plane at the Top. For photographic evidence, please look at 10-13-C #2. In fact, the geometry of Shoulder Control deals only with the Right Shoulder. So stop thinking about the Left Shoulder -- it's the Right Shoulder that matters. Study third paragraph of 2-H.

Hope this helps.

But if the left palm is on the plane, and the left shoulder is not, then neither is the left arm, hence there must be an angle between the palm and the arm - how can the left wrist be flat?

Or is it to do with the subtle anatomy of the hand (I must look like an idiot sitting here at my desk cocking my wrist up and down - my wife is always telling me to stop forming golf grips and the like when we're in public together!)

Thanks,
Chris

Imagine you are rolling your left arm up and down a plane board the would rest under your upper arms at address. You are 'hugging' the plane, the wheel, - clapping your hands on it. Rotation takes place around this point if you turn and roll the forearms, back and through. Hitters tend to resist the natural 'roll' caused by the clubs design, and keep the back of the left hand more perpendicular to the plane in 'feel'. A frisbee toss motion for example. See the drills section for a few more examples.

Left Wrist On-Plane?
 

Chris,
I see your issue, I'm sure you've been praying for someone to understand your analysis.

The "left wrist on-plane" is a very general term- as I've seen it used. As you correctly determined- say at the top of a typical golf swing- a flat left wrist is certainly not on plane, if it is flat- then it's on the same plane as the left arm- which is not normally on plane- except with a zero #3 accumulator.

Could the left wrist be precisely on plane somewhere during the backstroke or downstroke- for example where the left arm is parallel to the ground on the backstroke or downstroke? - it could but I really wouldn't think it would be worth noting.

Oh, I get it. Your problem lies in not understanding the Plane!

Please go to 10-6-B #2 now. You can see the Left Palm is Turned facing toward the Plane as per Standard Wrist Action. Is the Left Shoulder or Left Arm On Plane? Clearly not! However, the Left Arm Flying Wedge Assembly is still maintained -- the Left Wrist is Flat.

(Now, you should not use a photo for a purpose beyond its captioned intent. And I rarely do that. But this is the best photo I could find to illustrate my point.)

This is why I think Left Hand Turned facing toward the plane is different to Left Hand Turned On Plane. Like Chris mentioned, if the Left Palm was turned directly On Plane with a Flat Left Wrist, the the Left Arm would also be On Plane, but looking at photos of Diane and touring pros, it never is!

Yoda said:
"When Turned...the left palm faces directly toward that [selected] Plane."

I believe this can be misleading if you're not careful given my comments above. Hence my question at the beginning of this thread about how much exactly should the Left Wrist be Turned. Now coming to think about it, I don't think it's an important question -- as long as the Left Wrist is Turned so that it's generally facing toward the Plane -- it's fine!

I wonder what Yoda thinks :roll: .

[I have edited my post above after this insight]

Left Wrist On-Plane?
 

Please note that I edited my post after Tongzilla quoted it- so refer to my original post. Although, the essential nature of the post is intact- I just made it a little more specific and clear.

Exactly, thanks for understanding Mike O! (Although I wasn't praying, that was just me cocking my left wrist up and down to try and figure this out!)

I guess I'm still a little unsure how the club can be on plane while one still has a flat left wrist though, unless the club leaves the left hand at an angle. That is, if you hold the club up in front of you in your left hand the club will need to angle towards your right. Hey, maybe that's why we turn the wrist?! The geometry of this is killing me!

Related question (I think) - is a perfectly sequenced release (on plane) impossible, because at the top the left wrist is not on plane. Do you need some simultaneous roll to ensure the wrist uncocking is on plane?

Actually this refers to the second part of your quote. Surely on the downstroke it is essential that the left wrist be on plane if you are purely uncocking in a sequenced release (so it would be worth noting). But then as I said, this may be impossible (pure uncocking).

Chris