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Is Rolling the Forearms the Key to Quiet Hands in the Golf Swing?

I'm sticking my neck way out here — not that too many people care — because I feel compelled to comment on a suggestion I heard from Rick Smith in a brief "swing tip". This came during a short break in that gawd-awful series on the Golf Channel called "The Big Break II". (I promise I was only watching it for a few minutes to see if I could figure out what the h--- was going on. I couldn't.)

What was the tip? Well, I only heard it in the briefest of ways, and I didn't have a chance to check it out or confirm that I understood what he was saying... but here's what I heard him say (my interpretation)...

The move into the ball at the bottom of the swing (point of impact) involves rotating the forearms. If you don't do this, you will probably come across...

That's it. That's what I heard... Whether I got it right or not, I had been struggling with a related problem brought on by my theorizing in a previous article, and this sounded like an interesting way of understanding my problem.

Here's the problem...

In the "rubber bands" article referred to above, I had concluded that one must keep the arms/hands tight to the body on the way down so the hands don't get too far out — resulting in the club head getting outside the line (coming across...loss of power...slice!).

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In practical terms — at least as I had theorized — this meant "holding the angle" through the downswing. This is another way of looking at the "hold that wrist cock" idea — and therefore is related to the "power move" at the bottom.

But this is not quite what I meant by "holding the angle". I meant keeping the hands in close to the body, and the club head out on the appropriate axis line. This means you have to "hold the angle" to keep it out there (but not too far out, because then it gets outside).

The problem is, this results in relatively active hands at the point of impact. You've got to get the club down from the "hold the angle position" into the back of the ball. And the first inclination is to do it with a slapping motion of the hands.

Guess what? Major HOOK action!!!

I couldn't believe the hooks I was hitting when I tried doing this. Is this maybe why Hogan always fought the hook? Keeping the hands "in" contributes to hooking?? I don't know. Could be.

Anyway, applying the Rick Smith tip about "rolling the forearms" worked like magic. I tried it once last Saturday at Glen Abbey and my hooking was immediately cured. I really found it hard to believe. I used it during our round on Sunday at Rattlesnake and it continued to work like magic. Most of my drives stayed straight — even into a very stiff wind.

Interestingly though, I started slicing my irons. In order to overcome the effects of that 30mph wind I had to shut the face right down, and really force myself to stay inside. I really hadn't had this problem until I started using the "roll the forearms" technique. I suspect my timing was just a bit off.

I hope to give this technique a thorough workout tomorrow and Sunday (if it doesn't snow). I also hope to do a bit of research, because I have a feeling I've heard this explained before, but not really "heard" it, if you know what I mean.

-- Rick aka, The WeekEnd Golfer

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