I came to understand how the hands work in a golf swing by reading and following Hogan’s Five Lessons book where he devoted 18 pages to gripping the club properly and stresses the importance of the ‘waggle’. What I came to understand about the Vardon grip is that when it is used properly with club held vertically bent elbows it creates inward counter torque between the hands you can’t get if resting the club dead on the ground then gripping it as I had been doing the first twenty years I played. Martin Hall calls it EDPU for elbows down - palms up, for how you need to start. EDPU puts both hands and arms into maxed out supination and external rotation, where the the trail hand needs to be oriented for the “lift the tray” action that allows the club head to whip up around the hands in the backswing, and where the lead hand needs to be oriented in the finish in that same “lift the tray” action that folds the lead arm elbows down, keeps the trail arm straight and causes the club head to whip around hands after extending in the finish. From the palms up EDPU position you simply rotate both forearms and hands 90° so palms face each other like praying 🙏🏼 then insert the club and lower it. This puts forearms in the middle of their 180° range between maxed out supination and maxed out pronation at address which as it turns out is the causative factor in getting the wrists to max out in extension, which then LEVERS the elbow down, which allows the force of the club to pull that arm into external rotation which connects that arm to the body mass WITH A LOT OF MECHANICAL LEVERAGE which is the key in the golf swing to controlling the other hand which bearing the force of the club. In the backswing and downswing through impact it is the correct folding of the trail arm caused by how the trail hand is placed on the grip which controls where the lead arm mass controlling the club path can go. In the finish both arms are pulled straight and then the trail shoulder takes over as the axis of rotation with the trail arm being kept straight by the pull of the club and the how the lead hand is placed on the grip controlling how the lead wrist is forced into maxed out extension when then LEVERS the lead elbow down in a mirror image of the takeaway extension. The genius of the Vardon grip, used correctly, is making all that happen automatically when coordinated with two other actions: 1) side-bending of the spine as hands drop down below the waist which tilts shoulders more than pelvis alters the path of the lead arm, and; 2) the lifting of the back foot to release the hips and shoulders to turn at the same time the side-bending starts. Most recreational swing problems are a combination of poor grip which does not cause the arms to fold ideally and lack of side bend in the downswing. Fix those two things and swing improves dramatically. I’ve found the quickest way to fix a poor swing is to start by posing the golfer statically in he same position a tour pro is in as ball releases from the club then having them swing back down and stop there 3-4 times trying to strike the same spot on the ground. I then put a ball 1/2” behind their divot and watch them hit the best shot of their golfing life because they finally understand what to goal underlying the advice on technique addresses. Posing them like a pro at impact forces them to side bend and get their hands on the club properly which fixes 90% of their previous swing problems. The remaining 10% is teaching them how to extend the club in the finish while staying in balance, which what makes side bend so critical.

This single video gave me more insight about swing than 2-year lesson with my personal trainer.

Every single other instructor is telling us complete rubbish about not rotating the forearm, (Leadbetter & Kerrod Gray aside). I think this has set me back years. Thank you for clarifying the follow through detail so well too, unique analysis which i've never seen before. Now it all makes sense.

Very good video. That natural 90 pitch for me has given me easily another 10-15 yards with all my clubs. That Fleetwood finish that is being taught now is a killer for so many amateurs.

This has to be the best technical explanation of the swing. Absolutely amazing!!

I’ve yet to watch any pro explain golf mechanics the way you do….. just brilliant. So much information but so well thought out and relatable. You carefully explain the how’s and why’s which enables all golfers to understand why they see what they see, based on the variables in set up and execution. So glad I found your channel and can’t wait to get back out on the course

You have just elevated yourself to " Golf God ". Thank you & well done in dispelling golf swing nonsense thru out your sessions.

Excellent video, my issue described right there. After having the ‘modern rotary swing’ drilled into me, holding off the club has taken away the free swinging feeling I used to enjoy, I’ll definitely be giving this drill a go 👍

Funniest comment ...The Tommy Fleetwood finish firstly comes from Tommy Fleetwood!!! This is a real eye opener video on exactly what the forearm does. Cleared up a lot of misconceptions for me and my understanding of grip and wrist angle and the relationship to pitch. Have never heard it described this way and makes so much sense. And you can clearly see the relationships as you demonstrate. Bravo and thanks from Canada!!!!

Wow I took a look at my replays and I battle right the longer the club. I finish high! What an eye opener!

The explanation of the post impact arm position matching the down swing arm postition. Ie. Shaft angle/inclination is a great mental picture….. have a great weekend Stu.😊

Not because of this video(have not watched it yet), but from all videos i watched woth you, the explenation, the understanding from what you are teaching, the debunking of bullshit instruction and the instant improvement in my game. I am unsubscribing every other channel now. I am so happy i found your channel, finally. I always said someday i want to go to a good golfcoach or at least have the option, but first i want to be sure it is the right one. I have been playing since i was 12, am 31 now, been playing single digits last 12 years but one day 72 next 92 and been trying to search for understanding of the swing for 8 years because my game became unplayable, yes unplayable. Sorry for the long message, but if other people in the comment section read it they might relate and realise this might be the channel to take instructions from. Just wanna say all the love to you for putting out these videos for free! Means more than you think for me and for sure a LOT of other people!

Love this.... Thank you Stuart

Rewatching this great video, led me to this question. In this video you make the statement, "... you need forearm rotation in the golf swing." Isn't a putt a golf swing? But isn't the conventional wisdom these days to keep the face square through impact? No one ever talks about rotating the forearms in the putting stroke. Because we putt with two hands from two fixed points, i.e., our shoulders. Isn't every putting stroke to some degree on an arc? Trying to keep the face square seems to me like the definition of a push or a block. And, maybe I've got this all wrong. But my overall image of putting at the Masters this year is a whole bunch of putts falling way short that looked to me like mini thinned shots. Particularly true of Tiger. His release looks entirely different from his glory days. What do they say about putting? Kids are great putters. Because they're not trying to putt. They're trying to roll the ball into the hole.

just subscribed...love your simple and easy-to-understand explanations of the swing.

Hello Stuart, I find your videos so informative so interesting and amazing to watch I just get so absorbed in them, thank you very much for sharing, regards Trev

This is interesting stuff!! I hadn't thought about 90 degrees from spine... thanks for sharing!!

really appreciate you instructions, on this video you covered the feeling of rotation from set to set and forearm rotation as a whole but I was hoping to see the forearm rotation through impact in slow mo as well, so I don't start flipping it. cheers

Fabulous video. What resonated big time with me was how you showed the arm movement in isolation (without body rotation). Can you show those arm movements for the whole swing (face on and down the line) in a future video, calling out impact, too? Great stuff on your channel - keep up the good fight!

Stuart, you read the comments and reply. Combined with great explanations, well, I'm a subscriber.

Great video, thanks !

Great Video well explained and communicated to the viewers ,,i really like the way you drive your points home to the us golfers leaving us in no doubt that your methods work ,,thanks Stu

It is amazing how far Phil hits his persimmons woods.Good man from CCC and the great state of Texas. Of course you must have some forearm rotation all the greats did. Enough said ?

Nice clear lesson. I would like to see how the rolling of the wrists effects the club face through impact. I've seen you discourage the rolling over of the wrists in an effort to square an open club face. With your strong hold this shouldn't be necessary but I'd like to know how and when the wrists do roll around impact. Thanks! Another good video. I've been watching and re-watching a bunch of them. I've probably never struck a golf ball as well as I do now since I've begun applying your theories.

Thanks Coach Steve.

.. great stuff Stuart, you have a real talent for simplification and clarity. I’ve been trying to figure this out lately. On the thumbnail for this video your forearms make an X-shape, that’s exactly what I came across to achieve a proper release. It is quite a foreign feel for me because I had a tendency to hold onto lag through impact. Also to help with the feel of forearm rotation I have temporarily changed to a ten finger grip. The only other thing I would say is that I’ve also started copying the Tiger squat which prevents me rotating the body too early. These two concepts, the forearm rotation combined with the Tiger squat move have completely changed my swing for the better. It occurred to me that as a teaching concept the forearm X-shape would transmit easily, feel free to use it if it might help, it helps me!

I hit my drives straight right and have been struggling with why I do that? I can see now that trying to keep the club face pointed at the target while hitting up on the ball has me lifting the club handle up through impact rather than letting the club lay off on the follow-through. Instead of always aiming left on the golf course I will start rotating my forearm and allow the club to stay on plan. Thank you as always for the great insight into the dynamics of the golf swing.

Great stuff

Great video. Love the content. New Subscriber

I don't think I had any forearm rotation so I think that's why my transition always got steep. I just took the hands back in line, then up without any rotation. I tried this pitching the club down for the irons and I hit the ball 15-20 yards further hitting the center way more often than my weak glancing center-to-toe strikes. However, I struggled with the driver. I'll try to make it work for the driver next practice session.

Fantastic content Stuart and a really good drill. One of my problems is I hold the face off and don’t let the forearms rotate correctly. I see this flare up predominantly off the tee with driver and my miss is always a block right

2nd and 3rd time through concepts start clicking, especially about pitch of shaft on follow thru. If working hard on backswing and pull up coming down and around 😮 big trouble. Not matching, I get off balance and seem like a, well, you know…. Good coaching!

Could you please do another video on forearm rotation and the difference from the rolling the wrist open on the take away. If you have the proper grip will forearm rotation happen naturally with out doing it on purpose. Thanks

Very good instruction

I’ve played both ways, sometimes during the same round. I will say…. There is definitely more freedom, and club head speed when allowing the forearms to rotate naturally. It’s even easier to strike the irons purely, and I definitely gain distance throughout the bag. However, direction suffers for me. I can’t trust which way my ball is going to go(2-way miss). On the other hand… By NOT rotating the forearms, I feel much more aware of where the face is. I simply cock the right wrist BACK, which in turn bows the left wrist. I can then shape it either direction using this swing method. I’ll turn hard from the top, which kicks the club out a bit, and add more right side bend through the shot, to hit a predictable fade. The added right side bend helps hold off the release. To hit a draw, I’ll swing my arms, and body more as one piece, while still keeping the bowed left wrist(knuckles down through impact). This allows me to approach from slightly inside, with a slightly closed face. Hitting target is much easier when I take the hands, and forearms out of my swing. However, “strike” is a little more challenging, and I don’t hit it as far(even on a good strike). Both methods are a way to play golf. Pick your poison. lol Great video. And I fully understand the concept.

To do this do u keep the finger grip light thruout or stronger at impact

Another gem… copy Tommy Fleetwood and we get into all sort of problems-(visual perceptions not that easy to duplicate). Wondering if you might share insights about Louie Oousthuizen’s swing that many say is very visually appealing. Might there be “looks are deceiving” since he has learned to produce that smooth motion but hidden inside are “not so easy” or counter moves 😊hard to duplicate for average golfer.Seems to have higher hands at impact - counter to your preferences????

Hey Stuart, nice video. Is the sensation on the downswing the same as a tennis back hand? Thanks

What exactly is the difference between forearm rotation and rolling of the hands? Isn’t it the same movement? You couldn’t rotate forearm without rolling of the hands no? Love the content. Thank you!

I couldn't figure out why I was slicing it off the planet with my driver. I couldn't rotate my arms. When you showed the holding off of the club it clicked. I did this drill and was drawing the driver 270, smashing 7i and 5i. I can't wait for a few more weeks of trying this. The only thing is it feels awkward with my shorter clubs like PW, SW, GW. I wonder if I have too much hip bend with my shorter clubs making me blade/top the ball.

Hey Stu, every time i want to neutralise my swing path, i am ending up closing the face. I mainly com 5 or 6 from the inside, when i try to swing from out to in to neutralise, i am swinging the same path with a clubface 6 closed. No matter what i dont get it. When i actively hod the club face open, i shank it...

If I just straighten the right arm gradually in the downswing doesn’t that square the clubface and shallow the club at the same time? Like a bicep curl. So just curl the right arm up in the backswing and uncurl in the downswing without moving the elbow around would while rotating the body would shallow the club square the clubface without much manipulation of the shaft and having any conscience effort to square the clubface.

how to not close the face doing that?

So the hands come up to the shoulders at the top of the back swing and also at the top of the forward swing - but if they didn’t drop down at some stage you would miss the ball! You didn’t explain when/ how this happens.

I struggle with getting my forearms to rotate in the backswing. Is there something in my set-up that could be causing this? Can do it on the practice swing, main swing its a no go. Weird.

I personally don't think you should TRY to rotate the forearms open or closed. They rotate on their own, if you swing properly. Keep the club face square to the circle of your swing, not down the line, and they will rotate naturally.

Stuart, always the contrarian, you do know that you’re an outlier encouraging us to use forearm rotation for better strikes. Others are telling us to not rotate our forearms. Hmmm, who do we believe-you, of course, it’s back up by science and data. The science and data win every time, at least, in my mind and game. Keep telling the truth about the golf swing using science and unmanipulated data. Cheers.

Wrist cupping or bowing will change the position of the club shaft, you are letting go of the grip

Where have you been all my life?

If you use forearm rotation to consistently square up the club face you need to be gifted from birth with impeccable timing . That is a fact .

Get to the point

You should improve your communication skills which will lead to shorter videos and so increase the initial interest in the viewer . Independently of the quality of your content , immediate att lead to fast forward the video to the point of interest , which will affect the monetization of the video .

Great stuff