What part of the body contributes the most to generating the maximum speed of the golf club head?

This single answer allowed me to make a huge leap in my understanding of the golf swing, and in everything I had seen and read about the golf swing none of it emphasised it enough.

I carried out a survey on the Internet over several weeks and asked visitors to my web site the question:- What part of the body contributes the most to generating the maximum speed of the club head?

Only 20% got the answer correct Thats only 1 in every 5 golfers! And these golfers had a wide range of handicaps down to single figures.

Interestingly this figure corresponds to another golfing statistic - Did you know that only around 20% of golfers have a handicap of less than 18? It made me wonder whether the misunderstanding of the fundamental aspect could be the one thing that is holding so many golfers back.

Which part of the body do you think creates the maximum speed of the club head?

Is it:

Shoulders
Arms
Hands
Hips
Legs
Torso
Wrists

The part of the body that generates the maximum club head speed in golf can also be found in other sports such as Tennis, Baseball and Cricket.

In all of these sports the role of the hands or wrists is such that they contribute the most to generating the speed of the club, racket or bat.

When the club reaches the point on the downswing where it is level with the ground notice the position of the shoulders. Then take a look at the point when the club is parallel with the ground again, after the ball has been hit and again notice the position of the shoulders.

Look at how far the club has moved (over 180 degrees) compared to how little the shoulders and arms have moved (around 45 degrees).

So the answer to the question that I posed above is that it is the hands (or wrists) that contribute the most to generating the maximum club head speed. The club is moved through over 180 degrees whilst the arms move through less than 60 degrees all of the rest of the movement of the head of the golf club is generated by the movement of the hands.

Unfortunately the large majority of golfers think that it is with the shoulders and arms.

So we have shown that the club head travels a long way with very little body movement in the final stages of the swing, and this is how the pro's generate club head speeds of over 120mph! We have focused on the movement of the wrists but it's important to point out that the wrists are only really hinges at the point that the two arms meet and are therefore under the control of the arms. At the point we have highlighted in the swing where the club is about to travel through 180 degrees (see images below) the right arm is bent at the elbow and the left arm is straight.

Just put your arms and hands into this position (you don't need a club in your hands but use one if it helps). Now simply straighten your right arm and allow your straight left arm to move towards the centre of your body (simulating the point of impact).

Can you see how the wrists actually move in response to the straightening of the right arm? This is a key factor as developing the correct swing relies upon you getting your right elbow close to the right side of your body - if you move your shoulders early in the swing you won't be able to achieve this position.

When you get this move it feels like you are throwing the club head into the back of the ball, which in reality is what you are actually doing and it feels great as you release all that power right into the back of the ball!

Lets see less emphasis on the movement of the shoulders and more control with the wrists.

This will create a totally different feel to the way youve been hitting the ball in the past.