If you want to compress the golf ball better, gain more control, hit it farther, and create a more powerful impact position, one of the most useful things you can learn is how to use your left wrist like a hammer. The goal is to line your left wrist up in its most stable and strongest position so you can deliver the club with less unnecessary rotation.
Think Like You Are Hammering a Nail
When Milo Lines was first learning the game, he came to golf from baseball. His father put his hands on the golf club in what he considered a stronger grip because baseball players already understood how to use their hands and wrists to square the face.
Think about how you would hammer a nail with your left hand. You would naturally hold the hammer so your hand lines up with the direction you are striking. You would not hold the hammer in an awkward position and try to strike from there. That would feel unstable and weak.
The same concept applies to a golf swing. When you hit a baseball, you use your wrist in a similar way. Your bottom-hand knuckles and top-hand palm create a very stable position for delivering force. You can pull hard on a bat from this position without putting unnecessary stress on the wrist.
The key idea is simple: rather than learning to square the clubface through a movement that feels unfamiliar, use your wrist in a way that already feels natural from other sports and movements.
Why the Hammering Motion Is More Stable
The wrist can move in several directions, including radial deviation, ulnar deviation, flexion, and extension. When you create the upward hinge you would use to swing a hammer, the wrist moves into radial deviation along with some extension. This creates a strong and stable position.
Compare that with a more flexed or neutral position. It does not provide the same feeling of stability when you are trying to deliver force.
Think about chopping down a tree with an axe. You would naturally hold the axe so your hand and the blade are aligned in a way that allows you to deliver the blade securely into the target. You would not intentionally hold the axe at an awkward angle relative to your hand.
The same principle applies when swinging a bat, picking up something extremely heavy, or striking a golf ball. Your wrist naturally wants to find the position where it feels strongest and most secure.
A Stronger Grip Can Help Create Better Impact Alignments
There are certainly excellent players who use weaker grips and create different wrist alignments. The Hall of Fame is full of players who have hit the golf ball successfully with a variety of techniques.
However, that does not necessarily mean every golfer should copy those patterns. After more than 20 years of teaching, Milo has found this stronger grip to be one of the biggest game changers for many players.
If a tour player already squares the clubface consistently and has a motion that works, there may be no reason to change the grip. But for golfers who have played for years and still struggle to create solid impact alignments, examining the grip can be extremely useful.
The feeling of using the left hand as if you are hammering, with less rotation, can help you control your ball flight, compress the ball, and ultimately hit it farther.
Try the Upside-Down Club Drill
One way to understand this concept is to hit something that will not move using an upside-down golf club.
Set a bag or another stable object roughly even with your front foot. Take your normal left-hand grip and make a gentle striking motion into the object. Pay attention to how your wrist naturally wants to line up.
You will likely notice that your wrist does not naturally want to remain in an awkward, twisted position. Instead, it wants to line up in a stable position that allows you to strike the object securely.
As you make the movement, do not pull your arm away from your middle. Drive the entire system with your middle and allow the wrist to organize itself into a stable position. This creates a solid, stable strike into the bag.
Start With Small Chip Shots
Once you understand that the most stable way to deliver the hand is in this hammering position, set your grip so the clubface is fairly square relative to that hand.
From there, start with small chip shots. Swing the club back, allow the wrist to hinge into the radial position, and then swing through.
One particularly useful drill is hitting little chip shots with only your left hand. Milo uses this as a regular practice exercise and hits approximately 10 to 20 balls with his left hand before teeing off in a tournament. The purpose is to feel the hammer.
The goal is to hit these shots solidly and crisply. If you can repeatedly hit the ball well with one hand, you can develop a much clearer understanding of what the wrist should be doing.
Hinge and Unhinge Instead of Rolling
The feeling throughout the motion should be a hinge and unhinge rather than a roll.
You should feel the hand working back and through without needing to roll the clubface over. Think about throwing a Frisbee, swinging a bat, swinging a hammer, or swinging an axe. None of these movements require you to aggressively twist your hand through the strike.
Once you are comfortable making the movement with your left hand alone, put your right hand back on the club and blend the two hands together.
The left hand should not be doing a lot of twisting, and neither should the right hand. The right wrist moves into more extension and through the shot, while the left wrist works through its radial hinge. The two movements match together.
From your perspective as the golfer, the motion should look and feel like this: hinge, then unhinge. There should not be a large twisting motion of the clubface.
Progress From Chips to a Full Swing
Once the basic movement becomes comfortable, gradually work your way into a fuller swing.
For golfers who are accustomed to a lot of twisting and rotation, immediately trying this at full speed can be challenging. Instead, ladder your way up gradually.
Start with small shots, then progressively increase the length and speed of the swing while maintaining the same pattern. The goal is not to introduce a large amount of twist as the swing gets longer. Keep the movement simple and allow the same basic wrist action to continue.
This progression can also help golfers who struggle with having a short swing. Because this pattern allows you to hinge the wrists more, it can help lengthen the swing.
Milo points out that many long drivers use a grip that looks stronger because it allows the wrists to hinge more.
Increase Speed Without Changing the Pattern
As you move into longer shots, the important thing is to increase the length and speed without changing the fundamental wrist action.
For example, you might begin with a short shot, then hit a slightly longer shot while maintaining the same feeling. As you progress, you can lengthen the swing and increase the speed while continuing to focus on not twisting the clubface excessively.
You may even find that the ball starts traveling farther than expected. That can happen because you are creating better compression than you are accustomed to.
The goal is not simply to swing harder. It is to preserve the efficient movement while gradually adding length and speed.
You Can Still Hit the Ball High or Low
A stronger grip and this hammering pattern do not prevent you from controlling trajectory.
You can still hit the golf ball high or low. Milo demonstrates this with a nine iron, hitting a full shot approximately 135 feet high while maintaining the same basic wrist pattern.
The trajectory can be adjusted depending on how much you lean the club or let the club release. The important point is that the hammering motion does not limit your ability to control height.
Use a Hammer or Bat to Train the Feeling
One of the simplest ways to train this movement is to use an actual hammer or a bat.
Imagine that you are driving a nail directly down your target line. Make the hammering motion and focus on what it feels like to deliver the tool straight toward the target.
Then immediately switch to a golf club and reproduce that same feeling.
The objective is to transfer a movement you already understand into the golf swing. Instead of consciously trying to manipulate the clubface, you can rely on a familiar athletic movement.
With practice, this can help you hit straighter golf shots, improve control, increase power, and create more compression.
The Key Takeaway
The fundamental idea is to use the left wrist in a stable, hammer-like motion rather than relying on excessive twisting to square the clubface.
Start with the left hand. Practice small chip shots. Feel the hinge and unhinge. Add the right hand once the movement becomes comfortable. Then gradually increase the length and speed of the swing while maintaining the same pattern.
If you can learn to feel the golf swing as though you are hammering something down your target line, you may find that the motion becomes simpler, your impact becomes more stable, and your ability to compress and control the golf ball improves.
