Purpose
This drill is designed to make the position of your left wrist at the top of the golf swing, easy to achieve and understand. Having anything but a flat or neutral wrist position is likely to cause the ball to curve offline and away from the intended target.
Procedure
First thing to mention is the wrist position at the top of the golf swing is depended on your hold on the club. For this drill to be effective you will require a neutral grip and I am presuming this for the remainder of this article.
1. Pick up the ping pong bat and hold it in your left hand as you would a golf club, having the black side facing right. As you look down you are able to see the side edge but neither the black or red side of the bat (see image below).
2. Now get into your golf setup and make a practice swing with the bat (left hand only) but stop at the top of your swing. Now look at the bat and you should still be seeing the edge or side of the bat. If you can see more red side your left wrist has extended (cupped) or if you see more of the black side it has flexed (bowed). The images below show the difference:
A Cupped wrist will tend to send the ball right and a bowed wrist left. So if you hit the ball in a direction you didn’t intend you can use the ping pong bat to see if the wrist is in either of the above positions and adjust it to the flat left wrist position where you’re seeing the side edge if the bat.
Summary
This small detail is often overlooked but can make a massive difference in the direction of a golf shot. Using the ping pong bat allows you to clearly see the wrist position and make adjustments to get the correct position.