Any tips for releasing the golf club?

Ibreak100forfun

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I played my 1st round of the year yesterday which didn't the best. The majority of my shots, and by majority I basically mean ALL, went out to the right. A couple people who I played with who are pretty much scratch golfers said I was not releasing the club. Any suggestions?
 
I have similar issues. Here are the two things I do to try to get a good release:

1 - on the range, do some swings cross-handed (no ball). This feels weird but it creates a big "snap" feeling as your wrists flip over. The magazine article i picked this up from said to swing fast enough to create a "whoosh" with the club but I am afraid of actually hurting myself this way so I don't swing hard. Do this a few times and then immediately swing with your normal grip - you should feel a similar "flip".. That's what you're after.

2 - Visualize throwing both hands wayyyy out toward your target as you follow through. Reach out! (but don't fling your club of course). Try a few swings without a club on this too to get the idea. The visual that I use is to do this like I'm casting a spell like a wizard or something. Hey, it works for me.. :) This one came from the pro who I had a lesson with last summer.

I'm sure others will have good tips but these are the two that I am working with. I've managed to mostly kill my slice but still need to work on this a lot to get it burned in.

Hope this helps.

Ken
 
The first round of the year is always the worse. So much excitement and often so much disappointment. Releasing the golf club is a key part of the swing, however a vast majority of shots leaking to the right are due to swing path. An over the top club path combined with an open club face is detrimental to most average golfer.

First thing I would recommend is getting that club to swing more from the inside out, then work on the club rotating or "releasing through the follow through.

A couple of drills you can work on for the club working from the inside out is get a couple of alignment rods and lay them perpendicular to one another down you your target line. You can start with them about 1' apart with the ball in the center of the sticks swinging the club down the track of the two sticks. As you get more confident with the path of your club slowly work the rods closer together making it more critical to have the club traveling on the right path.

Another drill you can use for when you are on the course is using either an alignment line or the logo on your golf ball and line it out right of your target. This will give you the visual to have the club coming from the inside swinging out to the right or "1st base" allowing the club to swing on the proper path.


When talking about the release of the club it is near impossible to do correctly without a proper grip. Make sure your grip is fundamentally sound as this will be key to getting you to release the club. A good drill to help with the release of the club, take a couple of practice swings without a club and visualize a rag in your right hand, once you get to your downswing imagine your are wiping off a table with the rag. You should feel the right hand starting to rotate downward and feel and extension of your hand down the target line. Try it with a club and you should feel a nice release of the golf club.

I hope this helps but remember I think you will have more success trying to combine the release of the club with the club coming from the inside out on the proper plane all made possible with a good grip.

Good luck and it never hurts to go see your local PGA Professional ;)
 
Ask the Pro section fella's. We try to keep it clean until GolfTec has a chance to respond.
 
Everyone, this is the ask the pro section, please keep the thread clean until GolfTec has had a chance to answer.
 
sorry did know was ask the pro. new to the site. just trying to help a fellow golfer out.
 
I guess the golftec pro skipped over this one.
 
I guess the golftec pro skipped over this one.
Please give them time. They aren't here 24/7 and will come onto the site once or twice a week. Thanks.
 
Please give them time. They aren't here 24/7 and will come onto the site once or twice a week. Thanks.

Oh ok, thanks didn't know. Still a newbie.
 
Let's just assume that everything else is perfect in your swing for a second and the ONLY thing you need to do is release the club properly. That's a tall assumption, but it's easier than going through the litany of things (grip, stance, posture, path, weight shift, steepness of shoulder turn, blah blah blah) that could be a cause of the miss you're describing.

A drill I like to use to get people to feel the proper release comes more from the elbows and forearms and not much in the hands. I call this drill "Flap Down" (it assumes you're wearing a glove).

From address position (without a ball for now), take a small (waist high) backswing with very little wrist hinge. As the slow motion downswing starts, begin pointing the glove flap of your left hand at the ball (done more with the rolling of the forearms.) By the time you get to impact position, the glove flap (or logo) should be pointing towards the target, but at a considerable downward angle. Continue the rehearsal swing through until the club gets to parallel with the ground. At this point, the glove flap should be pointing at the ground with little or no "cupping" of the left wrist. The face of the club will be extremely closed at this point. But isn't hat what we're trying to do?

Do a bunch of these without a ball, starting slow and working your way to almost full speed. Once that feels repeatable, throw a ball down and go back to slow. Hopefully the shots are going too left now. If so, throttle the flap thing down a bit and start enjoying the new feeling of properly releasing the club.

Hope that helps,

Trevor Broesamle, PGA
GolfTEC Santa Barbara
 
Let's just assume that everything else is perfect in your swing for a second and the ONLY thing you need to do is release the club properly. That's a tall assumption, but it's easier than going through the litany of things (grip, stance, posture, path, weight shift, steepness of shoulder turn, blah blah blah) that could be a cause of the miss you're describing.

A drill I like to use to get people to feel the proper release comes more from the elbows and forearms and not much in the hands. I call this drill "Flap Down" (it assumes you're wearing a glove).

From address position (without a ball for now), take a small (waist high) backswing with very little wrist hinge. As the slow motion downswing starts, begin pointing the glove flap of your left hand at the ball (done more with the rolling of the forearms.) By the time you get to impact position, the glove flap (or logo) should be pointing towards the target, but at a considerable downward angle. Continue the rehearsal swing through until the club gets to parallel with the ground. At this point, the glove flap should be pointing at the ground with little or no "cupping" of the left wrist. The face of the club will be extremely closed at this point. But isn't hat what we're trying to do?

Do a bunch of these without a ball, starting slow and working your way to almost full speed. Once that feels repeatable, throw a ball down and go back to slow. Hopefully the shots are going too left now. If so, throttle the flap thing down a bit and start enjoying the new feeling of properly releasing the club.

Hope that helps,

Trevor Broesamle, PGA
GolfTEC Santa Barbara


Thanks. I'll give this a try at the range this wknd.
 
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