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Panda Tip: Play the release

Tadashi70

Tadashi70

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I am sitting here watch the Tour Championship and I am struck by the way these guys control their golf balls. And it got me thinking about what people do when they play. I am wondering if people play the distance their irons can travel or so the play for the release. Of course I can't speak for everyone but I can speak to those that I have played with. And I think people play the distance their clubs travel on the fly. And we should be factoring in the release.

This requires knowing your clubs and how they respond when struck solidly. If you have 150 to the hole and your 9 iron travels 150. Is this the right club for the job, YES. But not a full out swing. Take some off the club so that the ball lands short and releases toward the hole. Don't go full bore and try to fly the ball the entire distance. Allow the green to work with you and your golf shot. I don't advise this on every shot but it's something I think more could benefit from.

The same can hold true for clubs you can really generate spin, like the scoring wedges or PW. If you can spin it, then play long and bring it back. This is a form of release and can assist in getting it close. The underlying theme here, is not to just know how far you club can fly, but how it will finish after being well struck.
 
I know I'm guilty of playing wedges too short from time to time and ending up with long putts due to a lack of rollout or even backspin. Great tip Freddie, will have to think about this in my next round!
 
I am guilty of playing the 150 yard club to a 150 yard pin. And each time I'll notice the ball divot on the green went 148 yards but ended up 144 due to spin. Something I've been working at this summer.
 
What's release? My golf balls don't know this term.

I do however need to start playing the spin on short iron/wedge shots more when I use urethane balls, which has been harder to adjust for as this is my first year really playing them.
 
I actually account for release, I just wish I was more consistent with my irons to put myself in better position.
 
I try to do this, but only if it always did what I thought.
 
Wise panda is wise.
 
I try to account for release, sometimes I make a poor swing and thin the ball and releases way too much. If I have a wedge through 8 iron, I am more confident in what the ball will do once it hits the green.

It has been so rainy here in Jax this year, the greens are so soft, release doesnt really exist right now.
 
Tadashi70 said:
I am sitting here watch the Tour Championship and I am struck by the way these guys control their golf balls. And it got me thinking about what people do when they play. I am wondering if people play the distance their irons can travel or so the play for the release. Of course I can't speak for everyone but I can speak to those that I have played with. And I think people play the distance their clubs travel on the fly. And we should be factoring in the release.

This requires knowing your clubs and how they respond when struck solidly. If you have 150 to the hole and your 9 iron travels 150. Is this the right club for the job, YES. But not a full out swing. Take some off the club so that the ball lands short and releases toward the hole. Don't go full bore and try to fly the ball the entire distance. Allow the green to work with you and your golf shot. I don't advise this on every shot but it's something I think more could benefit from.

The same can hold true for clubs you can really generate spin, like the scoring wedges or PW. If you can spin it, then play long and bring it back. This is a form of release and can assist in getting it close. The underlying theme here, is not to just know how far you club can fly, but how it will finish after being well struck.
Click to expand...

Outstanding thought!
 
Does having mostly no release with the irons help or hurt? Only time I get some release (more than a couple inches) is hitting a 5+ iron into an uphill green. I don't get it. Heck last week I had a 3/4 - 8 iron swing spin back 5-6 feet. Most of the time though my ball stays right where it lands.
 
Good tip here.

I tend to play the release....especially on my irons 7 and under, mostly because I don't generate a lot of spin, even on my wedges. So if I have 175 yards in, I'll hit 7 iron knowing that it releases a few yards usually. But it also depends on if it's better to be in front of or past the pin as well. It's a good thing to keep in mind on shots.
 
Great advice Panda man and I really would benefit from playing a little more release.
 
Maybe I am wrong but most of my irons I don't play the release, mostly because there isn't much. I think it is a trajectory/spin thing but I don't get release on a 150 shot. It usually stops pretty quickly. Even up to 180 out I only expect a couple yards.
 
joshsparham said:
Does having mostly no release with the irons help or hurt? Only time I get some release (more than a couple inches) is hitting a 5+ iron into an uphill green. I don't get it. Heck last week I had a 3/4 - 8 iron swing spin back 5-6 feet. Most of the time though my ball stays right where it lands.
Click to expand...
I have the same thing happen to most of my shots. I flight the ball pretty high and it usually ends up a few inches out of the ball mark or higher lofted irons will sometimes spin back. If the greens are soft from rain it's not unusual for me to plug the ball lol
 
i guess i'm in the camp of someone who plays the carry distance more than the carry+release distance. but i'll say that on most shots, i'm not sacrificing more than 10'-15' based on where the pitch mark is. if it's anything longer than an 8i, i'll make a club selection based on location of the pin because i do expect some release.
 
I try to play for release but lately with the b330-RX there hasn't been much. It's definitely something I need to consider more in my shots.
 
I like the thought process with this, and it really speaks to be aware of what's going on within your game. I'm not a high spin player with wedges, and typically don't see much back up or release. My ball flight is typically higher and is generally within a pace or Tewa of the pitch mark. However I've noticed recently on my partial wedge shots I and generating a bit more movement on the green. Which is something I've been working on having. The irony is now that I can do it, how do I account for it.
 
Never thought about this at all. But a nice thread

I play a different course everytime out, so in all honesty the ball reacts differently on all of these. I play flat/hilly/slow or fast greens each time out. Not sure how I can judge what the OP suggests when each course I play is so unique condition wise . But I do notice my ball sits more on super fast hard greens versus slow greens. For some reason I hold the hard fast greens better and get little roll off. But this might also be the conditions of the super tight fairways versus muni mini rough fairways.

Too manu variables for me since I travel every round I play
 
It really depends on the day and course for me. If we have had rain over the last day or so I will play for the distance. No rain and it is hard out I will club up, choke down, and swing smooth to take some spin off the ball and let it roll out. That has to be my favorite shot in the bag. In fact now that I think of it I hit that kind of shot more often than not.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
I've always played for some release, especially in cold or firm conditions with a two piece ball. Recently I've been playing the B330-RX and have seen a lot more action on my intermediate pitches and wedge shots, so I do need to adjust some to account for the ball sticking some as well. I'll take it though, as that is one of them good problems.
 
I think about this, but don't always make the right choice. I try to hit a little farther on front pins or a little shorter on back pins to try and give myself plenty of room to stay on the green. I should probably consider where the green side bunkers and nearby hazards are as well since I tend to miss left and right of the green too much.

This is also a good reason to try and stick with one golf ball, and to learn how a new ball will react if you decide to make a change in golf balls.
 
Good tip Freddie....I am especially guilty of this with my wedges
 
I am not a high spinner of the ball so I don't get it to spin back, but the shorter the club the quicker the ball usually stops for me so I tend to look at where the pin is and whether I have to carry a hazard or not. If it is in the front half of the green I will use the number to the front as my reference, and for the back of the green I will tend to use the number to the middle on my GPS watch

For greens that slope from back to front I will usually try to hit it closer as in theory it should stop a bit quicker on an upslope, and obviously for a green that slopes away I will try to land it shorter to allow for this
 
Great advice. I made a couple mental errors yesterday with wedge approach shots by not accounting for the backspin off of slopes behind the pin. My ball marks on these 2 shots were less than 3 feet from the hole but the ball came to rest 20 feet short of the hole. Our greens our pretty soft right now with extra watering due to the hot weather. As it finally cools down the greens should firm up and make the spin off of approach shots more predictable.
 
I will play a club down from a lasered distance many times and count on rollout to get it close. Many times a short shot will leave an uphill putt too which is the better leave. That seems to be the design of most courses I have played.
 
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