Late Release Question

[maddog0512]

Can someone point me in the direction of some good drills, swing thoughts, etc. for "releasing" the club?  I have a feeling that I'm gripping the club too tightly and never really feel like I'm getting that relaxed, fluid, full extension after impact.  It's causing me to hold the club open and resulting in pushes with irons and slices with woods.  Anyone ever had this problem???

[EverythingGolf]

Originally Posted by maddog0512

Can someone point me in the direction of some good drills, swing thoughts, etc. for "releasing" the club?  I have a feeling that I'm gripping the club too tightly and never really feel like I'm getting that relaxed, fluid, full extension after impact.  It's causing me to hold the club open and resulting in pushes with irons and slices with woods.  Anyone ever had this problem???

Does your drive start pretty much on target then slice or does it start right then slice?

[maddog0512]

95% of my shots start right. Most are straight pushes but the longer clubs tend to slice.

[joekelly]

Every golf problem is shared by hundreds of thousands of other 'hackers'.  You are not alone. But, unfortunately, the solution to your special situation is, more or less, out of our hands. IMO, there is no single 'golf tip' that will give you long term betterment. My usual answer is to recommend an overhaul of your mentality.  Read the book by Percy Boomer, a supreme golfer and teacher, written long ago. Try AbeBooks, Amazon, local library. Percy will help you, and all of us, understand the complexities of the swing, the common errors, and the needed corrections.  Be aware too, that if you are more than a teenager, you will struggle. Best wishes.

[PirateJim]

I gave this advice a short while ago in another thread and at the risk of being repetitive here it comes again. The release drill that has done me the most good is simply tucking a club head cover under the left arm and hitting little half swings with a 9 iron. For me it felt real funny to begin with, but soon I sorted it out and started actually hitting fairly decent little shots. A variation is tucking a towel under both arms and across the chest to practice a nice one piece takeaway.

[Missouri Swede]

This:

http://thesandtrap.com/t/30392/advice-i-hate-release-the-club

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by maddog0512

Can someone point me in the direction of some good drills, swing thoughts, etc. for "releasing" the club?  I have a feeling that I'm gripping the club too tightly and never really feel like I'm getting that relaxed, fluid, full extension after impact.  It's causing me to hold the club open and resulting in pushes with irons and slices with woods.  Anyone ever had this problem???

You're swinging a club 90mph+, tough to be "relaxed" in that situation Having a face aimed right of the target at impact isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'd bet the face isn't an issue, that it's the path. Path is too far left because of the weight location, too far back.  Make sure that left foot is turned out and that the left knee flexes down and forward.  Will change the swing direction.  I'd also check out this thread for Key #2 drills.  We see a direct correlation between bogey golfers and lack of a steady head (Key#1) and weight forward at impact.  More info of what I mean by Keys http://thesandtrap.com/t/55426/introducing-five-simple-keys

http://thesandtrap.com/t/61376/5sk-video-thread

Here's a good visual

Hitting balls like this (below) makes it impossible to slice the ball

[maddog0512]

So tonight I had one of the better range sessions I've had to date and it was due to fixing my release.  The way I was able to do this was focusing on 1) turning my body when my hands got in front of my right thigh, rather than swinging with more of my arms 2) "knuckling down" as I came into the ball i.e. supinating my left wrist and 3) staying down through my shot so I'm a little more of a "reverse C" at finish.  I had a tendency to stand up through impact.  These three thoughts seemed to straighten me out.  I was hitting my 8 iron pretty much dead at the 150 yard marker consistently with half swings.  My misses were about 5-10 yards right.  Also, I was able to hit my driver about 225-250 straight (slight fade on a few) also with half swings.  Felt pretty good and I'm excited to get back out on the range tomorrow.

[bk4946]

Might try making sure your head stays behind the ball til impact. Hard to "release" when moving ahead of the ball.