Advice I Hate: "Release the Club"

[iacas]

Push-slicing as a fault is

I'm with SAM - I'd like to see video. I'm not entirely sure you're coming from the inside (though I'm 95% of the way there - pushing is tough to do any other way, after all).

But you're probably doing something else - like over-rotating your wrists to begin with - and the "fix" is probably not to try to time rotating them coming into impact. In short, video or it didn't happen.

[Tomboys]

I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but IME, I've been trying to "release" the club for as long as I can remember. As a result of my effort to release the club, I've been rewarded with a nice OTT move and a really nice flip through impact. As such, I've perfected the 40 yard pull shots and the 50 yard slices. On the rare occassion that the ball actually went straight where I aimed, I'd ask myself, "How'd that happen?"

Well, now that I have an instructor that's working with my contact/rhythm issues, I'm starting to realize just how bad I interpreted this advice and the negative impact it's had on my game all these years. When I was younger and more coodinated, I could plug around the course and shoot a decent score. However, I've always felt that I was just "holding" my game together on those good rounds and that at any moment, I was going to "lose" it. Since it's hard to figure out where to aim if your bad shot could be either a 40 yard pull or a 50 yard slice, it was real difficult to be confident and relaxed as you addressed the ball.

So, while some may disagree on what Erik wrote--and everybody's experiences can be different, I've found that the pitfalls that he described was exactly what I experienced when I was told to release the club.

[HytrewQasdfg]

Push-slicing as a fault is

I'm a little confused here. Hitting a draw with the face open? Maybe I'm not clear about what open means?

Assuming right hander with inside-out swing here. Open to the path of the club? That would impart a clockwise spin to the ball. That would create a high pressure area on the left side of the ball, and a low pressure area on the right side of the ball, which would result in the ball going to the right (a slice). Open to the target line? If the clubface was closed compared to the path of the club, but open to the target line it would cause the ball to spin counter clockwise. That would create a low pressure area on the left side of the ball, and high pressure area on the right side of the ball, causing the ball to curve to the left (a draw). It seems unclear to me what you mean by open.

[iacas]

I'm a little confused here. Hitting a draw with the face open?

Open to the target line. Closed to the path.

That's what he means (and he's correct). The old (wrong) ball flight laws had you pointing the club at the target and swinging out to the right. Balls hit that way would start at the target and then draw well left.

[Shanks A Million]

I'm with SAM - I'd like to see video. I'm not entirely sure you're coming from the inside (though I'm 95% of the way there - pushing is tough to do any other way, after all).

Aw hell, I've been there too, but it's rare, and it doesn't last long. I mean, I'll hit the 40 yard push-fade some times when working on something extreme, but my subconsious closes the face very quickly and rectifies the problem.

In order to hit the push fade, the driver needs to drop below plane. Here it's with the green line, roughly on plane. If it gets very low down, toward the red line, I can block-fade it off the face of the earth. I do drop my driver down low sometimes, so it's not unheard of, but the tee has to be well up into the air for me to even consider it a problem.

[The Recreational Golfer]

I hate this term, too. My pro told me to release the club as I came through impact, and I did, and they had to close the range for five minutes while I walked out to get my club back.

[Zeph]

I hate this term, too. My pro told me to release the club as I came through impact, and I did, and they had to close the range for five minutes while I walked out to get my club back.

Five minutes? How far did you throw it?

[The Recreational Golfer]

Not that far, really. I didn't take long to get the club, but the standing ovation lasted quite a while.

[mattshaver]

So I know this thread is old, but I was reading it earlier today trying to fix my open club-face at impact, and I figured my reply fit best here...Anyways, Erik's posts got me thinking.  I always knew I had a weak grip, so I decided tonight at the range, I would work on strengthening my grip.  I figured that a stronger left hand would bring my club face more square at impact, and it would keep me from being too "handsy" in my takeaway, and all sorts of other stuff.  Theoretically....

Well, to make a long story short, I was killing it.  Long and straight.  I was pulling off fades and straight shots almost at will.  Draws weren't coming as easily, but I could get little ones going.  Before tonight, my shots were all huge pushes and push-slices.  Lots of fat shots.  Casting, flipping, just being altogether too handsy.  Tonight, my hands just felt like they were along for the ride, and as long as I thought about "hitting" that triangle at impact, I would hit a great shot.  The distance control is going to be an issue in the future, but my ball-striking was light years better tonight.

And all this with a newly-acquired set of MP-67s that I picked up on Craigslist for $200.  My normal set of irons is some old Tommy Armour something or the other that aren't very forgiving to begin with, but I had picked up the Mizzy's because I figured that if I could train myself to hit the sweet spot on the blades, my Tommy Armours would be like pie.  After tonight, I think I'm going to start incorporating the blade 8-PW in my bag.

It was like night and day.  I LOVE this forum!

[NEOHMark]

The post below, and image linked, by delav is so spot-on regarding this topic, it's worthy of showing here IMHO.

Originally Posted by delav

The yellow and orange lines show Juke Donald maintaining lag into impact.  They are traced over his shaft and left arm, the center of the angle is his hands.

Notice how at impact (the thick orange line) his hands are still ahead of the clubhead?  The shaft is leaning forward here, toward the target.

Try to learn this position at impact, your ball striking with all clubs with improve big time.

[Ernest Jones]

I hate any instruction that asks you to conciously to manipulate the swing once it has started. Receipe for disaster as far as I'm concerned. Once you start that bugger leave it alone for the 2 seconds it takes to swing it and you'll be much better off than the guy who is trying to re-route, re-direct, release, lag or what have you.

[MikeLowry5]

1. I push fade the ball at times.  Better explained as a massive, high block slice.  See my thread for my swing,however I have made the mistake of putting videos up of mostly straight shots.  The term release the club seems a bit wire in what is actually supposed to happen.  I agree with Eric that it seems a bit generic.

Why in the world would you promote excessive rolling of the wrists or forearms in a game that requires you to hit a ball to a precise location?  he best explanation I have heard to justify this is in Phil Mickelson's Secrets of the Short Game when he describes the path of a putter head during the stroke.  He states (and I am paraphrasing), "In an ideal world we would bring the putter head straight back and straight thru, but that is not entirely possible so the swing becomes an arc."

The amount of club face/hands/wrists should be the minimal amount to generate enough power to get the balll to the distance you want (I am not saying this varies with the amount of "power" you wish to achieve).  If not for distance requirements we would all bring the club straight back and straight forward without and rotation of hands/wrists/forearms.

I am not a golf pro, only someone who sees what he sees in videos of golf swings.  Take my explanation for what you want.

[BogeyBogey]

What about this advice on release? I never heard of this...

[Zeph]

Originally Posted by BogeyBogey

What about this advice on release? I never heard of this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC86--bqmpg

Never heard about a club twisting like that, and it doesn't make sense to me. Yes, you can twist the club if you hold one hand on the clubhead and one on the grip, but it won't twist that way when swinging. It will bend, which affects loft, but ultimately, the backside of your left hand is a very good indication for what the clubface does. With the grip being a factor of course. The guy showed some weird action at the end of the video, but didn't do a good job at demonstrating it. Either way, I think it's bad advice. There should be no conscious rolling or turning og flipping of the hands to square up the clubface. You either hold it open, let it square up as a result of the arc or roll it shut.

[poser]

Originally Posted by BogeyBogey

What about this advice on release? I never heard of this...

That guy is as insane as his sweater.  Face comes in open 7 degrees..... Amazing people out there teach these kinds of things and whats even worse is people pay and believe him.

[miami8miami]

so the correct releasing of the club would be the rehinging of the wrists to absorb the speed of the swing?

would this rehinging use any bending of the right wrist (PA 5) post impact?

[bogey master]

How true I tried releasing the club head in slow motion trying to role my forearms and there was no way I could do this.

[carpediem4300]

If i feel like i roll my forearms through impact i hit straight driver shots If i dont i hit massive push slices No-one ever told me to roll this, release that,..just made the deduction myself It works most of the time as i can only practice twice a week,.... I just struggle to close the face with the woods,...irons are no problem cause i hit straight draws with them