Advice I Hate: "Release the Club"

[dchoye]

What's wrong with the term "release"?  I think it can be helpful.

I think of 'release" as part of the swing. The part from where the hands are hip high just prior to the ball contact and creates that "whooosh" in the swing. I just dont like the term  "release" in putting .

[rehmwa]

THANK YOU! I thought I was alone there...I hate that term. The ball doesn't release, it keeps rolling. You don't release the club...if you did, it would fly 80 yards through the air.

same here - it's so hard to define what you mean.  It seems simple, but ask 5 people and you can get 5 very different concepts

and then there's release during the swing, and then there's the release of the ball when it hits the green, etc etc etc.

If really stuck, whether it's a full swing or putting or whatever, I'll assume that the 'release' is any point when the wrists do their thing at that timing just prior to contact

as for a ball checking up vs releasing....that's a much easier concept and I have no issue with the term there

as for physically releasing a club and watching it spin through the air?  that's just plain funny

[Golfingdad]

What's wrong with the term "release"?

This .....

same here - it's so hard to define what you mean.

It doesn't mean anything.  Everybody would take it to mean something different and that's a very bad thing.  Instructors should say things and use words that make sense to everybody, at least when they are talking to everybody.  When they are giving a private lesson, they can say whatever it is that they think is going to help that one student.  I would just hope that that one student would recognize that what worked for them isn't something that works for everybody.  This is why a lot on here criticize some pros for giving out advice ... they're not really understanding their swings as much as they're just telling us what feels worked for them.

[rehmwa]

difference between a good coach and a crappy coach is that phrase

"they're not really understanding their ((fill in the blank for whatever sport you are referencing)) as much as they're just telling us what worked for them."

[dchoye]

This .....

It doesn't mean anything.  Everybody would take it to mean something different and that's a very bad thing.  Instructors should say things and use words that make sense to everybody, at least when they are talking to everybody.  When they are giving a private lesson, they can say whatever it is that they think is going to help that one student.  I would just hope that that one student would recognize that what worked for them isn't something that works for everybody.  This is why a lot on here criticize some pros for giving out advice ... they're not really understanding their swings as much as they're just telling us what feels worked for them.

Release does mean something. I agree its overused. As long as it defined and whoever you are talking to are on the same page about defining `release and  then I find it helpful in improve my swing.

All Im saying is that some instructors use the `release`term in putting and its not the way I think about it and causes over acceleration which might be good for the driver but not for putting.

[Golfingdad]

Release does mean something.

But if it means something different to different people then it's better not being used at all.  (In general instruction ... i.e. guys on TV, this forum, tips in magazines, etc.)  If your instructor has a use for it for you specifically, then great, but it doesn't translate here because we aren't all you. ;)

[mvmac]

I don't think release is a good term for any part of the swing, but that is a different topic all together

Yes for the most part it's not a great term to use in golf, the vast majority of golfers already "release" it too much. Most slicers already have the face pointing left at impact and line the shaft up with their lead arm well before impact.

As it relates to putting or this thread, I think creating a little "float load" makes the release more automatic, letting the putter "fall" onto the ball. We obviously don't want to flip it and don't want to drag the handle forward. It's somewhere in between but I think it's something that has to happen, can't force it.

[LefyPapa]

If you're a 4 handicap we know it works for you :)

[Tomputt]

Storongly disagree with trying to release the clubhead.  We have all heard the phrase "let the club head do the work".  That is placing too much mecahnical thought on trying to make the end of the club hit the ball.  My PGA coach has me thinking loose wrists and VERY soft hands.  Bring these soft loose wrists and hands into the down swing and the clubhead will do the work for you.  Hinging, unhinging and rehinging can only be done with loose wrists and soft hands.

[mvmac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tomputt

Storongly disagree with trying to release the clubhead.  We have all heard the phrase "let the club head do the work".  That is placing too much mecahnical thought on trying to make the end of the club hit the ball.  My PGA coach has me thinking loose wrists and VERY soft hands.  Bring these soft loose wrists and hands into the down swing and the clubhead will do the work for you.  Hinging, unhinging and rehinging can only be done with loose wrists and soft hands.

"Soft, loose hands" can also be put on the list of advice we hate. You're swinging the club 85+mph, the last thing you want is a loose grip, think of the amount of force/torque being applied to the club head/shaft and body.

You can't have soft hands and create this picture

Quote:

If you had to guess whether grip pressures among amateur golfers were too tight or too loose, I imagine most people would guess they're too tight. It's common advice to "grip the club loosely" or "lightly" or "decrease grip pressure."

If you guessed that most amateurs grip the club too tight, you couldn't be more wrong. Most amateurs grip the club far too loosely.

Studies have been conducted on PGA Tour players and average amateurs. What they found was that the average PGA Tour player has the capacity to grip a club more than two times as firmly as the average amateur. So let's say a PGA Tour player says he grips the club at a "3 or a 4" on a scale of 1-10. The average amateur is only capable of gripping the club to a 4 or a 5, so that makes his grip pressure anywhere from a 6 to a 10 if you extrapolate the scale! Everyone's "3 to 4" is not the same. (There's another study I remember vividly, but I'll add that in a second comment.)

[JonMA1]

"Soft, loose hands" can also be put on the list of advice we hate. You're swinging the club 85+mph, the last thing you want is a loose grip, think of the amount of force/torque being applied to the club head/shaft and body.

Is there a point where gripping too tightly can cause tension in the forearms and if so, is that detrimental to maximizing club head speed?

[saevel25]

Is there a point where gripping too tightly can cause tension in the forearms and if so, is that detrimental to maximizing club head speed?

Yes, but you'd be surprised at how much you need to squeeze to really engage the rest of your arm muscles.

[JonMA1]

Yes, but you'd be surprised at how much you need to squeeze to really engage the rest of your arm muscles.

Thanks Matt.

Not being argumentative but rather trying to define what too loose and too tight might be...

I read a reprint of an article by the late Jim Flick last year with a short piece on grip pressure. He talked about how using a percentage to define proper grip pressure was kind of ambiguous as everyone has a different maximum grip. So to say "everyone should grip it at 50%" would be different for every individual.

I'm sure everyone has seen this or heard of this, but he suggested using enough just pressure to hold the club out at about a 45 degree angle from your body. I thought this was an easier way for anyone to understand what he thought was proper grip pressure.

I kind of cringed when I read Mike's post as one of the positives results I got from a recent lesson was to relax my grip and forearm tension. Maybe I was really over the top with them both.

[saevel25]

Thanks Matt. Not being argumentative but rather trying to define what too loose and too tight might be... I read a reprint of an article by the late Jim Flick last year with a short piece on grip pressure. He talked about how using a percentage to define proper grip pressure was kind of ambiguous as everyone has a different maximum grip. So to say "everyone should grip it at 50%" would be different for every individual. I'm sure everyone has seen this or heard of this, but he suggested using enough just pressure to hold the club out at about a 45 degree angle from your body. I thought this was an easier way for anyone to understand what he thought was proper grip pressure. I kind of cringed when I read Mike's post as one of the positives results I got from a recent lesson was to relax my grip and forearm tension. Maybe I was really over the top with them both.

I grip the club tight, but I don't have stress in my arms. You can have a firm grip with out it being too tight. For me I would say my grip pressure is light compared to let's say squeezing a tennis ball. It's really hard to put a number on it.

[mvmac]

Is there a point where gripping too tightly can cause tension in the forearms and if so, is that detrimental to maximizing club head speed?

Yes you want to grip it firm and have it "secure" in the hands but not have a lot of tension in the forearms. Basically having the grip in the fingers correctly takes care of this. It should be secure enough that someone couldn't pull the club out of my hands.

[JonMA1]

Yes you want to grip it firm and have it "secure" in the hands but not have a lot of tension in the forearms. Basically having the grip in the fingers correctly takes care of this. It should be secure enough that someone couldn't pull the club out of my hands.

Perfect. That's very close to what I just started doing - specifically gripping further up in my fingers and having more of a relaxed or controlled tempo (I found the thread you referenced after I posted my question). Thank you.

One of the things I'm starting to realize when talking golf with others is that the terminology isn't always the clearest to understand and you usually can't take the advice literally. Often I'll discover something on my own and think "oh, that's what they meant by...".

The term "hit down on the ball" always kind of bothered me. I've always preferred the explanation of "bottoming out your swing after hitting the ball", or "hitting the ball first then the ground". I guess it's just a personal thing about how we interpret words.

[iacas]

Learning to separate grip pressure from forearm tension is one of the things that separate better players from poorer players. I grip the club quite firmly, but my forearms remain soft.

[MS256]

Describing grip pressure, relative effort in a swing, release, and muscle tension are hard to do because of individual strengths and/or perceptions.

I would probably tell my wife to use about a 3 in grip pressure on a scale of 1 to 5, tell her to hit the ball with at least 95% effort and ,yes, "release the club". She is too relaxed in those areas, hits nice straight shots, almost never hits a shot very much offline, but doesn't even get close to her capable distance.

I would describe my own grip pressure as between a 1 and a 2 on a scale of 1 to 5, try to contain effort to 85%, and try to hold off my release so it feels like the heel of the club is passing the ball before the toe.