Please help! Drillz to help improve Release with the longer clubs...

[Adam Bellaire]

I have recently been experiencing a pretty severe block/fade to the right with my longer clubs.  I started the game as a pull slicer, and have worked pretty hard over the winter and into the spring on getting my clubpath more 'down the line' than my natural outside to in.  I was able to correct the slice with lessons mostly dealing with positions and alignment and was hitting balls straight but with a slight pull.  I have recently started hitting my short/mid irons (up to the 5) really well, with a higher tradjectory and beanpole straight.  But I have been experiencing a 'creeping' push/fade, especially with the driver.  I start out the round/session hitting nice straight and high drives and then it slowly transforms into a fade...then a push fade...then a push slice.  Can't seem to get it under control.  The more tired I get the worse it gets.  Any thoughts or drills would be greatly appreciated

[Adam Bellaire]

I know what causes these ball flights...i'm just wondering if anyone has any 'feel' drills...I have been working on the parallel to parallel drill to promote a proper release.  There are two bad habits that have been cropping up during rounds, that others have observed.  One is when I am transitioning to the downswing; I have a tendancy to lean out to the ball a bit causing me to hit off the heel a bit(i've seen this one on video, my hips actually move closer to the ball, weight out on the toes and I usually lift to try and create space).  And the other is I get a little slidey with my hips, a soft left side; from here I either hit a pop up or a block.

[Stuffs]

A drill I hope can help you. Right now, without looking at your swing, it sounds like you're trying to put too much power on the swing, causing a hip slide.

One drill I like doing is having the shaft parallel to mimic the downswing coming near the release to impact.  Your weight should still be somewhat balanced, slightly favoring inside of the right foot (for RH players).  Keep in mind not to put too much weight to the right where you're shifting or sliding too much behind the ball.  Everything should feel somewhat balanced.  From there, make the best swing you can to a full follow through.  Don't worry about how far you hit it but more on just hitting it as straight as possible.  Focus on turning the hips and torso through the impact and not sliding.  Its a very simple turn of hips and body, like closing a door.  Know that your target is to reach a full follow through, with a finish with your hands above your head or so.  Your weight will shift to the left foot.  Work on feeling for the weight transfer but not allowing your hips to slide forward.

Biggest key to the drill is not try to hit it hard as your body will initially try to since you will feel you are left with no back swing.  When you do, your hips will slide and everything will just be off balanced.

Try to feel for the hip turn and just how subtle it is.

Once you got that down, from that same starting position, you can start taking the club back slightly, about 6-10 inches to give you more momentum coming through impact.  Good luck with it.

[Adam Bellaire]

Thanks for the tips Stuffs, I will put some work in on this over the weekend...I think this will help keep me balanced throughout the swing...and you are correct on the me swinging too hard, this is something I have been trying to tone down, but seem to amp back up every time I'm on the course.

[Stuffs]

Adam, what kind of driver are you using and is it stock?

[Adam Bellaire]

I am using a Nike VR-Pro Ltd 8.5 degree cut down to 44.5"(just recently made adjustments to length) the decrease in length has helped quite a bit...only had 1 bad push in my last round compared to the 3-5 i was getting before

[Stuffs]

That's good.  Because I was just about to suggest going with a shorter driver.  Stock lengths are too long for 90% of golfers out there.  Well, keep doing what you're doing and work on that driver swing.  Give yourself mental notes on swinging smooth and not hard.  Golf is funny like that, the lower your handicap is, the more mental it becomes.

Its funny because I had a terrible time with my driver today.  My problem lately has been pulled shots.  Its frustrating.

[bendport]

Quite often, an inabilty to release the club can be caused by the hips opening up too quickly on the downswing, this can often occur more with the longer clubs as we all try to hit them harder.  Try this drill, it will firm up the left hip through impact and help you to release the golf club as you swing through.

[jclark]

The video says open club face causes the slice. He is wrong. Out-in swing path causes slice. Clubface just dictates whether is is a push or pull or straight. Imo this video is garbage. The release is an effect of the swing. Look at your swing closer and see what is causing your release problems. Consciously rolling your arms is gonna cause a million more problems. My 2 cents.

[bendport]

Thanks for your comments even if a little blunt.  The last time I checked, swing path normally dictates the direction that the ball starts on, club face causes the spin on the ball, ie. closed face = right to left,  open face = left to right spin.  Think you might want to check your ball flight laws out.  Secondly, don't the forearms rotate during the through swing?  I think practically every golfer on the world stage does it apart from maybe Zach Johnson who has a very strong grip.

[iacas]

The last time I checked, swing path normally dictates the direction that the ball starts on, club face causes the spin on the ball, ie. closed face = right to left,  open face = left to right spin.  Think you might want to check your ball flight laws out.

Ben, you're the one with outdated information. Please check things out yourself. Start here: http://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/ball_flight_laws .

[MiniBlueDragon]

Iacas's page has a whole ton of info on it but for a bite-sized piece of evidence the "oh yeah" for me regarding the ball flight laws was when this video was first released:

[Golfingdad]

Thanks for your comments even if a little blunt.  The last time I checked, swing path normally dictates the direction that the ball starts on, club face causes the spin on the ball, ie. closed face = right to left,  open face = left to right spin.  Think you might want to check your ball flight laws out.  Secondly, don't the forearms rotate during the through swing?  I think practically every golfer on the world stage does it apart from maybe Zach Johnson who has a very strong grip.

@iacas is correct ... it's simply been too long since you've checked, or you've just not been checking in the right place.

Further, as a student - therefore non-expert - but somebody who considers himself at least marginally intelligent, I have a problem with stuff like this:

"If you don't release the club, what will happen is, the clubface will be coming through in an open position and its gonna cause a slice shot, ok?" and "So the release itself occurs just after the impact position."

How can I keep the clubface from being open AT impact by releasing the club AFTER impact??  That doesn't make any sense.  (Nevermind the fact that an open club face is not what causes a slice)

[bendport]

Thanks for the info on ball flight, I will pass my comments on it later as it is a lot to digest!! With regard to the release...... For me, I start the release just before impact, by "through swing" I mean, rotatating and extending the right arm from around waist height on the downswing "through impact" bringing the club into a square position then after impact the forearms will then fully rotate (release) and extend. So I don't see the problem with this drill as it gives golfers a feeling of the arm rotation through impact and into the follow through and has worked well with the hundreds of golfers I have personally used it on over the past 15 years of full time golf coaching.

[jclark]

My only problem with this is that it is a timing move. When the hands are waist high and moving into impact there is a couple milli seconds of time to do this. How can you consistently do this time and time again? Sorry I came across blunt in an earlier post and don't mean any offense with this one.

[Hammer 4]

This video may help some..

[bendport]

Having reviewed the video I've noticed that I've made a couple of mistakes with regard to the classification of the shot through a lack of release, calling it a slice not a push or push slice and you are correct that a slice is caused by an over the top move(out to in swing plane with an open club face.  I will edit the video in relation to this point.  Thanks for the feedback

[jclark]

good video. You shouldn't be actively rolling your forearms over in the golf swing. Promoting this is going to make a bad golfer worse. My honest opinion!