how to release properly?

[jpgolf]

What's the best way to release properly? My problem is my natural release has a cupping of the left wrist which i feel leads to inconsistent ball contact. I tried the hogan pronation and supination release but feel like i hook it too much. Then a pro told me to hold my angle on the downswing but end up blocking it.

[dagoos]

Re: how to release properly?

at the top of the swing first thing to make downswing is getting your left forearm away from your right shoulder ,,,then swing those arms and the club will release itself and body will follow the swing to a full finish ,,,,,don't do nothing to interrupt the natural flow of the club,,,the weight of the swing basically pulls everything to a full finish ,,,try it and you see how easy it is

[Ottergolf]

Re: how to release properly?

Your first reply is very good advice.
A release must happen naturally. If the club head is travelling at 80-90 mph then if you haven't got release,you are preventing it.
Two things we do to block the release is steering the shot and trying to add extra power. Both interfear with the flow of the clubhead.
The best way to learn release is to swing a heavy club, grip it gently and sweep the club from the butt pointing away from target top of backswing round and through to the opposite position on the follow through. The ball is incidental and you need to clear your head of trying to hit thre ball or creating an "impact" position.

[GBergstrom]

Re: how to release properly?

Hi jpgolf.

I'm an advocate of the Hogan style of release, where the left hand supinates as the right side releases towards the target. The main benefit of this style of release is you can generate a consistent swing arc, where the bottom is in the same place every time. There are some caveats to getting this type of release to work without hooking the living tweedle out of your shot:

1. Your grip must be fairly neutral. With a strong grip, you may naturally want to supinate your left hand more than you should with this type of release, resulting in a closed clubface at impact. Hogan was a neutral gripper, and I'm sure this is why.

2. Ball & hand position become more critical. The longer the club, the further you set up behind the ball. I'm sure you remember that illustration of foot & ball positions from Hogan's 5 lessons, and how the shorter the club, the narrower the stance. Set up with the ball too far forward for the club in your hand, and you can bet the clubface will be closed as you lunge for the ball. Set up with your hands too far forward of the ball, and you can bet the club will be coming too far inside out, or the heel will dig into the ground before you get to the ball.

3. You absoutely can not sway back in your backswing. It's like magically moving the ball forward in your stance without even knowing it.

4. The supination doesn't start until you have started your swing through the hitting zone, where your wrist cock starts to release. When it happens, it's not a hard, forced torquing of the left arm & hand. You are merely trying to coordinate the left hand supination with your right side release towards the target. Shawn Clement refers to this as "getting out of the way."

Indeed there are other ways to release the club - this one works for me. I might suggest going on to youtube and looking at Jeff Ritter's description of different types of releases. Something there might strike a chord with you.

Cheers, GB