How to Release the Golf Club (Simple)

Hello, Adam Bazalgette here, founder of Scratch Golf Academy. Today’s subject, how to release the golf club. I’ll show you the two main components of that.

There’s two different ways you can define release. I’ll also show you some things I think you should work on and the order you should work on them, you’ll have some success.

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Two Elements of the Golf Swing Release

So when we talk about the release, there’s two real elements of it, at least in my opinion, that you’d look at. This is a down the line view and this is Billy Horschel. One of them is club face.

Can the club face snap close?

So typically, great players, the toe is about up at that point. Certainly not always, but generally. And then it has to square up and then de-loft and close over there and now you see it’s relatively toe up over there.

As a general reference, when it’s on that side of the body visually, you’ll see the club face line up about with the club shaft. So the closing of the face is certainly one element of the release.

The other one, there’s Michelle Wee. Let me just move her up just a touch so we can see the ball there and we’ll look at a couple of players here. The other one is the unhinging of the wrist.

So she’s got lots of lag. There’s a significant angle obviously there between the lead arm and the club shaft and just watch their impact as she comes through. That thing snaps square.

So somewhere about in there, about this far past the ball is the point where most players, you’ll see the shaft fully in line, both wrists straight if you like, the shaft fully in line with the arms there.

Let’s have a look at Mr. Woods there. We’ll just bump him up just a little bit as well and let’s have a look here. So load the club beautifully and then snap go those wrists.

He’s maybe at that point just slightly before Michelle and I really believe a couple of things. I think unless you can first off load the club, we’ll get into that in a moment, unless you can decelerate your arms and body and really crack the energy out to the club, really transfer energy, you won’t get this look to the extent they will.

You will see a lot of these players shortly after coming past this lead thigh, you start to see the knuckles of that glove hand under there. It is not typical to see a higher handicap with that look there and I believe that if you can get this view correct, the releasing of the wrist as we see it from the face on, the down the line view, the club face bit will largely take care of itself. I’ll show you how these blend together later in this video though. tension.

How to Achieve the Golf Club Release

So how do we go about getting this release? What’s gonna give that to you? Well, the fact of the matter is you can’t just manufacture it with your hands down there. It has to be part of the overall physical force.

Think of skipping a rock. Think of the bounce that would be in your arm and the way you’d stop your arm and snap that club through.

Now we’re gonna get into a nice little drill I’ll show you but let me just show you a feature here that if you don’t have this right, it’s not gonna be possible.

Now this video isn’t about grip per se but let me just say a couple of things that’ll really help. Relax your hand. If that grip isn’t fairly far down in the fingers under that pad, you won’t have the mobility in your wrists in order to make this happen.

And not only that, when you practice this grip a little bit, hey, you need some grip pressure. When that club’s moving quickly, you need some pressure but you must have mobile wrists. Practice that.

The Release Drill

So get a short iron. I’ve got a nine iron here. Go ahead and get that grip we’re talking about and practice that feeling of some control over the club but some looseness. Here’s the drill. Here’s what I want you to do.

Two features to it. The swing’s gonna be roughly this big. Actually the follow through in terms of your arm swing’s a little shorter.

First thing you’ve gotta be able to do is again, you’ve gotta be responsive and soft enough. If you thrust that club down, you waste all the spring in the club. It’s not gonna release properly at the bottom.

The second one and that’s, I suppose, the focal point of this drill is the finish as we go through. And what I’m gonna try to do is I’m going to stop my arms as nearly past the edge of my lead leg there as I can. And at that point, I wanna feel the energy having gone out into the golf club.

So I want a very sudden, abrupt stop. So here we go. Little swing. Nice and soft. I’m just stopped that thing right there and I can really feel the energy transfer.

Again, if you don’t load it and decelerate your arms at the stop, you’re gonna not have the type of punch you need.

Now you may say, well, we certainly don’t wanna stop our arms that quickly in a real swing. As we showed you with the pros earlier though, there’s gotta be a certain amount of deceleration to crack the whip. Then there should be so much energy in the golf club, it takes you back around to the finish.

That’s the idea. So let’s try it again here. Just right there. I’m hitting those balls. That’s a nine-iron, probably 120 yards. Reasonably far. Your own scale will be your own scale.

A Common Pitfall

Now here’s a little pitfall people often fall into. Let’s look at that. Here’s a critical point, and this is not only gonna affect the way you release it, but will affect overall point number two, the rolling of the face through the release.

When that club snaps through, don’t let that wrist cup down here. The idea is as it snaps, the wrist folds under, turns under a little bit if you like, and more bows this way.

So you can still snap it and bow the knuckles under, and if you do, you’ll square the club face up a lot more effectively. Also, you’ll have a much more stable hand and club shaft right at the moment of contact.

Let me show you Tiger doing it, then we’ll hit a few more shots. So there’s Tiger Woods. Quite a while ago here, I think this is Bay Hill. Long par three it appears anyway, but watch as he comes down. Obviously very dynamic, great lag.

Here comes the snap of the wrists right there. Here’s where they pop, but watch closely. Watch the back of that left hand. It’s starting to aim downwards. That’s what you want.

It’s bowing more underneath, and there we go. That’s the look. Now he may have a little cup in the wrist by the time he gets up here somewhere, but it’s bowing downwards as he snaps the club. That helps snap the face square, helps deal off the club as well through impact.

Blending the Release Into the Full Swing

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So now I’m trying to blend both the stop and the pop of the club with this feeling of turning those knuckles down a little bit. You might hit a few hooks initially. Not a bad thing for most people.

Let’s try it here. I could really feel the knuckles aiming down there. That was a pretty solid shot. And of course, you get started on this thing, you start to feel that snap at the bottom.

Don’t hit, once you’ve got the feel for it, don’t hit 40 or 50 in a row, or you’ll feel like you have two swings that can’t be combined. One’s my drill swing and one’s when I wanna make a full swing.

So every third or fourth shot, or whatever discretionary mixture you choose, go ahead and take the drill, but make it a bigger swing. And just go ahead and go on through there. Little too much hook on that one. And make some medium-sized swings so you experience the stop, but not a complete stop.

And then make it all the way to a full swing, back and forth and so on till you’ve got the feeling. You will have a good release.

A Final Word

Well, I hope that helps you with how to release the golf club. Would really appreciate a thumbs up if you liked the video. Helps us, again, build some momentum at the channel. Appreciate your interest in the golf instruction. I hope your game is getting better.

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