Releasing the Club in the Golf Swing

What it means to release the club

Releasing the club in the golf swing is no different than it is in any other sport. Looking at the basketball player the athlete first hinges the right wrist back while cocking and loading the right arm putting everything in position to release to the target. Once the arm has loaded it simply straightens to the target with the wrist going to flat or past.

When the pitcher throws the ball the arm is loaded and then straightens from the word go. Both of these players are releasing to the target with neither trying to delay the release. But with the pitcher there is a rotation from the body and because of this there is an appearance of a delay due to an inward pulling from the legs and hips. Now the harder the ball is thrown the faster the body rotates until the leg straightens which putts a brake on the motion resulting in a transference of energy expressed as momentum occurring from the ground up with a chain reaction from the legs, hips, shoulders and then the arms each adding to the acceleration of the next. The following picture shows a golfer at the top of her swing in position to straighten back to the ball.

The right arm has loaded and the right wrist hinged back. From here the arm simply straightens with the hand going to flat or past as shown in the following picture.

Now with no attempt at delaying or holding any of the angles there is also no need to come over the top with the shoulders, or add any self-imposed rolling of the forearms or flipping with the hands so as to square the face. So every golf wants the appearance of a delayed release but you don’t do it. In fact to get this look one is required to release the club.