Learning how to release the golf club properly is one of the most important aspects of the golf swing for generating efficient clubhead speed. Releasing the club not only helps you hit the ball further, but it also helps square the club face through impact.
In this video, a very simple drill is provided to give you a powerful golf swing release and teach you how to time it so that maximum clubhead speed is reached at precisely the right moment. If you struggle with releasing the golf club early (casting the club) and losing lag, this video is a must watch for you.
In a proper golf swing release, note how the golf club shaft is running down the toe line and the toe of the club is pointing straight up. Allowing the golf club to release like this is a trained skill that requires time to develop, and the drills in this golf instruction video provide the learning pathway to an effortless, powerful release.
Once you master this drill, you will achieve significantly more club head speed with dramatically less effort and be able to properly square the club face. If you struggle with slicing the ball, this drill will put an end to that in a hurry! To see how your own release and impact position compare to elite standards, try a free AI swing analysis.
"...the whoooosh sound at the proper time is excellent positive feedback. Best drill I have ever seen [regarding] proper release acceleration thru the ball plus swinging the club in the air (not hitting the ground) is great for freeing you up to make an accelerated swing. Just wanted to let you know that this is a great drill!!!"
-Steven B. | Nov. 2011
In the swing above, from the summer of 2010, I was working intensively on teaching myself to more efficiently release the golf club. I have released the club with my body for my entire playing career and held off the actual release of the clubhead for so long that learning to allow the clubhead to release past my hands required some very unique sensations.
My body, arms, and hands feel as if they are completely stopping through impact while I engage my glutes for stability to support them. I feel as if my hips are not rotating at all (the Belt Buckle Drill from the Hip Spinners video) and the club is releasing past my hands.
Obviously, reviewing the video of my swing, it is evident that these things are NOT actually happening — which is why it is so critically important to have a video camera and a trained set of eyes evaluating your swing while you are making changes.
Because my body feels as if it is doing so much less now, it is difficult to overcome the urge to try and "add" something to the swing. I do not feel like I am doing ENOUGH!
But that is really the entire point of efficiency in the golf swing. You SHOULD NOT feel as if you are doing much in a properly executed golf swing, but it takes time to build in these changes and become more comfortable with the newer, more efficient movement patterns.
Video Transcription: Golf Club Release Drill
The most important concept of the golf swing to understand when it comes to clubhead speed is that speed needs to happen in only one place, and that is right here at impact. Any speed where most amateurs typically produce it — early in the swing, up high at the top of the backswing — is completely wasted effort.
It is very difficult for golfers to understand that. They often feel like they need to swing so fast and so hard from the very top of the backswing to try and produce speed that they do not realize how inefficient that approach actually is.
It helps to have a very simple golf club release drill to teach you where that release needs to happen and exactly how it needs to happen.
What we are going to do here is give you a straightforward drill that you can use every time you are on the golf course when working on your release. All you need is a golf club — you should have one of those with you anyway.
You are going to flip it upside down so that you have the handle pointing down. What this does is remove a lot of the weight from your hands so you start learning how to release the golf club without requiring significant muscular effort.
It teaches you how to produce speed. It is not raw power or muscular effort you are looking for in the golf swing — it is speed. I am not a very big guy, but I hit the ball a long way purely because of technique and speed. I am able to produce speed at the right points in the golf swing, and that is the key.
What we are going to do is stack a couple of elements together. First, we are going to get ourselves into the correct position at the top of the swing using just the trail arm. We know elevation and flexion from our "5 Minutes to the Perfect Backswing" video. Now as we go to the top, we can turn and keep the lead hand off.
What I want you to do at first is come down and snap the club at impact. I want you to stop at impact each time. Try to produce speed, but feel the correct impact positions.
Once you can get into that position and start producing speed, you are going to feel how the trail wrist maintains lag, and then you snap it at the bottom. If you are doing this from the top and throwing the club early, you will not be able to reach impact without the shaft passing your hands.
What you are doing is conserving and maintaining lag, then snapping at the bottom. The sequence is sitting, bringing the arm in, then snapping the wrist as you come through impact. For real-time coaching on your release mechanics, try a free AI golf lesson.
Once you can get into the correct position and notice that your hands are not behind you at impact — you are in the right position with your hands back in front of your body — now we are ready to start generating serious speed.
Notice how slow it appears my body is moving. I am not moving very fast with my body, but you can hear the club has tremendous speed at the right point. This is the only point that matters.
If you can snap the club at impact with that Trail Arm Drill — this is combining the Throw the Ball Drill, the Trail Arm Only Downswing Drill, and our Backswing Drill, so we are stacking many pieces together — we can get a tremendous amount of speed.
Having the club flipped upside down is critical, both so you can hear it and confirm that you are getting speed at the right point — you do not want it way out early and you do not want it way past impact. Now try the same thing with the club in the normal position. Same concept.
You are going to notice that, especially if you are one of those golfers who never really uses the trail side or trail arm in the golf swing, it is going to be very challenging. The club is going to want to jerk you around, and you are going to want to release the golf club early. Especially if you do not shift your weight, you are going to have difficulty.
We should be able to snap it and get around to a full follow-through while maintaining lag all the way down. We are relatively slow until our hands get approximately in front of our thigh, then we snap it and let the club release.
If you can do that with this drill — upside down first — you will start to develop your release and get the release point at the correct moment in the golf swing so that you achieve maximum speed without excessive effort. That is the key.
You can tell that my body is not working particularly hard, but because of good technique I generate significant speed at the right point in the swing.
Work on this drill. You can do it between each shot. When you are working on your release, flip the club upside down and start snapping it, and you will achieve considerably more clubhead speed with substantially less physical effort.
Watch part 2 now to see how you're moving your body in the opposite direction of the pros!
Go to the top (Elevation, Flexion, Rotation)
Snap through impact
The right wrist maintains lag
You should be able to hear it at top speed
