The Release! What it Should and Shouldn't Be.

I encounter many golfers who are unconsciously trying to manipulate the club face through impact in an attempt to keep the face square and the ball on line. They have a sense that holding the face off will somehow keep it square through impact. I get it, but the message I’d like all to get from this article today is that holding off when it is not required simply doesn’t work. In fact, I’m of the opinion that holding the face off actually decreases the golfer’s ability to control the face angle at impact. Watch this for a better understanding…

Here are a few notes to take away:

• In the downswing the club face is always closing relative to the target. This is purely a function of the rotation inherent to the swing.

• The release starts long before impact and is strongly influenced by the face angle in the early part of the downswing. An open face will encourage an early release, while a closed face will delay the release.

• The lead wrist goes from flexion (bowed) to extension (cupped), while the trail wrist does just the opposite, just the same as if you were throwing a frisbee with your lead hand and a ball with your trail hand.

• Semantics: a scoop is when a player adds loft and a flip is when a player is required to speed up the rate at which the face is closing.

Try the little exercise I demonstrated with the magnetic club face indicator. Start with one hand for a few swings and then add both for a few swings. Pay attention to how quiet the face actually is through the impact zone. Don’t swing too hard with the indicator on the club face or it will go flying! In real swings the feel should be that you are letting the wrists and clubhead fly in the downswing and through the strike. Throw it - hard!

Thanks for watching and please shout if you have any questions or comments. Happy Holidays from myself and my family to you and yours.

Maintain Body Angles for Consistency

Have you ever struggled with shots that just don't seem to go where they should? The ball always seems to leak right or hook left. Today's post strives to get at the root cause of why your golf swing is so reliant on timing.

One of the more frequent mistakes I see golfers make is to stand up or lose their body angles through impact - the "stand and deliver" move! The loss of body angles or posture causes the body to stop rotating and as a result the hands now assume the responsibility of squaring the clubface. Remember - if the body does not rotate to clubface square, then the hands will help out. This move is very difficult to time, especially under pressure, and often leads to the hands overworking or flipping through impact. If the hands rotate the clubface too early the shot misses left and if they're a touch late, then the shot misses right.

Consistently straight shots are achievable only when the clubface is being squared via the rotation of the body through impact.

An indicator that you are losing your body angles through impact is that your divots (if you are even taking any) are always deeper on the outside than the inside. They are toe deep. (A big reason why an "active" fitting is not always the best way to go!)

A good method to ensure that the body continues it's rotation through the hit is to work on maintaining your posture or spine angle that is established at address. Hit little pitch type shots with an eight iron trying to feel that your torso stays down over the ball while clearing through the strike. A good feel is to try and sense that the hands are low through impact - they should feel like they are actually lower at impact than they were at address. You may even have the sense that the toe of the club is higher at impact than the heel. Try this DRILL

This is something that all of golf's greatest ball strikers have in common - Nick Price, Lee Trevino and Ben Hogan all did a fantastic job of maintaining their posture through impact. This allowed them to take the hands, and timing, out of the equation - a recipe for consistently good golf shots.

Body Angles | Andrew Rice Golf