Tips to Cure an Early Golf Swing Release (Video) - by Pete Styles
Tips to Cure an Early Golf Swing Release (Video) - by Pete Styles

Some common thing you might have heard about the golf swing is the bad habits of casting the golf club. A lot of people are guilty of casting the golf club. So what exactly does casting mean?

But if I turn side on you'll be able to see how a cast will affect the down swing. If we turn the club up to the top here and cast the golf club, it would be a motion of this motion or as the fishing rod action of casting the golf club out in front of me which takes the club off plane. The good plane of the back swing gets ruined by a casting motion that takes you outside the line resulting in a cutting across action generally resulting in a slice or a cut as you hit into the ball.

So if from the front on a casting action is nicely loading the golf club with plenty of wrist hinge but then releasing the wrist hinge too early into the down swing not holding that lag angle for long enough so you don't get a good strike down and you can't attack the ball from the inside line. So a cast is releasing pretty much dominated by the right hand going out this way.

So how can we stop a casting action? Well a nice little trick would be to get a weighted golf club. And if you don’t have a weighted golf club you can always use two clubs. Choose two clubs with similar length; grip them as best as you can so you don't kind of jangle around too much. Swing nicely to the top and just feel the weight of the golf club because the weight in the head end, it wants to hold and create my lag for a little bit longer and it's resisting me to throw it over the top. So I turn to the top, I hold the lag and I can feel how the club has stored its power rather than release its power too early. So plenty of practice when you're training yourself with a weighted club or two clubs that we have there is quite a good exercise to help resist the casting motion.

Another nice feeling would be to hit into an impact bag. Now an impact bag, similar size--size to a car tire and actually that's what the – that’s what Hogan used to use as an impact bag. Ben Hogan had a little car tire and he would hit that up the driving range. But if you get an impact bag from the golf store, fill it with towels or some old blankets and then you can hit into the bag. It takes a bit of force and it means you can actually feel how your hands should be leading the way its impact rather than flicking into the bag.

I quite like the feeling of just standing up against the edge of a range mat and just trying to push the range mat forwards a little bit. And that would require my hands to be in front and push rather than scoop and flick in a negative action like this. Having my hands forward--pushing forwards is quite a nice feeling.

The other way of helping you stop the cast is maybe just hit some three quarter swings. So when you take the golf club to the top, you're not instantly trying to get on the power and hit the ball as hard as you can which is where that bad habits of the right arm comes from. But hitting a little three quarter punch just enables you to feel how your right arm can pull in more of this way rather than casting it over the top. So if your little three quarter punch shots help you bring the club on the inside path rather than casting it away. Remember, leave the casting for when you go fishing and don’t take it out in the golf course with you.

 2012-04-16

Some common thing you might have heard about the golf swing is the bad habits of casting the golf club. A lot of people are guilty of casting the golf club. So what exactly does casting mean?

But if I turn side on you'll be able to see how a cast will affect the down swing. If we turn the club up to the top here and cast the golf club, it would be a motion of this motion or as the fishing rod action of casting the golf club out in front of me which takes the club off plane. The good plane of the back swing gets ruined by a casting motion that takes you outside the line resulting in a cutting across action generally resulting in a slice or a cut as you hit into the ball.

So if from the front on a casting action is nicely loading the golf club with plenty of wrist hinge but then releasing the wrist hinge too early into the down swing not holding that lag angle for long enough so you don't get a good strike down and you can't attack the ball from the inside line. So a cast is releasing pretty much dominated by the right hand going out this way.

So how can we stop a casting action? Well a nice little trick would be to get a weighted golf club. And if you don’t have a weighted golf club you can always use two clubs. Choose two clubs with similar length; grip them as best as you can so you don't kind of jangle around too much. Swing nicely to the top and just feel the weight of the golf club because the weight in the head end, it wants to hold and create my lag for a little bit longer and it's resisting me to throw it over the top. So I turn to the top, I hold the lag and I can feel how the club has stored its power rather than release its power too early. So plenty of practice when you're training yourself with a weighted club or two clubs that we have there is quite a good exercise to help resist the casting motion.

Another nice feeling would be to hit into an impact bag. Now an impact bag, similar size–size to a car tire and actually that's what the – that’s what Hogan used to use as an impact bag. Ben Hogan had a little car tire and he would hit that up the driving range. But if you get an impact bag from the golf store, fill it with towels or some old blankets and then you can hit into the bag. It takes a bit of force and it means you can actually feel how your hands should be leading the way its impact rather than flicking into the bag.

I quite like the feeling of just standing up against the edge of a range mat and just trying to push the range mat forwards a little bit. And that would require my hands to be in front and push rather than scoop and flick in a negative action like this. Having my hands forward–pushing forwards is quite a nice feeling.

The other way of helping you stop the cast is maybe just hit some three quarter swings. So when you take the golf club to the top, you're not instantly trying to get on the power and hit the ball as hard as you can which is where that bad habits of the right arm comes from. But hitting a little three quarter punch just enables you to feel how your right arm can pull in more of this way rather than casting it over the top. So if your little three quarter punch shots help you bring the club on the inside path rather than casting it away. Remember, leave the casting for when you go fishing and don’t take it out in the golf course with you.