Understanding The Correct Amount Of Golf Swing Release (Video) - by Pete Styles
Understanding The Correct Amount Of Golf Swing Release (Video) - by Pete Styles

Hopefully now you've understood the importance of the release, you've understood how to create the release and you understood that we’re trying to get the forearms to meet in this follow through position. But with the rotation, it's not an all or nothing kind of deal. There's an option where you could do too much rotation, too much release, too much early turning of the hands; that's generally going to hit the ball too far to the left hand side. And then there's the not doing enough hand action, not releasing the club enough; hitting the ball to the right hand side which, I'll be honest with you, probably more common. And then we've got that little sweet spot in the middle where we do just enough rotation, just enough releasing of the golf club; and that's when we'll be playing our best shot. But it isn't an all or nothing kind of deal; we've got to be able to control it. And it might be worth just heading off down to the driving range, and just feeling how much rotating you can use within your golf swing, to try and hit the ball as straight as possible.

So maybe line yourself with 10, 15 balls; hit a couple out to the right hand side by deliberately not releasing your hands, then start to turn a few overhead, a few down to the left hand side with too much hand action. And then you should be able to kind of control it and find the centre ground; find the middle with the right amount of hand action, the right amount of release. Now we started this topic by talking about letting the forearms touch in the follow through; getting the hands and arms together. And for a lot of golfers, that's going to be something they could aim to achieve. But for some golfers, you might feel that physically you can't do that. Golfers who are very big in the bicep, very big in the chest, or just carrying a little bit of extra of timber; you might feel that through there, your elbow starts too far apart. And as you hit through the ball, even though your arms are quite well extended, then the forearms aren't ever actually going to reach as you extend and as you rotate through. Whereas myself, I find it quite easy for my forearms to touch. So just be realistic with what you're trying to achieve here. Yes we want the correct extension, yes we want the correct rotation and the forearm should definitely be moving towards each -- try not to run away from each other. But if you can't quite get your forearms to meet, don't stress that issue too much; particularly if you're hitting the ball nice and straight down the middle, you're rotating your forearm just fine. 2016-07-27

Hopefully now you've understood the importance of the release, you've understood how to create the release and you understood that we’re trying to get the forearms to meet in this follow through position. But with the rotation, it's not an all or nothing kind of deal. There's an option where you could do too much rotation, too much release, too much early turning of the hands; that's generally going to hit the ball too far to the left hand side. And then there's the not doing enough hand action, not releasing the club enough; hitting the ball to the right hand side which, I'll be honest with you, probably more common. And then we've got that little sweet spot in the middle where we do just enough rotation, just enough releasing of the golf club; and that's when we'll be playing our best shot. But it isn't an all or nothing kind of deal; we've got to be able to control it. And it might be worth just heading off down to the driving range, and just feeling how much rotating you can use within your golf swing, to try and hit the ball as straight as possible.

So maybe line yourself with 10, 15 balls; hit a couple out to the right hand side by deliberately not releasing your hands, then start to turn a few overhead, a few down to the left hand side with too much hand action. And then you should be able to kind of control it and find the centre ground; find the middle with the right amount of hand action, the right amount of release. Now we started this topic by talking about letting the forearms touch in the follow through; getting the hands and arms together. And for a lot of golfers, that's going to be something they could aim to achieve. But for some golfers, you might feel that physically you can't do that. Golfers who are very big in the bicep, very big in the chest, or just carrying a little bit of extra of timber; you might feel that through there, your elbow starts too far apart. And as you hit through the ball, even though your arms are quite well extended, then the forearms aren't ever actually going to reach as you extend and as you rotate through.

Whereas myself, I find it quite easy for my forearms to touch. So just be realistic with what you're trying to achieve here. Yes we want the correct extension, yes we want the correct rotation and the forearm should definitely be moving towards each — try not to run away from each other. But if you can't quite get your forearms to meet, don't stress that issue too much; particularly if you're hitting the ball nice and straight down the middle, you're rotating your forearm just fine.