Chisag's Tip Of The Day #16

[chisag]

… This is really an update of my first MGS Tip. I think it is one of the most misunderstood concepts in golf. Played with a guy this week that wanted to know how I hit the ball soooo far without swinging hard. He said it looks like I am just taking a practice swing and the ball just rockets off the face. Of course "soooo far" is quite subjective as I am average in length. But to a high index player struggling to make solid contact and hitting weak 195 yd slices off the tee a 260 yd drive seems like the PGA Tour. OK, 260 is more like the LPGA Tour. His playing pard was a little more knowledgable and told him "Sam creates a ton of lag and he doesn't release the club until the last second and then snaps his wrists thru impact". Nothing could be further from the truth and he was a little shocked when I told them "I do not release the club head with my full swing but I also do not stop it from releasing". This of course confused them both and I demonstrated exactly what I am doing with my full swing.

... I hold the grip as closely as I can while still maintaining control of the club. My wrists and forearms are not loose, but actively relaxed. The best example I can give, it is like a pitcher throwing a 100mph fastball as the concept is the same. The arm is relaxed but moving fast while holding the baseball loosely in their fingers with an actively relaxed wrist. By stepping into the throw, turning their hips and shoulders and then literally throwing their arms toward home plate, the ball flies out of their hands. It is a real eye opener to try and throw a ball with the same muscular tension you swing a golf club. One of the flaws I see in higher index players is forcing the club head to release instead of just allowing it to happen naturally. And on the opposite end of the spectrum we hear a lot about lag, but trying to achieve it can cause the opposite effect of not releasing the club head at all by attempting to hold back the angle thru impact, which causes tension and just slows the club head down. 

...  If you are holding the club with the proper tension and have loose hands, wrists and forearms it is impossible to not release the club head even though you make no attempt to do so. Taking it a step further, if you try to stop the club head from releasing through impact you will find it is impossible to do so as the centrifugal force is too strong to stop. So swing the club forwarding doing nothing actively with your hands other than holding onto the grip and many will be amazed at the speed of the club head zipping thru the bottom of the swing. Many grip too tight and swing too hard with tight muscles, and while some may actually achieve a level of success doing this, it is infinitely easier to let the club swing and allow centrifugal force to sling the club head thru impact. Additionally when you hold the club in a relaxed state, your backswing will most likely cock the club sooner or later if you force it than you have been doing. You may need to start with the club at waist high in the follow through, then swing back to waist high on your backswing to get the right feel. For many this will be a completely new experience and will go against everything you have been doing. Start with very short mini swings attempting to just swing the club back and forth no more than waist high while just swinging your arms back and forth waist high to waist high. If you are used to muscling the ball, this "simple" drill will be more difficult than it sounds and you will really have to concentrate on allowing your grip/wrists/arms to be actively relaxed. "Actively relaxed" means loose but ready for action and speed, so not a lazy feel but an active feel that is going to involve an athletic move. Allow the club to swing a little farther and farther until you get to a full swing and I am guessing most will be surprised by how fast the club head is moving with seemingly very little effort compared to how you have been swinging. Do this drill without a ball until you feel the club head seemingly releasing on it's own. You have in fact put a kinetic chain in motion that culminates in this unforced release and elite players can actually add speed by timing the release and giving it a boost with their hands. Fred Couples is a great example but those players are very rare and you will just want to allow the release to happen without actively making it happen. As you get better at this release, you can speed up your feet, hips and arms to create more speed thru impact. But initially the slower and smoother the better. And when you do attempt this drill and hit a ball, don't be surprised if you go back to adding some muscle and tension. Just do the drill without a ball then hit one and go back to the drill without a ball, etc until the feeling is the same or at least similar. Good luck and let me know if this helped you! 

[IDontGiveAchuck]

Speaking as one of those "high index players", I can get on board with this completely.  One of the hardest things I have learned to do, and it did take me a long time, was to relax my arms.  I'm not the strongest guy out there, not the weakest either, but when I learned to stop trying to muscle the ball to 300 yards is when I started hitting more consistent and accurate balls.

These are great tips!  Where were you when I needed you 20 years ago?!

Thanks for sharing.

[Middler]

Thanks, I look forward to giving the drill a try early next week.

[fixyurdivot]

I am constantly reminding myself to keep a tension free/loose grip and to STFD.  On practice solo rounds, it is uncanny how not doing so on the in play shot ends up less than stellar; then, dropping another ball, repeating the shot, and actually doing what you remind yourself to do, turns out gold.