Chances are you’ve felt the frustration. You nail one shot, then the next one is a weak, scoopy affair that floats high and goes nowhere. Maybe you even take a massive chunk of turf from three inches behind the ball. This inconsistency is maddening, and one of the most common culprits is something golf coaches call early release. It’s a pesky habit that robs you of power, consistency, and clean contact. This article will break down exactly what early release is, uncover the real reasons it happens, and give you some simple, effective drills to finally get rid of it and start compressing the golf ball like a pro.
To understand what an "early" release is, we first have to understand what a a proper release feels and looks like. Think of your golf swing as a system for building, storing, and then releasing energy. On your backswing, as your wrists hinge, you create an angle between your lead arm and the club shaft. This angle is often called "lag," and it's the primary source of stored power in the golf swing. A powerful, efficient swing maintains this angle for as long as possible on the journey down towards the ball.
The "release" is the rapid straightening of that wrist angle as the club-head approaches and sweeps through the impact zone. This is where head speed truly comes from, it’s a whip-like action that happens at the very last moment. When done correctly, this release happens through the ball, allowing your hands to be slightly ahead of the clubhead at impact. This delofts the club, creating that pure, compressed strike that sounds so good and flies so far.
Early release, on the other hand, is when you lose that stored energy far too soon. It’s the premature unhinging of the wrists, usually starting right from the top of the downswing. Instead of the club being pulled down by the rotation of your body, your hands and arms actively throw the clubhead at the ball. You can think of it like a fishing cast, all the energy is unleashed from the top, leaving nothing for the moment that actually matters: impact.
This action has several negative consequences:
To truly fix an early release, you need to be a bit of a detective and figure out *why* you're doing it. It's almost never just a "handsy" problem, it's usually a symptom of a larger issue in your swing sequence. Here are the most common culprits.
This is the big one. Many golfers subconsciously believe they have to actively *hit* the ball with their hands and arms. This leads to a lunge from the top with the upper body. Your shoulders spin out, throwing the club "over the top" of the proper swing plane. From this position, the only way to get the club back to the ball is to cast it out - an early release is your body's only option. Remember the core idea: a good golf swing is a swing, not a hit. The body rotates and the club simply comes along for the ride.
The perfect downswing has a distinct and powerful sequence: it starts from the ground up. The hips start to unwind, followed by the torso, then the arms, and finally the hands and club. It's like cracking a whip. An early release happens when this sequence gets jumbled. If your arms and hands start the downswing before your lower body has had a chance to shift and rotate, you destroy your lag right away. Your body's engine - your hips and core - gets left behind, and a weak, "arms only" swing is the result.
Your hands are your only connection to the club, and how you hold it matters tremendously. A common fault is a "weak" grip, where the hands are rotated too far away from the trail shoulder (to the left for a right-handed player). With a weak grip, the clubface naturally wants to be open at impact. To compensate, a player will often instinctively "flip" their hands at the ball in an attempt to square the face. This flip is, you guessed it, an early release. A neutral grip, where you can see two knuckles on your lead hand and the V's created by your thumbs and index fingers point toward your trail shoulder, allows you to release the club naturally with your body's rotation.
Reading about lag is one thing, but feeling it is what creates real change. Abstract thoughts rarely work on the golf course. These drills are designed to help you ingrain the physical sensation of a body-led swing and a dynamic, late release.
This is a an all-time great drill for feeling what it's like for the lower body to initiate the downswing. It teaches your body to store that energy instead of throwing it away from the top.
Focus on the sensation. You're teaching your brain that the downswing starts with the lower body turn, not by throwing the hands from the top.
An early release is often tied to the trail arm (right arm for righties) getting disconnected from the body and flying outward on the downswing. This drill cures that by keeping your swing synchronized.
This keeps your arms and body working together as a single unit, promoting a swing that is powered by rotation, not by an independent arm throw.
This is one of the most powerful feedback drills there is. It exaggerates the feel of the lead side pulling the club while the trail hand supports it, which is the essence of maintaining lag.
Fixing an early release is a process. Don’t expect to do these drills once and have it solved forever. Start at the range with slow, deliberate swings. Feel the proper sequence. The goal is not to consciously try and "hold the lag" - that often leads to tension and other problems. The goal is to train a better downswing sequence. If you start your downswing with your lower body and keep your arms connected, the lag will take care of itself.
When you're playing, try using a simple swing thought like "turn to the target." This keeps your focus on rotating your body through the shot instead of getting focused on hitting *at* the little white ball. With time, the weak, scoopy shots will be replaced by a crisp, powerful compression you can rely on.
Eliminating an early release comes down to shifting your entire concept of the swing from an aggressive "hit" with the arms to a smooth, powerful "swing" powered by your body's rotation. By identifying your specific cause and working on drills that train the proper feel and sequence, you can replace that destructive habit with a dynamic one that delivers both power and consistency.
Diagnosing swing faults can be a puzzle, and it's easy to work on the wrong thing. Rather than guessing, having a second set of eyes can make all the difference. That's where we can help in a big way. With Caddie AI, you can get instant, expert-level feedback on your swing or ask any question you have about your game, 24/7. Are you really releasing early, or is it a setup issue causing it? Send us a video of your swing, and we can pinpoint the real issue, helping you spend your practice time fixing the right thing and getting you on the path to better golf, faster.
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