20 Golf Illustrated

The “late hit” is one of golf’s most commonly pro-fessed swing concepts. It is also one of the leastunderstood. The general perception is that thehinged or cocked wrists at the top of the back-

swing remain hinged all the way through impact,with the clubhead never getting past the hands untilafter the ball is away. If that was the case, the ballwould go well right of the target and have very lit-tle power behind it. In fact, when the ball is struck,the wrists must be unhinged. The idea is to delaythat unhinging as long as possible and avoid an earlyhit, which is when the release comes too soon andthe club is “cast.”

In the optimal delayed hit, the wrists unhingejust before the clubface meets the ball. This is whatis meant by getting your hands into the shot. Howdo you accomplish this? Strange as it may sound,given that the club is held in the hands, thedelayed hit is achieved by the lower body begin-ning the downswing.

The First Move — To The LeftTo produce a delayed hit, the downswing should

begin with a slight lateral movement of the hips tothe left. It is not a big slide or turn, only a subtle, butdefinite shifting of weight into the left side. An

Swing Easy & Delay Club ReleaseSwing Easy & Delay Club ReleaseHow To Add More Distance

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Golf Illustrated 21

interesting thing happens at this time. Thewrists actually hinge a little more. There is alsoa kind of lagging that results from the physi-cal forces generated by the leftward move-ment of the hips. This only enhances thechances of a delayed hit.

However, the most important result of the hipmovement to start the downswing is that youare less apt to start the club down with a rota-tion of your shoulders and cast it or throw it outtoward the ball with an early release of your wristhinge. Casting not only dissipates the energyneeded to deliver the most power, but it also cre-ates an outside-to-in slice-inducing swing path.

The move to the left is going to go a long waytoward eliminating this casting action, but youalso need some self-control. You must tell your-self to not hit at the ball, which almost invari-ably leads to an early release of the wrist hinge.There must be no manipulation of the clubwith the hands.

The unhinging of the wrists must be allowedto happen, and it will by virtue of centrifugalforce. After the move onto the left side to startthe downswing, the wrists remain fully hinged

until the hands are shoulder-high. The anglebetween the left arm and the shaft is releaseda little from shoulder height down, with sub-stantially more, actually most, of the releasecoming below the waist.

A checkpoint in this sequence is when thehands reach about waist-high. At this point,the shaft of the club is parallel to the groundand the target line. If you can photograph yourswing, this is what you want to see. If you havereleased your wrist hinge too soon, the club-head will be pointing toward the target line.

Again, by virtue of centrifugal force, the com-plete unhinging will happen just as the ball isstruck. That is how maximum power is appliedto the ball. At impact, your left arm and theshaft are in line with the ball, and your handsare still slightly in front of the ball.

Remember, you don’t consciously delay theunhinging. If you begin the downswing in theproper sequence, starting with the subtle shiftof weight onto your left side, gradually increas-ing centrifugal force will cause the release andproduce maximum clubhead speed when theball is struck. It’s a matter of storing energy in

y & Delay Club Releasey & Delay Club Release6 Ways To Make It Happen In Your Swing!

re Distance

The late hit needs a proper beginning, and it is with the backswing, whichbegins with a rotation of the shoulders.This is followed almost simultaneouslyby an up-cocking or hinging of the wrists, the left forearm rotating and the rightelbow folding and moving into your right side.

The downswing begins with a subtle, but definite shift of weight onto theleft side. There is no conscious action taken with the arms or hands, whichmove only in response to the weight shift. In this way, the right hand is keptquiet, is restrained from forcing the wrists to unhinge too soon and pro-duce a cast or early hit.

By Brett Taylor With Al Barkow

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the backswing and more or less conserving it until thatmoment just before the clubhead impacts with the ball.

All golfers, including the best players, are apt torelease the club toosoon in the down-swing. Jack Nick-laus addressed thisproblem in a wayI’ve always liked.He said you startt h e d ow n s w i n gslowly, sor t of ins l ow m ot i o n . Aslight softening ofthe left arm helps create this pace. The handskind of fall from the top of the backswing. You don’tpull them down in the old drawstring or window-shadeimage, which suggests tension and a forcing activity. You justlet them fall to the ball like snowflakes, as David Fehertyonce described Vijay Singh’s downswing.

The Swing Path There are other ways to achieve the delayed hit besides

the move to the left. I have had a lot of success getting golfersto think of hitting the ball with the club moving on an inside-to-out path. That is not what actually happens, but by mak-ing the effort, you keep from casting the club and swingingit from outside to in.

A common instruction is to start the backswing with theclub going straight back from the ball. However, thisrequires a re-routing of the club in thedownswing to get it moving to theball from the inside. Any re-routing isan extra movement that breeds incon-sistency, and if you can avoid it, youare better off.

This swing path is best realized whenthe club is started back with a rotationof the shoulders, rather than a swing-ing of the arms. Shoulder rotation (theshoulders feel as though they are turn-ing level) will swing the club backslightly to the inside and thus on a nat-ural and correct plane. This, in turn,encourages swinging the club back to

the ball on the same plane. The one-plane golf swing is notonly a good way to produce the delayed hit, but it

also makes for consistently solid ball-striking.

The Vertical Hinge Another important component in

creating the delayed hit is how youhinge your wrists. I teach a verticalhinge in which the hands breakupward (the thumbs coming backtoward you) as the club swings back,

rather than a sideways flexing of thewrists. Vertical hinging keeps the club on

the plane created by your shoulder rota-tion and produces the most powerful and

accurate shots under any circumstances.

Fold The Right Elbow, Rotate The Forearms In conjunction with the vertical hinge, the right elbow

should be folded fairly early in the backswing — when thehands get about waist-high. The hinging action has a wayof inducing the elbow fold, or what some people refer to

22 Golf Illustrated

To tame the righthand, hold the clubin your left handand hold your leftelbow with yourright hand. Swingthe club back andthrough, keepingyour right hand onyour left elbowthroughout. Thepreoccupied righthand is not goingto impose itself onthe swing.

Another drill to limit theright hand for a delayedhit is to keep the handon the grip of the clubbut with only thepalm touching. Leavethe fingers off andswing the club backand through.

To prevent the clubfrom being castfrom the top or

released too earlyin the downswing,

split the grip bysliding your right

hand down thehandle so it is wellseparated from the

left hand. Nowswing the club

back and through.

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as a tuck. The elbow comes in close to your right side andis pointing down.

At the same time in the backswing, the forearms shouldturn clockwise. The right-elbow fold will create the properamount of forearm rotation. This is also known as supina-tion and pronation. Ben Hogan made these terms popular,as rotation was a major theme in his swing system.

The combination of the vertical hinge of the wrists, theright elbow folding into the right side and pointing down

toward the right hip (notgett ing high or awayfrom the body), and therotation of the forearmsso the left arm swingsacross your chest will putthe c lub on the idealswing pat h or plane,slightly to the inside.From here, it will move tothe ball in the down-s w i n g o n a s l i g h t l yinside-to-out path andoverall produce a verycompact and controlledswing with a delayed hit.

Setting Up The setup to the ball

is standard, but you cando a few things that willindirectly help produce

the delayed hit. For example, if your feet are a little closertogether at address, you should be able to make more ofa turn. I recommend this for older players who may havelost some flexibility.

Everyone will benefit from being sure the hands areahead of the ball at address, especially for iron shots. GI

— Brett Taylor is a teaching professional at the Empire RanchGC in Folsom, Calif., and co-host of the syndicated radio pro-gram “Golf Talk Radio.”

24 Golf Illustrated

To hinge your wrists vertically, at address pull the club back toward you with the thumbs coming atyour body. Now swing the club to a full backswing and downswing.You’ll be surprised at how welland accurately you will hit the ball.

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