In this episode of Ask Malaska Golf, Certified Malaska Golf Coach Billy Fitzgerald answers a question from Tom C., who noticed in still photographs that Mike Malaska’s hands appeared not to have released when they were in front of his lead thigh and moving into impact.
Billy begins with an important warning: still images can be a dangerous place to live. A photograph captures only one fraction of a second, while the position shown in that frame is the result of a motion that began much earlier in the swing.
Misreading a frozen position has damaged many golf swings. Billy recalls how golfers were taught 20 or 30 years ago to keep pulling on the handle in an attempt to reproduce certain impact pictures. The hands moved forward, but the clubface could never catch up.
The club actually begins releasing much sooner than the impact photograph suggests. As the golfer changes direction, the weight and momentum of the club begin to unhinge the wrists naturally. That early response is not the same as deliberately casting the club from the top.
Billy demonstrates the motion with his hinge, unhinge and rehinge lever drill. When the club hinges going back and the golfer changes direction, the golfer should begin to feel the clubhead’s weight. Momentum starts unhinging the wrists without the golfer forcing the release or trying to hold it back.
An impact photograph can also make the club appear unreleased because the hands are not supposed to return to their address position. At impact, the lead arm works onto the back of the shaft to create a line of compression and deliver the club through the ball.
The goal is not to manufacture a position with the hands. It is to create the motion that produces the position. When the grip allows the golfer to feel the club, the change of direction and the weight of the club can organize the release throughout the downswing.
Billy is equally clear about what the golfer should avoid. Do not push at the ball, throw the club intentionally from the top or pull the handle while trying to delay the release. There is no moment when the golfer should consciously hold the release off.
Still photographs can be useful when they are interpreted in the context of the full swing. Before copying any position, understand the movement, forces and sequence that created it.
“The momentum of the club is what is releasing the clubface—and it actually starts to happen up here.”
— Billy Fitzgerald
What You’ll Learn in This Video
· Why a still image can misrepresent what is happening during the release
· How pulling the handle prevents the clubface from catching up
· Why the club begins releasing naturally as the golfer changes direction
· How the hinge, unhinge and rehinge drill develops feel for momentum
· Why impact is created by motion—not by forcing a frozen position