Late Release Getting Harder As You Get Older?

[AAL]

Having lost some distance this past couple years, I've concluded after viewing a home video that my release is spent too early, causing a loss of clubhead speed at impact. Perhaps I've gotten lazy and lost some focus??? So I built a practice club made of a 5/8" dia. x 36" long steel shaft with a grip. My rational is that by practicing a late release, slowly at first, then increasing speed, I'll strengthen my wrists and develop some muscle memory to engrain the late release. I can do this in my work shop or garage without hitting the ceiling, then this spring I can practice with my speed stick and monitor chnges to my swing speed.

 

What do you do to keep a late release, or don't you have a problem with it?

[Swingtheclub]

my late release was a combination of things and indeed I have lost it quite a bit.

I used to have a stronger left hand grip , because of which I pulled hard with my left hand to keep the club from closing early

when I was a young man I used to practice with my swing thought being to pull the butt of the grip into the ground. Trust me that will keep the hands set .

As I got older and my left arm got weaker , I had to weaken the grip because I could not pull as much or as effective.

Now note I always managed to get the club square at the top put pulling kept me from releasing early

I also used to hit a lot of practice balls letting go completel with the right hand just before impact again forcing me to pull the left side through the shot

These things may help I just dont have the time and have to suffer the distance loss

Ken

[teespoon]

I find using a larger grip, especially, the Driver, helps some to delay the release. I'm also experimenting with older Driver heads that have 8-9* loft, and I found some Driver distance this AM. Much more rollout and lower ballflight.

Working on shafts and flex this PM . Next step.


I think it all depends on each of us working with our own swing etc.
JMO

[Swingtheclub]

I played today some good some bad . But when I was hitting balls before the round I worked mainly on hitting down on the ball. A simple little swing thought but one I had let slide. I noticed immediatly that doing this made me keep my hands set longer and I hit the ball farther.

The longer clubs probably 6 to 8 yards the shorter clubs maybe three to four. I did hit a couple crooked times mainly over doing the downward move and was not hitting driver particularly solid so actually saw the least distance gain there.

I honestly believe I am on to something Its fun messing with it anyway.

[Baldy]

I have struggled about and sought the answer to the late release for 40 years. I have played mostly 6-10 handicap during this time, despite being average to short distance-wise. The above situation drives me crazy. The LPGA gals drive me crazy, especially those 100 pound gals that drive it 275. Being an old guy is tough is many ways.

Yet, I know many guys who are late sixties and early 70s who have a lot of late release and CH speed and can move the drive out to 260-270 consistently ("real distance," not "message board" distance--of which there is a lot, especially on other forums--they fly the 3 wood 270, fly the driver 300, etc.etc. You know what I mean.).

I am out of action for about six months due to shoulder replacement surgery and have had a lot of time to read, study and think about late release and clubhead speed . My latest theory or "potential secret, or answer" is that I have been fanning the clubhead on the backswing, then I must manipulate it (therefore losing CH speed) on the downswing. I have decided that the answer for me is that I should keep the back of the left hand square to the swing path up and down with no manipulation. This should allow me to fire the lower body without manipulation on the downswing and generally make for a more efficient move down and through the ball. Bear in mind, this is just a theory at this point because I have only practiced it with my left hand. (I can swing the speed stik 93 mph with one hand like this)

I would be interested in hearing from others about this theory. I am a big, physically strong guy with slow clubhead speed (but a good short game). Let me hear from you if you have any constructive input. Thanks.

Baldy

[JoeF]

[quote name='Baldy' post='867124' date='Jan 16 2008, 07:06 PM']I have struggled about and sought the answer to the late release for 40 years. I have played mostly 6-10 handicap during this time, despite being average to short distance-wise. The above situation drives me crazy. The LPGA gals drive me crazy, especially those 100 pound gals that drive it 275. Being an old guy is tough is many ways.

Yet, I know many guys who are late sixties and early 70s who have a lot of late release and CH speed and can move the drive out to 260-270 consistently ("real distance," not "message board" distance--of which there is a lot, especially on other forums--they fly the 3 wood 270, fly the driver 300, etc.etc. You know what I mean.).

I am out of action for about six months due to shoulder replacement surgery and have had a lot of time to read, study and think about late release and clubhead speed . My latest theory or "potential secret, or answer" is that I have been fanning the clubhead on the backswing, then I must manipulate it (therefore losing CH speed) on the downswing. I have decided that the answer for me is that I should keep the back of the left hand square to the swing path up and down with no manipulation. This should allow me to fire the lower body without manipulation on the downswing and generally make for a more efficient move down and through the ball. Bear in mind, this is just a theory at this point because I have only practiced it with my left hand. (I can swing the speed stik 93 mph with one hand like this)

I would be interested in hearing from others about this theory. I am a big, physically strong guy with slow clubhead speed (but a good short game). Let me hear from you if you have any constructive input. Thanks.

Baldy[/quote]


Yeah. The old muscle memory has a touch of Alzheimers. I have to remind myself to be consious of the fanning open of the club face. when I do that nothing good happens. I'll lose shots to the right or forcefully rotate the clubface back and sometimes over do it and hook it.
Also I find that practicing on mats at the range hurts my swing in that I don't hit down trying to protect my wrist and elbow. (two frozen shoulder in the last 5 years don't help either) I try to go to the ranges that have the more foregiving mats

[AAL]

One thing I did late last season was to start my downswing in the "slot", with my arms feeling like they were thrown out after impact slightly to the right of target line. This seemed to help hold the release a bit. This is something I'd lost over the last couple of years, for whatever reason. This helped to get the ball down the center of the fairway, and may have helped slightly with distance. But, more work remains to be done.

[Swingtheclub]

[quote name='Baldy' post='867124' date='Jan 16 2008, 08:06 PM']I have struggled about and sought the answer to the late release for 40 years. I have played mostly 6-10 handicap during this time, despite being average to short distance-wise. The above situation drives me crazy. The LPGA gals drive me crazy, especially those 100 pound gals that drive it 275. Being an old guy is tough is many ways.

Yet, I know many guys who are late sixties and early 70s who have a lot of late release and CH speed and can move the drive out to 260-270 consistently ("real distance," not "message board" distance--of which there is a lot, especially on other forums--they fly the 3 wood 270, fly the driver 300, etc.etc. You know what I mean.).

I am out of action for about six months due to shoulder replacement surgery and have had a lot of time to read, study and think about late release and clubhead speed . My latest theory or "potential secret, or answer" is that I have been fanning the clubhead on the backswing, then I must manipulate it (therefore losing CH speed) on the downswing. I have decided that the answer for me is that I should keep the back of the left hand square to the swing path up and down with no manipulation. This should allow me to fire the lower body without manipulation on the downswing and generally make for a more efficient move down and through the ball. Bear in mind, this is just a theory at this point because I have only practiced it with my left hand. (I can swing the speed stik 93 mph with one hand like this)

I would be interested in hearing from others about this theory. I am a big, physically strong guy with slow clubhead speed (but a good short game). Let me hear from you if you have any constructive input. Thanks.

Baldy[/quote]


Baldy

Have you ever seen the LPGA girls in person. Honestly TV lies they do not hit it that far.

On a note if you want to work on delaying your wrist **** a good drill his hitting like seven or eighit irons with the ball way way back in your stance even outside the right foot. Let your down swing thought be too pull the butt of the club into the back of the ball.

Trust me it works

Ken

[Baldy]

Thanks Ken. I will try that drill.

I have watched the LPGA gals at the Chick-Fi- La touranment several times. I just enjoyed watching them on the range. They hit it pretty good.

Baldy

[leekgolf]

Baldy

A few things have worked well for me. I don't have the clubhead speed I once did, but I still have some and am working hard on gaining some more. Where I used to be able to hit my persimmon driver in the 260-270 range with those Balata balls, I now carry my driver with the new longer clubs and balls about 230-240 and it runs out to 245-255.

A few suggestions:

1. Get a weighted club and learn to wallop the ball with your pivot instead of your hands. Soft arms, powerful turn through the shot and your release will not only be later, but you will eliminate the flip (if you have one). Please note it's pretty important to let your left arm ride on your chest to begin the downswing. Don't worry, a good pivot will throw it off at the right time.

2. A great drill to both develop lag and achieve as much trigger delay as possible is the "Coke machine" drill. Set up at the range with a Coke Machine directly behind you. Make sure your clubhead CAN reach the front of the machine when your club is extended. Make a backswing where you graze the machine on the backswing; on the downswing, your goal is to keep the clubhead AWAY from and inside of the Coke machine. The only way you can do this is to increase lag and delay your release.

3. Practice punch shots as often as possible, holding off the club face through impact. This is a favorite drill of Mike McGetrick's. He has ALL of his students do this to delay their release and keep from flipping. Mike had me doing 30-40 of these to start every practice session.

I hope these help.

Lee

[Baldy]

Lee,
Those sound like some good ideas.

Your comment about practicing punches struck a chord with me. I have always been pretty good at hitting low punches from under trees, etc. with mid-irons out to 160-170 or so. I don't understand why that has not carried over into the full swing.

Thanks for your input.

Baldy

[teespoon]

These are good repkies that I find very helpful! TY All!

...have been working with some other older golfers, on backweighting clubheads , or counterbalancing the butt end, and we are getting some very good results. Mostly on Drivers and FW's, and long irons. Still a lot to learn for this 'old dog'.

[Ridgecrest18]

It surprises me that no one commented on the use of ones legs in creating and maintaining the lag in the swing....... and how, as we age, leg drive is one of the earliest components to begin slowing down.

 

I've heard it suggested that one of the best muscle groups to try to strengthen (as we age) are the gluteus maximus and gluteus media, as they are key players in initializing and stabilizing a solid turn through impact. It seems reasonable, at least to me, that the more solid one can be in initially driving the legs, the more an inherent lag would result.

 

Just my thoughts on the topic, but I'd like to hear some others.

[leekgolf]

Well, I agree about the legs. I do a workout routine to build swing speed. I'm not really trying to delay the hit or build lag, but of course those naturally occur as I work on my pivot.

 

One of my drills involves a very light "club" and I work on hip acceleration. Most of my training involves a heavy training device I like to work with, because it has definitely delayed my "release". I am starting to believe this year my swing will be by far the best and most powerful it has been in a long time. Now I just have to work on putting :rolleyes: