By Ryan Williams, Woodbridge Player Development Professional
Wherever the game of golf has been played and taught, the term
“release” has been part of the conversation. Jack Nicklaus famously said, “You can’t release it too soon.” Ben Hogan once lamented that he wished he had three right hands so he could release the club harder. Golf Magazine Top 100 Instructor E.A. Tischler often encourages his students to simply “smash it!”
So what exactly are they talking about? What does it really mean to release the club?
In every golf swing, three releases occur:
- The downward movement of the clubhead as a result of the unhinging of the wrists
- The squaring or closing of the clubface through impact
- Standing up or coming out of posture through and after impact
Over the past decade, there has been considerable discussion about the “ideal release pattern”—how those three actions should occur.
Much of today’s instruction favors a pattern with a smaller Rate of Closure (club face closing less rapidly) paired with significant body rotation. The goal is often described as “taking the hands out of the swing.”
Proponents of this model frequently point to players such as Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, and Dustin Johnson. These golfers typically demonstrate more flexion (or bow) in the lead wrist, stronger grips, and clubfaces that are to some degree closed relative to square throughout the motion. Because the clubface points toward the target earlier in the downswing and stays pointed there longer through impact—a smaller Rate of Closure—this pattern is often credited with producing straighter shots more consistently.
Notice how the clubface is already pointing toward the ball in the middle image.
The challenge, however, is that golf is played by human beings. As Paul Wood, lead engineer for PING, aptly puts it: “Human beings are messy.” In other words, for every swing model deemed “correct,” the World Golf Hall of Fame offers plenty of successful counterexamples. Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman, for instance, delivered the club on steeper planes and came out of posture earlier in the downswing than many modern coaches might prefer. Yet both were among the greatest drivers of the golf ball the game has ever seen.
Similarly, many great players throughout history have demonstrated higher Rates of Closure, including Tiger Woods, Jimmy Walker, Justin Rose, and Adam Scott—each widely recognized as an elite ball striker of his era.
Notice how the toe of the club points more upward in the middle image.
So who is right? The answer is simple: both are.
What three-dimensional motion capture, launch monitors, and modern swing analysis have shown is that elite players operate within a range of acceptable parameters rather than a single ideal model. In terms of Rate of Closure, Viktor Hovland represents the lower end at roughly 1,500 degrees per second, while Jimmy Walker is near the high end at approximately 4,000 degrees per second. The PGA Tour average falls right in the middle at about 2,500 degrees per second.
The unifying theme is this: all great players release the club.
For beginners and higher-handicap golfers, learning how to square the clubface with the hands and wrists can take several lessons. Consider this—if the clubface and handle are rotating toward the target at an average of 2,500 degrees per second, there is no part of the body above the wrists capable of moving at that speed.
Great players often say they are “leaving the hands out of it” or that they simply “turn and burn.” More often than not, this is because—consciously or unconsciously—they learned to release the club effectively long ago and no longer feel it happening. In a sense, they’ve gone numb to it.
Another way to think about it: great players tend to fear the left side of the golf course because they know they can release the club. Beginners, on the other hand, often fear the right side because they haven’t yet learned how.
This is why all instruction must be taken in context. The feel a player needs to improve impact conditions may be scientifically inaccurate—but if it produces better results, it isn’t wrong. The game is filled with examples of elite ball strikers who feel as though they are doing one thing while, in reality, they are doing something entirely different.
So what is your best release pattern?
That answer depends on a number of factors, and I would be happy to help you discover it. Let’s keep 2026 going strong as we head into the spring golf season.
