FEELING Wrist Cock Release - Can You?

Most all golfers watching the slo-mos of swings like Tiger's and other pros see that they typically have a very late wrist cock release. They hold their wrist cock until just about the 6 o'clock position and then release the club. This is one of the keys to achieving maximum distance for a player especially in driving.


I would contrast the TV pictures to the videos of most players who I have seen swing in fittings. For most of these folks - and I am included here - their wrist cock release is more like at the 9 o'clock position or higher. I can also say for myself that sometimes I can feel a later release and almost always it is a time when I hit the ball a lot farther.


The true way to learn how to effectively produce "lag" is to find a good teacher who can teach you the proper swing sequence to create this lag and delayed wrist cock release. However, there are some pretty good tools out there to at least help players to get a "feel' for what this late release is like.


One of them, my favorite, is the Swingrite training club. You can set different levels of tension with this club so that the club "clicks" and you know you have produced a late release. The audible feature of this is great as is the fact that you can change the tension so that you can train yourself to feel what a stronger release is like.


Another tool to let you feel a later release is the "Gotcha Ready" weight device that you can attach to your club. If you put this up near the grip, it helps you to feel the sensation of a later release of wrist cock. I recently purchased this to see if it works, and I believe the added weight in my hands helps me to sense a later release.


After using the Gotcha Ready, I realized that the of the reasons counter weighting of clubs can help some folks get greater distance on their drives is this feeling of more weight on your hands. Counterweighting can, I believe, help you keep that feel of holding your wrist cock until later in your swing.


All of these can help players to get a feel for one of the things the pros do that many of us do not - release the club late in their swings.


Tony