IT'S GOOD FOR YOUR GAME
Power of the whirl
A good release has three essential elements: the wrists, the forearms and the body. You can develop the "body" portion by breaking it down into its component parts to make sure they're all in working order. The place for this kind of surgery is on the driving range, where you can ignore the ball flight until the operation is over.
Here's the key: You "lose" the powerful lever of the 90-degree angle formed by your clubshaft and your lead arm through impact by uncocking your wrists, but you square the clubface to the target with your body rotation.
One way to sum up the release is to think of it as running your trail side (right for right-handers) across a resisting front side. If you do this, all the energy in the levers and coil will be dumped into the ball in a powerful action. Faulty body actions, where the trail side is very late turning to the target, cause pulls or pull slices mixed with fat shots of titanic proportions.
The right side (knee, hip, shoulder, arm and hand) must all keep moving in order to square up the clubface. When any part of the right side stops, the clubhead turns toe over heel and the ball shoots off-line, so when you monitor this part of the release, make sure to check all aspects of your right side.
In the photos below, Annika Sorenstam demonstrates the power of the whirl. She became the best female golfer in the world because she released her body so well through impact.
Annika Sorenstam creates power when her right side whirls toward the target after her arms drop the clubhead down into position at the start of the downswing. If you copy her, the unrestricted right-side rotation squares your clubhead to the ball and allows the momentum of your arms and club to pull your body up into a full finish. You’ll know you have this essential of the release in your swing when you don’t have to force your finish because it happens on its own.