If you tend to release the club early in the downswing you are costing yourself distance and accuracy. The symptoms of an early release could include the following shot patterns: high ball flight, thin or fat shots and generally unsolid iron shots.
If you look at the top players in their downswing, they maintain close to a 90 degree angle between the hands and the golf club as the hands approach the right thigh. If you cast your hands from the top of the swing you will not achieve that same angle. My experience has shown that players with very long backswings have a tendency to release the hands too early. It's much easier to retain the angle with a more compact backswing.
In the picture below, my student (left) is demonstrating an early release. His ID is hidden to protect the guilty. Note how the left arm and club are in alignment prior to impact. Compared to my picture (right) our hands are in the same location but our shaft angle is substantially different.
At impact is when our left arm and shaft should be in alignment!
I recommend the Pump Drill in the video below to enhance the correct feel of developing lag in the downswing which produces a strong impact position.
Perform the drill without a golf ball first just to get the feel of retaining the referenced angle. Make sure you don't overdo the pump, but take about a 3/4 backswing and then let the hands approach the right thigh while maintaining the angle between the hands and club.
After a few reps without a ball, go ahead try hitting balls while performing the drill using a short iron such as an 8 or 9 iron. Your ball striking may not be great at first but with a little practice the drill will produce good shots. Be sure and video yourself and see if you making the change.
You are now ready to hit balls with your normal swing. You should sense your left hand (right handers) is leading the way on the downswing.
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