How to Stop Casting the Golf Club
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Sean is the co-founder of My Golf Tutor, the top golf instructional blog helping weekend golfers play better golf. He played on the Irish National team that produced major champions like Rory Mcllroy, Graeme McDowell, Padraig Harrington, and Darren Clarke before playing professionally for 5 years around the world.
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Figuring out ways to stop casting the golf club is something with which a lot of amateur golfers struggle; it can cause many issues – including loss of distance and accuracy.
Jason, one of our readers, wrote to us and asked how to stop casting the golf club:
Hi Sean, I’ve been having a lot of issues with casting the golf club. I feel it’s costing me a lot of distance. Can you please explain what causes this, and some solutions to get rid of it?
Casting the Golf Club – a Definition
‘Casting the golf club’ – or ‘early release’ as some people call it – is when we start the downswing with a premature release of the wrists.
Casting causes you to loose wrist angle on the downswing; in turn, the club head is delivered to the ball with a cupped left wrist. This adds loft to the clubface at impact and causes you to hit high, weak shots that don’t go as far as they should.
Casting the Golf Club – Possible Causes
There are a couple of reasons why you could be casting the golf club, or experiencing ‘early release.’
Sometimes we don’t have the flexibility or range of motion in our wrists to actually hold the angle on the downswing. Check this first before trying anything else. If you find that your range of motion is good, then this next part is for you.
The number one reasons why I see people casting the golf club is that they don’t use their body correctly in the golf swing.
They will get to the top of their swing, and then they will initiate the downswing with the hands and arms. This would be what we call a “top-down” move.
The next time you go to the driving range, I would like you to concentrate on swinging from the “ground-up.” What I mean by this is that you should feel that you’re transferring weight to your left side.
You should also feel that you’re turning and rotating a little bit more with your lower body.
This will make it easier to hold some lag in your downswing, instead of casting and releasing the the golf club earlier than desired.
How to Stop Casting the Golf Club – a Drill
One drill that I like to use that helps students get rid of casting or ‘early release’ is a step-and-hit drill (watch the video below to see it in full speed).
The idea of this drill is to use your body to help create more lag.
I don’t want you to try to hold your wrist angles on the downswing – this will actually make it worse.
I want you to get in your normal golf posture and address the ball (don’t be afraid to place the ball on a tee peg).
I like to use a six or seven iron when doing this drill.
Place your left foot next to your right foot before you take the golf club away.
As you are nearing the top of your backswing, I want you to step to the left with your left foot, plant the foot, and start transferring your weight.
This drill will help create the sensation of working from the ‘ground-up.’ It will also help maintain the wrist angle for just a little bit longer on the downswing.
At the top of your backswing, you would find it very uncomfortable if you initiated the swing with the hands and arms.
You would be out of sync and this drill will highlight that immediately.
Try this drill the next time you go to the range, I think it will help you eliminate some of that casting.
Watch this video on How to Stop Casting the Golf Club
Do you know someone in your foursome who casts the golf club? Send this video to them!
Have a question? Leave it in the comment section below.
