Lead arm supination release

[wasko]

So I was at the range today working on hitting a hook (don’t ask) with mixed results until a thought popped into my head - supinate my lead arm as much as possible which should see that ball hitting the range net on the left. To my surprise, instead of hitting a hook I hit a towering, tight draw. Not only that but damn it felt stable through the hit. I tried again with the intention of doing it even more - turning that left arm until my elbow felt like it was pointing at my right foot but same result, tight draw. Physically it felt impossible to supinate my lead arm anymore than I was already doing.

 

Now I was taught back in the day to keep my lead elbow pointing at the target at impact while turning the face down so this is new to me. I’ve noticed I’m not as open at impact which isn’t a bad thing since I’m getting on in the age department and this felt like much less effort than my normal swing with the added benefit of additional height (I’ve struggled with a low descent angle) and no distance loss.

 

I’m seriously considering making the change to supinate more but am interested in the thoughts of others especially around any pitfalls. Did I just happen to time the additional supination of my lead arm with my body rotation well today or is it normal for it to feel so damn stable?

[Milk Diesel]

More lead arm supination would be good for someone with not enough lead arm supination. Not for someone with enough, or to much. 

 

Somewhat of a joke but also serious. 

[golferdude54]

There’s no before/after video of your swing before and after you used this feel, you might not actually be doing it.

 

On the chance that you are, it is the right release to do. By the time the right arm is parallel to ground after impact (P9), the right hand is always supposed to turn over the left, no hold off release whatsoever. 
 

Here’s a still of Hogan hitting a wedge shot. For some reason there’s a lot of Hogan aficionados that preach a hold off release when he’s doing the exact opposite here.

 

 

Holding off your release opens the face too much so you’re unconsciously shifting your club path a lot more to the right in order to offset the open face, which leads to, you guess it, hooks.

[Mark58]

Have you looked at Scott Cowx two release patterns A and B? What you are describing sounds like pattern A. I am no expert on his instruction but there are good videos out there on it. (I have not yet learned how to embed videos here)

 

A clue from his instruction. When you set up to the ball, is your lead arm internally rotated or externally rotated. Internally would have your bicep on the lead arm pointing about 30 degrees away from the target, externally would have your bicep facing the sky. Internally rotated would be a pattern A type release.

 

If you look at his instruction, he suggests pattern A is good for people who have less rotation and/or getting older etc. He also suggests the pivot slows as to allow your arm to move from internal to external through the strike. The ball flight from type A release is supposed to be straight-draw

 

It might help.

 

 

[Scottbox]

It's hard to give advice without seeing video of your swing. There are a ton of variables that cause a clubface to be too open.

[rsballer10]

No way to know without video. could be a band-aid, could be a real fix.

[virtuoso]

12 hours ago, wasko said:

 

Now I was taught back in the day to keep my lead elbow pointing at the target at impact while turning the face down so this is new to me. I’ve noticed I’m not as open at impact which isn’t a bad thing since I’m getting on in the age department and this felt like much less effort than my normal swing with the added benefit of additional height (I’ve struggled with a low descent angle) and no distance loss.

 

I’m seriously considering making the change to supinate more but am interested in the thoughts of others especially around any pitfalls. Did I just happen to time the additional supination of my lead arm with my body rotation well today or is it normal for it to feel so damn stable?

I would say, don't listen to anyone here and go see if it works 2 days in a row.

 

(but do listen to what i just said)

 

And also, this is important: anyone that told you to point your lead elbow at the target at impact should be sent to an insane asylum.

[wasko]

29 minutes ago, virtuoso said:

I would say, don't listen to anyone here and go see if it works 2 days in a row.

 

(but do listen to what i just said)

 

And also, this is important: anyone that told you to point your lead elbow at the target at impact should be sent to an insane asylum.

 

Haha got it.

 

I’m pretty sure the old gentleman who taught me (back in the early 90s) has well and truly left this (swing) plane of existence by now! I have seen other instructors over the years and bar one guy who I thought was trying to teach me how to flip at the ball none of them said anything about it. Now I’m thinking that perhaps the “flip” guy was actually trying to get me to supinate and I misjudged his instruction.

 

It’s day two over here in the Land of Oz so will try and get to the range and see if it’s repeatable.

[golferdude54]

12 hours ago, virtuoso said:

I would say, don't listen to anyone here and go see if it works 2 days in a row.

 

(but do listen to what i just said)

 

And also, this is important: anyone that told you to point your lead elbow at the target at impact should be sent to an insane asylum.

We both frequent the Hogan subforum, do you not agree that he does roll his right hand over his left by P9 which is supination?

 

He talks about it a bunch in his book though not really close to the extent of the drawings in it.

 

The still I got of him hitting a wedge shot FO was from 1953 his best year, and it seems like his left elbow is basically pointing at the Palm Springs mountains behind him.

 

It’s just that he supinates but he doesn’t rehinge, I call it an obtuse release angle. I haven’t really seen anyone with his rehinging rate aside from Tiger in 2006 inside 200 yards.

[virtuoso]

25 minutes ago, golferdude54 said:

We both frequent the Hogan subforum, do you not agree that he does roll his right hand over his left by P9 which is supination?

 

He talks about it a bunch in his book though not really close to the extent of the drawings in it.

 

The still I got of him hitting a wedge shot FO was from 1953 his best year, and it seems like his left elbow is basically pointing at the Palm Springs mountains behind him.

 

It’s just that he supinates but he doesn’t rehinge, I call it an obtuse release angle. I haven’t really seen anyone with his rehinging rate aside from Tiger in 2006 inside 200 yards.

Yeah, there was a consensus among the golf instruction elite starting about 20 years ago that hogan had some sort of passive pivot driven release with a low closure rate of the club face. Um, no.

 

He did however have a well documented belief in keeping the upper arms “connected” to the torso. So, essentially he unwound the wrist alignments as hard and fast as he could while trying to keep his upper arms from flying off his torso.

 

Because he “locked” his arm swing into his pivot, while simultaneously throwing the wrists, it becomes a very active pivot to the finish, with the arms not riding up the torso until very late, which gave him that unique “arms flung to the sky” between P9 and P10.

 

Ok, you triggered my Hogan fetish, but to summarize, yes he had very active twisting of the left arm through impact….but it is masked over by the super active pivot….so the supination doesn’t stand out like it would in other patterns.

 

The obvious secret that he also is on the record about, is that he merely makes sure the club face is in a more open position from the funnel to the gateway, so he can supinate as hard as he wants and still have the face open at impact.

[virtuoso]

Bonus material: An unintended but fantastic consequence of locking the arm swing into the pivot is that it allows the brain to link the management of forces and torques acting through the hands to the GRFs acting through the feet. That would be my contribution to a Hogan conspiracy theory.

[getitdaily]

6 minutes ago, virtuoso said:

Bonus material: An unintended but fantastic consequence of locking the arm swing into the pivot is that it allows the brain to link the management of forces and torques acting through the hands to the GRFs acting through the feet. That would be my contribution to a Hogan conspiracy theory.

Interesting...may have some implications in my release.

Edited July 19 by getitdaily

[virtuoso]

5 minutes ago, getitdaily said:

Interesting...maybe have some implications in my release.

Yeah, next on the agenda for a groveler video is the topic feeling the foot pressures through movement of the hand path. It reverse engineers the management of how soon you pressure left vs igniting the arm swing down plane……but the link up starts at p1.5.

Edited July 19 by virtuoso

[virtuoso]

Hogan just before total throwout of the wrist alignments. No conspiracy necessary here. It is abundantly clear he is supinating like a banshee.

[sundaypins]

1 hour ago, virtuoso said:

Bonus material: An unintended but fantastic consequence of locking the arm swing into the pivot is that it allows the brain to link the management of forces and torques acting through the hands to the GRFs acting through the feet. That would be my contribution to a Hogan conspiracy theory.

 

Always a nice bonus when momentum is left alone.  

 

 

 

 

[virtuoso]

4 minutes ago, sundaypins said:

 

Always a nice bonus when momentum is left alone.  

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, because you never let go of the club, momentum is never left alone.

[sundaypins]

3 minutes ago, virtuoso said:

Unfortunately, because you never let go of the club, momentum is never left alone.

 

Interfering with my comment's momentum is similar to interfering with a swing's momentum when not leaving it alone. 🙂 

[MonteScheinblum]

13 hours ago, virtuoso said:

Hogan just before total throwout of the wrist alignments. No conspiracy necessary here. It is abundantly clear he is supinating like a banshee.

Open the window close the window 

[Nels55]

7 hours ago, MonteScheinblum said:

Open the window close the window 

 

[RayPlan]

9 hours ago, MonteScheinblum said:

Open the window close the window 

"Leading with the right elbow" helps with that, doesn't it?

 

 

 

I.e., it keeps left elbow from supinating early, allowing one to supinate "like a banshee" through impact, as @virtuoso, banshee expert, would say

[bladehunter]

On 7/18/2025 at 11:42 AM, golferdude54 said:

There’s no before/after video of your swing before and after you used this feel, you might not actually be doing it.

 

On the chance that you are, it is the right release to do. By the time the right arm is parallel to ground after impact (P9), the right hand is always supposed to turn over the left, no hold off release whatsoever. 
 

Here’s a still of Hogan hitting a wedge shot. For some reason there’s a lot of Hogan aficionados that preach a hold off release when he’s doing the exact opposite here.

 

 

Holding off your release opens the face too much so you’re unconsciously shifting your club path a lot more to the right in order to offset the open face, which leads to, you guess it, hooks.

I think with this “ it depends” fits.    I use both.  If I’m hitting a draw spin wedge ( 100-20 yards) I’m definitely releasing my right over my left.  But if I’m holding up a fade spin wedge. I’m not. (100-20). The hold up shot can also be used for any length iron. And it doesn’t tilt my path right. It goes more left.  And spins a good bit more.  

[MonteScheinblum]

5 hours ago, RayPlan said:

"Leading with the right elbow" helps with that, doesn't it?

 

 

 

I.e., it keeps left elbow from supinating early, allowing one to supinate "like a banshee" through impact, as @virtuoso, banshee expert, would say

I like this one better

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLWHzoBvoqf/?igsh=MTZwN2VmYm1sN2JheQ==

[Snarkesor]

19 hours ago, RayPlan said:

"Leading with the right elbow" helps with that, doesn't it?

 

 

 

I.e., it keeps left elbow from supinating early, allowing one to supinate "like a banshee" through impact, as @virtuoso, banshee expert, would say

The lead elbow doesn’t ever supinate. Its movement is controlled by shoulder rotation. So much of the misunderstanding in the release comes down to not seeing the difference between forearm supination and shoulder external rotation. The goal is to supinate while keeping the shoulder internally rotated.

[GoGoErky]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36O7Ar6XtVU?si=QHTog8KYqQTw9OfR