Avoid Pendulum Swings: Get More Control with Your Arms

This drill teaches you how your arms should work together through the release so the club can travel on a more functional path. A common mistake in arm-based release drills is trying to let both arms swing like pendulums from the shoulders. That sounds simple, but it creates a problem: your hands are spaced apart on the grip, so they cannot both trace the exact same path if each arm stays long and swings independently from the shoulder socket. To make the club move correctly, one arm has to behave more like a pendulum while the other works more like a piston, bending and extending to support the motion. This gives you better control of the clubhead, a better strike pattern, and a more useful brush point through impact.

How the Drill Works

The purpose of this drill is to help you avoid a stiff, two-arm pendulum motion and replace it with a more coordinated release. When golfers do single-arm or release drills, they often unknowingly try to keep both arms straight and simply swing them from the shoulders. The club then hangs underneath and moves in a very rounded, overly symmetrical way.

The issue is that your lead hand and trail hand are not in the same place on the club. Because of that spacing, the arms cannot both act like identical pendulums. If they do, one arm will eventually need to bend anyway just to allow the club to keep moving. In other words, the geometry of the grip demands that one arm provide more of a piston-like action.

For most players in this drill, the key is to let the lead arm feel more pendulum-like while the trail arm bends and extends more like a piston. That trail arm action helps the club work on a better delivery path instead of simply swinging in a deep U-shape around your body.

Why does that matter? If both arms just swing around your rib cage as one big pendulum, the club tends to move too much low to high, especially if you have any side bend. That can make the strike inconsistent and shorten the useful bottom of the arc. When the trail arm works more like a piston, the club can approach the ball more high to low with a longer, more stable brush zone through impact.

Step-by-Step

Set up in a normal address posture. Take your regular grip and posture with a short iron or wedge. You do not need a full swing for this drill—small to medium motions are best.
Make a few slow rehearsal swings. Start by moving the club back and through at waist-high speed. Pay attention to whether you are trying to keep both arms equally long and equally passive.
Notice the spacing of your hands. Your hands are separated on the club, so they cannot both follow the same path if each arm is just swinging straight from the shoulder. This is the problem you are trying to feel and correct.
Let the lead arm feel more like the pendulum. As you swing through, allow the lead arm to provide the more stable arc of the motion.
Let the trail arm act like a piston. Through the release, allow the trail elbow to bend and extend naturally. It should not stay locked or overly straight. This piston action helps the clubhead travel on a more useful path.
Keep the motion fluid, not forced. The trail arm does not need to jab outward aggressively. The piston action can be smooth and athletic. You are simply allowing the arm to support the geometry of the swing instead of fighting it.
Hit short shots or brush the ground. Use small swings and focus on where the club brushes the turf. A good motion should produce a longer, more controlled brush area rather than a steep, abrupt bottom.
Gradually blend it into fuller motion. Once you can feel the lead arm swinging and the trail arm supporting with bend and extension, begin to add speed without losing that relationship.

What You Should Feel

When you do this drill correctly, you should feel that your arms are working together differently, not identically. That is the whole point.

The lead arm feels more like the guiding arc. It provides the general swinging structure.
The trail arm feels alive. It bends and extends instead of hanging there stiffly.
The club feels better supported through impact. Rather than just flipping upward, it feels like it can travel through the strike for longer.
The brush point feels longer and more stable. The club should not feel like it bottoms out in one tiny spot and immediately rises.
The release feels less shoulder-driven. You are not simply rocking both arms from the sockets.

A helpful checkpoint is to look at your trail elbow in slow-motion rehearsals. If it stays too straight for too long, you are probably trying to make both arms swing like matching pendulums. If it folds and extends naturally, you are closer to the correct pattern.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Trying to keep both arms straight. This is the most common error and usually creates the exact pendulum problem the drill is meant to fix.
Swinging only from the shoulders. If the shoulders are just slinging the arms back and through, the release becomes too rounded and too U-shaped.
Forcing the trail arm piston action. The trail arm should be active, but not rigid or punchy. Think fluid extension, not a shove.
Making the swing too big too soon. This is a feel drill. Start small enough that you can actually sense what each arm is doing.
Ignoring turf interaction. The club’s brush point tells you a lot. If the club is excessively low to high, you are likely falling back into the two-arm pendulum pattern.
Confusing “around” with “correct.” A motion that feels smooth around your rib cage is not always delivering the club well into impact.

How This Fits Your Swing

This drill helps you understand a bigger principle: the club is not moved well when your arms try to do the exact same job. In a functional release, each arm has a different role. The lead arm can supply more of the swing’s arc, while the trail arm adjusts with bend and extension to keep the club on a better path.

That matters whether you are working on short shots, release drills, or your full swing. If you let both arms act like one big pendulum, the club tends to move too much under and around you, often producing a path that is too low to high through impact. If you train the trail arm to work more like a piston, the club can shallow and deliver with a more useful strike window.

In simple terms, this drill teaches you that the body does not just swing the arms as one unit. The arms have to organize themselves in a way that matches the geometry of the club. Once you understand that, your release becomes more natural, your contact improves, and the club starts moving through the ball with much more control.