Improve Your Right Arm Release for Better Impact Position

This drill teaches you how your right arm should release from the delivery position into impact. The goal is to replace a hand-flip release with a more powerful motion driven by your arm and body. When your right arm extends correctly, you can control the clubface better, deliver the club with more structure, and avoid the weak, scooping action that so many golfers bring into impact.

How the Drill Works

The drill is often called the right arm thrower or right arm shot put drill because the motion should feel more like pushing or shot-putting the ball forward than throwing it with a loose wrist. That distinction matters. A true throw often becomes too wristy, while this drill teaches you to use the larger muscles of the arm and torso to deliver the club.

Start by placing a golf ball in the center of your right palm if you are a right-handed golfer. Hold it in place with your thumb, almost as if you are hiding the ball in your hand. Keep the ball more toward the heel pad area of the palm rather than out in the fingers. That setup reduces the urge to flick the wrist and helps you feel a more stable, connected release.

From there, get into your normal golf posture and move into a transition or delivery position. In this position, your right arm is bent, your body is beginning to unwind, and your hand is still trailing the clubhead. Your palm should not be facing straight down. Instead, it should be oriented more away from you, with the fingers angled somewhat behind you.

Now make a short shot put motion, as if you were tossing the ball a few feet out in front of you along the target line. As you do this, allow the right arm to extend. The key is that the wrist does not completely snap straight. Even with the arm extending, there should still be a slight bend or cup in the wrist. That is a critical checkpoint because it shows that the release is being driven by extension of the arm, not by a last-second flip of the hand.

This is the same pattern you want in the swing. Your body helps move the arm, and the arm helps move the club. The clubface is not being rescued at the last moment by a frantic wrist action.

Step-by-Step

Place the ball in your right palm. Set a golf ball in the middle-to-heel area of your palm and secure it with your thumb. Do not hold it out in the fingers.
Take your golf posture. Stand as if you were addressing a shot, with your spine tilted forward and your arms hanging naturally.
Move into your delivery position. Rehearse the start of the downswing, where your right arm is bent and your body is beginning to rotate toward the target.
Check your palm orientation. Your palm should be facing somewhat away from you, not rolled over and not facing straight down too early.
Shot put the ball forward. Gently push or toss the ball a few feet out in front of you on the target line. Think of extending the arm, not snapping the wrist.
Finish with the arm extended. As the arm straightens, notice that the wrist still retains a slight angle rather than fully dumping or flipping.
Repeat slowly. Do several rehearsals at low speed until the movement feels natural and coordinated.
Transfer the feel to the club. After the drill, imagine placing a club back in your hand and recreating the same release through impact.

What You Should Feel

The biggest sensation should be that your right arm is pushing through impact rather than your right hand flicking through impact. You should feel the triceps helping the arm straighten, with support from the larger muscles around the shoulder and side of the body.

You should also feel that the wrist stays organized. It is not rigid, but it is not dumping all of its angle immediately either. That slight retained bend is what keeps the release from becoming a scoop.

Key checkpoints

Your right palm begins more facing away from you in the delivery position.
Your right arm extends through the strike instead of stalling.
Your wrist does not violently roll or flip at the ball.
The ball would be pushed slightly out in front of you, not down at your feet.
The motion feels powered by the arm and body working together, not just by the hand.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Holding the ball in the fingers: This encourages too much wrist action and turns the drill into a throw instead of a shot put.
Flipping the wrist: If your palm snaps over and the wrist fully releases early, you are training the exact motion you want to avoid.
Rolling the forearm too soon: The palm should not rotate down immediately. Let the arm extend first, with only a slight amount of rotation.
Throwing the ball downward: The ball should go a few feet forward along the target line, not into the ground.
Using only the hand: The drill should feel like the bigger muscles are delivering the motion, not just the wrist and fingers.
Skipping the delivery position: If you start from a random setup instead of a proper transition position, you miss the whole purpose of the drill.

How This Fits Your Swing

This drill bridges the gap between transition and impact. Many golfers can rehearse a decent downswing position, but they lose it as they approach the ball because the right hand takes over. The result is a flip, a stall, or a clubface that is difficult to control.

By learning this shot put action, you train the correct sequence: the body moves the arm, the arm extends through the strike, and the club is delivered with more stability. That improves both compression and face control, because the club is not being manipulated at the last instant.

It also helps you understand that the release is not just about “letting the club go.” A good release is an organized motion. Your right arm extends, your wrist conditions are maintained longer, and the club passes through impact with structure before moving into the follow-through.

Once this drill starts to feel natural, it becomes much easier to blend into one-arm release drills and then into full swings. In other words, this is not an isolated hand action. It is a way to train how the right arm supports a proper impact position and how the clubface can be controlled by sound movement rather than compensation.