Improve Your Release with Single Arm Golf Drills

The single-arm release drill teaches you how each hand should deliver the club from the delivery position into impact and through the early follow-through. That matters because many release problems are really hand-and-wrist problems: the clubface gets unstable, the strike gets heavy or thin, and you start to scoop or flip in an effort to help the ball into the air. By hitting short shots with only one hand on the club, you strip away compensation and learn how the hands actually transfer energy to the ball.

This drill works especially well on the range as part of mechanical practice. It takes the same motions you would train with a paddle, impact bag, or speed training aid and puts them into a real strike. The ball gives you immediate feedback. If your wrist conditions are correct and the club keeps moving out through the strike, contact feels crisp. If the club works upward too soon or the face adds loft through impact, the miss shows up right away.

How the Drill Works

You will hit small shots from a preset delivery position using one hand at a time. Start with your normal setup, then place the club into a waist-high downswing position where the shaft is approaching the ball and your body is already beginning to open. From there, your job is not to make a full swing. Your job is to train the correct release pattern from that point into impact and into a short finish.

With the trail hand only for a right-handed golfer, you are training how the right wrist extends, supports the shaft, and then releases without throwing the clubhead under the handle. This is a great way to eliminate the common “scoopy” motion where the right hand tries to lift the ball.

With the lead hand only, you are training the flat-to-bowed condition of the lead wrist and how that wrist can feel weak in the downswing but strong at impact. Many golfers are surprised by this. The left wrist may feel vulnerable when you preset it, but when you move correctly into the strike, it becomes a very powerful aligner of the clubface.

The key concept is simple: both hands should send the club through the same space. Even though each arm has a different job, the club should travel through the same 3D path whether you are swinging with the right hand only or the left hand only. If one hand sends the club outward and low while the other sends it upward and across, your full swing will be inconsistent.

Step-by-Step

Set up for a short range shot. Use a short iron or wedge and plan on hitting controlled shots, not full swings. This is a mechanics drill, so keep the speed down and focus on clean contact.
Start with your trail hand only. If you play right-handed, grip the club with your right hand and place your left hand against your side or off the club entirely. Take your normal posture and ball position.
Preset the club into delivery. Move the club into a waist-high downswing position, as if you are at the end of transition. The handle should be ahead of the clubhead, and the club should feel ready to move through the ball rather than down steeply into it.
Release the club through the ball. From that preset position, swing through and feel as if you are throwing the ball toward the target. Let the right wrist deliver the clubhead with structure, not with a flip. The finish should be short and balanced.
Check the finish. After the shot, notice where the club and your arm finished. If the motion was solid, the club should have moved through impact cleanly and your arm should be extending outward before the club rises.
Switch to your lead hand only. Now grip the club with your left hand only and remove the right hand. Again, use your normal address and keep the shot small.
Preset the lead wrist correctly. Move into the same delivery position and feel the left wrist flatten or bow slightly. For many golfers, especially right-handed players, this feels weak at first. That is normal.
Swing through to impact and a short finish. Let the lead wrist move into the strike without losing its structure. Even though the motion feels weaker in the setup, the wrist should feel more stable and powerful as it reaches impact.
Use the opposite hand as a checkpoint. After a right-hand-only swing, place your left hand on the club where it would have been in a normal follow-through. After a left-hand-only swing, place your right hand on the club in the same way. This lets you see whether the finish matches a sound two-handed release.
Compare both sides. Your goal is for the club to travel through the same path with either hand. If one side produces a very different finish, that side is exposing a release pattern that needs work.
Return to two hands. Once each arm can deliver the club through a similar path, go back to a short 9-to-3 style swing and blend the motion together with both hands on the club.

What You Should Feel

The biggest sensation in this drill is that the club is being delivered through the ball, not lifted at the ball. You should feel the hands sending the club outward toward the target line before the club exits upward.

Trail-Hand-Only Feel

The right wrist stays organized instead of dumping the clubhead early.
You feel as if you are throwing the strike forward, not scooping it upward.
The arm and club extend through the hit before folding.
Contact feels surprisingly solid even with one hand.

Lead-Hand-Only Feel

The left wrist feels flatter or slightly bowed in delivery.
That wrist may feel weak before impact but strong at impact.
The clubface feels more controlled, with less urge to add loft.
The strike comes from structure and extension, not from a slap or flick.

Finish Position Checkpoints

One of the best parts of this drill is the built-in feedback. After a shot, add the other hand back onto the club and see what the finish would look like in a normal swing.

If the elbows would match up naturally, you likely moved the club through the strike correctly.
If one elbow is too bent, the club probably started working upward too early.
If adding the other hand forces you into an awkward position, that hand-only motion did not match a functional release.

You are looking for a release where either hand could support the same follow-through structure. That is a strong sign that the club is being delivered consistently.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Trying to hit the ball high. This is the classic source of a scoop or flip. The ball does not need help into the air; the loft on the club provides that.
Letting the club work up too soon. If the handle and arms stop extending and the club exits upward immediately, heavy contact often follows.
Making too big of a swing. This drill is about precision, not power. Keep the motion short enough that you can control the wrist conditions.
Ignoring the finish check. The finish tells you whether the release would hold up in a normal swing. Do not skip that feedback.
Accepting different paths from each hand. If the right hand sends the club one way and the left hand sends it another, your two-handed swing will be difficult to time.
Overgripping the club. Excess tension makes it harder to sense how the wrists are working. Hold the club firmly enough to control it, but not so tight that the motion becomes rigid.
Confusing weak with wrong. The lead hand, especially by itself, may feel underpowered at first. That does not mean the wrist condition is incorrect. Evaluate it by the strike and the finish, not just by comfort.
Stepping or losing balance after the shot. If the motion throws you off balance, you are likely using too much effort or sending the club on the wrong path.

How This Fits Your Swing

This drill is not just about hitting one-handed shots on the range. It connects directly to the larger mechanics of your downswing and release.

First, it improves your understanding of the delivery position. Many golfers can rehearse a decent top-of-swing position, but they lose the structure of the club in transition and delivery. Starting from delivery teaches you what the club and wrists need to look like just before impact.

Second, it helps you control the clubface through wrist alignments rather than through late manipulation. A golfer who flips at the ball often has to time the face from one swing to the next. A golfer who learns to release the club correctly with either hand can stabilize loft and face angle much more reliably.

Third, it cleans up impact. Better players tend to have a strike where the hands, arms, and club keep moving through the ball with extension. Poorer strikes usually come from a release that stalls, scoops, or adds loft too early. This drill teaches the opposite pattern: organized wrists, forward-moving energy, and a club that stays on its path through the strike.

Finally, it blends naturally into your regular practice. Once you can hit crisp shots with each hand individually, go back to two hands and rehearse the same release in a short swing. The 9-to-3 drill is a natural next step because it lets you preserve the same movement pattern while adding a little more motion on each side of the ball.

If you tend to hit fat shots, flip the clubhead, or struggle to control the face through impact, this drill gives you a very direct way to train the fix. Each hand learns its role, each wrist learns the right conditions, and your full swing becomes more stable because the release is no longer a mystery. Instead of trying to save the strike at the last second, you build a release that delivers the club the same way every time.