Eliminate Flipping with Single Arm Releases Using an Alignment Stick

If you tend to flip, scoop, or throw the clubhead past your hands through impact, this drill gives you a much clearer way to train the release. Using an alignment stick instead of a club simplifies the motion and makes the checkpoints easier to see and feel. By working one arm at a time, you can teach each side of your swing to do its job without the other arm interfering. The result is a more organized bottom of the swing, better face control, and a release that moves through impact instead of stalling and dumping the clubhead.

How the Drill Works

This drill focuses on the release through the strike zone, especially the section from delivery position into early follow-through. Rather than making full swings, you rehearse the motion around waist height, where you can isolate how each arm should move as the club approaches and exits impact.

The alignment stick is useful because it exaggerates the geometry of the release. With a golf club, the clubhead can distract you. With a stick, you can more easily see whether the shaft is working correctly through the ball or whether you are flipping it behind you.

You will train each arm separately:

Trail arm (right arm for a right-handed golfer): teaches the club to move down and then extend outward through impact without throwing the wrist angles away too early.
Lead arm (left arm for a right-handed golfer): teaches the proper downward set and stable exit so the shaft stays matched to the arm instead of being yanked inward.

When both arms learn their individual jobs, they can then work together with much less conflict. That is important because many golfers do not actually have a release problem with one arm alone—they have a coordination problem between the two arms. One arm is trying to extend while the other is pulling, or one is trying to square the face while the other is stalling. This drill helps you clean that up.

You will begin from a delivery position—roughly when the hands are in front of your trail thigh and the club is approaching impact. From there, you rehearse the correct motion into a short finish. Most of the reps should be done in the air or at waist height before you worry about actual turf contact.

Step-by-Step

Start with an alignment stick and a short-motion setup.

Hold the alignment stick as if it were a club. Stand in your normal posture, but keep the motion small. You are not making a full swing yet. Think of this as a controlled release drill from waist high to waist high.
Move into delivery position.

Set the stick in a spot that resembles the downswing just before impact. Your hands should be slightly ahead, and the stick should be approaching from the inside. This is the starting point for both the trail-arm and lead-arm versions.
Do the trail-arm release first.

Using only your trail hand, move the stick down from delivery and then extend the arm outward through the strike area. The key is that the stick should still be ahead of your wrist as you move through. The tip of the stick should work down toward the ground, roughly in line with your trail foot, rather than immediately kicking upward behind you.

This is the motion many golfers miss. If you flip, the stick will point too far behind you, the handle will lose its forward relationship, and the release will look like a throw rather than a controlled extension.
Rehearse the trail-arm pattern in slow repetitions.

Do several reps where you feel the stick work down first, then out. In isolation, it may feel like two parts, but once it blends together it becomes one smooth motion. You are trying to organize the release before the club would fully pass your body.
Add very light ground interaction only if the motion is correct.

Once you can control the shape of the release in the air, you can make a few shallow brushing motions near the ground. Do not force contact if it changes the pattern. The goal is to preserve the same release alignments, not to slap the stick into the turf.
Switch to the lead-arm release.

Now hold the stick with only your lead hand. Again, begin from delivery position. This side emphasizes the downward setting of the stick and a stable arm structure through impact.
Feel the stick line up with the lead arm through impact.

As you move through, the stick should feel as though it stays matched to the lead arm. A good checkpoint is that the stick can appear to run along the outside of the lead elbow area as it moves through impact. In a strong rep, it will finish above and outside that elbow rather than being pulled sharply inward across your body.
Avoid pulling the lead arm across your body.

This is one of the biggest errors. If you drag the arm inward, the wrist action disappears, the structure softens, and the arm often bends. That creates a weak, collapsing release instead of a stable one. You want the lead arm to stay organized and the stick to exit correctly, not get yanked low and left too early.
Blend both arms together.

Once each arm can perform its job on its own, place both hands on the stick. Make short swings and try to recreate the same release pattern you just trained individually. The butt end of the stick should work down early, then the shaft should extend through the strike area later.
Build from small swings to larger ones.

Start with 9-to-3 swings. When the motion becomes consistent, progress to 10-to-2 swings, then eventually to fuller swings. The key is that the release should keep the same structure no matter how long the swing gets.

What You Should Feel

Good release drills often feel very different from your old swing, especially if you are used to flipping. Here are the sensations to look for:

The trail hand feels like it sends the stick down before it sends it out. If you immediately feel the tip kick upward, you are probably throwing it away.
The handle stays ahead of the hand longer than you expect. This is one of the clearest signs that you are not scooping.
The lead arm feels stable and extended through impact. It should not feel like it is collapsing or getting ripped across your body.
The stick exits in front of you before wrapping around you. A proper release moves through the ball first; it does not instantly disappear behind your trail hip.
Both arms begin to feel synchronized. When you put both hands back on, the motion should feel unified rather than like one hand is fighting the other.

You can also use a few visual checkpoints:

The stick points more downward through the strike area instead of back behind you.
The trail wrist does not immediately dump into a flip.
The lead side stays organized, with the shaft working alongside the arm instead of separating wildly from it.
Your short shots should begin to produce a more predictable ball flight, especially when the one-arm versions start matching each other.

If the right-arm release and left-arm release produce very different strike patterns or ball flights, that is usually a sign that your arms are not yet coordinated. Keep working the individual pieces until they start to look and feel similar.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Flipping the stick behind you with the trail hand. This is the exact pattern the drill is trying to fix. If the tip jumps upward and the handle stalls, you are rehearsing the wrong motion.
Pulling the lead arm sharply inward. That usually removes the proper wrist action and causes the arm to bend or collapse.
Going too fast too soon. If you rush the drill, you will default to your normal release pattern. Slow, precise reps are much more effective.
Starting with full swings. This drill works best when you first isolate the bottom of the swing. Build from short motions before adding speed and length.
Focusing on ground contact too early. Turf interaction matters, but only after the release pattern is correct. Do not let the desire to hit the ground ruin the movement.
Letting one arm dominate when both hands are on. If the two-arm motion feels off, go back to the single-arm versions. Usually one side still needs more work.
Trying to manipulate the clubface with your hands alone. The purpose of the drill is not random hand action. It is to train a structured release where the arms and wrists move the shaft through the correct space.

How This Fits Your Swing

This drill is not just about cleaning up a small follow-through detail. It addresses a major piece of impact: how the club is released through the bottom of the swing. If you flip, you usually add loft, lose compression, struggle with face control, and make timing much harder. Even if you occasionally hit a good shot, the strike pattern tends to be inconsistent because the clubhead is overtaking your hands too early.

By training each arm separately, you build a release that is more functional and repeatable. The trail arm learns how to extend without throwing. The lead arm learns how to stay stable without collapsing. Then, when both hands come together, the club can move through impact with much better structure.

This also helps you understand an important truth about the golf swing: the release is not just a hand action. It is the result of how the arms, wrists, and body organize the club through the strike zone. If your release is poor, the face becomes difficult to control. If your release is sound, face control becomes much easier because the club is moving through impact on a more reliable path with better shaft alignments.

As you improve, use this drill as both a training tool and a primer. On some days, you may want dedicated one-arm practice to sharpen the movement. On other days, a few reps with each arm before hitting balls may be enough to remind your body what a proper release feels like.

Start small, get the alignments right, and only then scale it up. If you can make the release correct in a short 9-to-3 motion, you have a much better chance of carrying it into 10-to-2 swings and eventually your full swing. That is how this drill helps eliminate flipping: it teaches you to control the bottom of the swing with clear, simple movements that each arm can actually learn.