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Does it happen naturally or do you make a conscious effort with your wrists/hands to release the club before impact ?

^^ usually slicers dont release the club, so now i do make a conscious effort to release it, and i get a draw

When I'm swinging well it happens naturally and I don't really think about it. If I'm swinging not so good and losing a lot of shots right, I consciously release my hands to straighten it out. Some people use their body to control the shot, but I use my hands. Just two different ways of doing things. If I want a draw, I release more, if I want a fade, I release less.

I used to hang on to the club instead of letting it release, but ever since I fixed up my swing it happens naturally. Other than a swing change, the conscious effort to stimulate release could take various forms:

1 Use swing thoughts, swing images that help you to not hang on to the club so that it releases.
2 Use swing thoughts, swing images that help you to release the club without actively manipulating the hands/wrists.
3 Use swing thoughts, swing images that help you to release the club and actively manipulate the hands/wrists to force the release.

In my opinion, 1 is better than 2, and 2 is better than 3, so I would recommend that you start at 1, go to 2 if you need it, then go to 3 if you need it. But that is just my perception of what a good swing is. You will have to find something that works for you!

I believe that the better your swing is as far as fundamentals and better player you are in general, the LESS you need to think about it.

More specifically, if you have a good knowledge of the swing plane, esp. on the downswing and a good weight shift and balance, this can naturally square up the club face at impact.

Focusing on releasing the clubhead to "fix" a slice or a hook (esp. a slice) or over-using your hands and wrists to compensate for a poor ball flight is not the answer. If you look at a scratch or pro golfer, and STOP their swing 3 feet from the ball on the downswing, you'll see the shaft is parallel to the ground- that's alot of work to do in those 3 feet to square up the club face!- But, they get it done. Why, it's everything that happened BEFORE that- the club is coming from a perfect position and all the body parts and momentum are working perfectly. The release and the squaring of the face has to happen. These are the issues that must be worked on before solely concentrating on hands and wrists.

That is why I focus my attention during practice on swing plane, ball position, balance, and timing. With these thoughts in my head, the releasing of the club is not an issue, it will just happen.

I agree with Lord Emery's reasoning and advice, and although his suggestions do not provide a quick fix, I would put them before 1 in my list (as I have done for myself).

You don't want to flip or flick your wrists to square the face. It's more of a natural rolling of the arms as you pivot around your front leg.

AHA!! So that's what I'm doing! And I know it because that is what I'm doing! NS06 I think you've hit the nail on the head... and no-one has pointed this out to me (in terms of my action) before. I've had many opinions on my technique... "trim here, cut there etc" but I think this is the money-tip! I swear if it wasn't midnight here by us I'd have shot off to the range immediately. And great question too, watto!

I healed my slice by creating a mental image of the finish position and swinging to that...I was slicing mainly due to hanging back, trying to conciously manipulate the club through the hitting zone...once I left that behind and swung through to the finish I hit my first draw ever...

Well Bigvivec, I gave he whole thing some more thought as I tried to get to sleep and it occurred to me (sighhh... again) that my best shots are when I do just that: when I think about 'thinking' - which includes visualizing contact with the ball (as well as "absorbing" the flag i.t.o. that's where I want the ball to go). When I do that I ease up: my shots 'flow' and my wrists cock & release correctly. I didn't make the connection about my better shots when ('thinking' &) relaxing, and 'releasing', until mentioned by NS06. Now that I'm conscious thereof I'll make it part of my mental & visualization routine. Will let you know as soon as I've been at the range during the week. PS: I never 'draw' . My good shots are always straight, so it'll be great if I manage to master this elusive technique.

When I'm swinging well, I don't think about it at all. When I start struggling it's usually b/c I'm releasing slightly early which causes me to pull/hook which means I have to think about not releasing and pulling down on the grip to start the downswing. I believe there are a lot of people who slice b/c of the lack of release, but the most common reason for the slice is the out-to-in swing.

Cheers! Good luck and let us know how it is working out for you

Whenever I start slicing bad, I play tennis. Creating topspin on a tennis ball helps me get the feeling of a natural release back into my golf swing.

Doesn't really help me becaue I play tennis left handed and golf right handed. Plus, I suck at tennis!

How do you put topspin on a backhand? I can't do that yet. The ball is always flyin over the fence.