If you think of it from the dogs point of view, if you are calling them with leash in hand it means whatever the dog was doing is now over. I'ts like the say you never want to call your dog "come" to punish them, then the dog thinks coming to you is bad. If you want to punish them you must go to the dog.
I agree a good recall is essential but I would go one step further and say call the dog, release to go play, call again release to play, that way the dog will come happily to you when you call because he is used to and he will realize that come doesn't always mean playtime is over.
If your dog does the just close enough to come but you can't reach them, then I would turn around and ignore the dog. Most dogs hate to be ignored and the dog will be in your face and then you can put on the leash.