Lag

[Sandy Sammy]

Well heres my ten penneth. Might be completely wrong.

From what I have been told lag is holding your right angle on the way down, namely as you start the decent from your back swing your (left) arm and club form a right angle on the way down and hold that position as they come down, left arm remains 'straight' and the club remains at 90 degrees for a long time as you desend.

Then you 'release' very late from the ninety degrees and this generates maximum club head speed at point of impact, the club head speed must be fast as you 'release' late and it has to 'catch up' or be square on target in a very short space of time coming from a 90 degree with your arms very late at almost the bottom of the desend.

I assume its called lag because your club never 'comes through' until the last minute to generate maximum clubhead speed, hence it looks like its lagging in the 90 degree hold on the way down from the backswing, until very late in the downswing and you must be very quick in terms 'release' and imagine on your left hand side is a brick wall stopping your weight from moving forward, ie getting ahead of the ball.

Whether you can master this, and how you can master this, I have no idea and I might be talking complete codswallop.

Try holding a 90 degree 'straight' arm to club as long as possible on the downswing. Then whip that baby through. Whip being release (very fast release as you are lagged),let your left arm die, right hand 'roll' to square the club face and roll though over your left hand past impact and 'pose'. Practice the quick release by standing legs/feet together at address and trying to 'flick' the ball using a wrist turnover. Then practice the 90 degree downswing with a quick release.

This is what i'm practicing at the mo., 'the quick release', feet and legs together so no body movement then trying to flick to the ball up using just wrist release, on the backswing left wrist over right, then roll the wrists though impact so right over left and 'flick' the ball say 50 yards with a wedge, no body movement as feet together, pure release and then I alternate with a normal swing with a bit of lag practicing the release and small lag together.

[Sandy Sammy]

Sorry should have added you push to the right because your release is to slow now you are lagging, and the club doesn't square quick enough, practice the drill I said by standing feet together and work your release independent of you swing/body, speed up you release then try again with a lagged swing.

This is what i'm doing, as a lag requires a very good quick roll over release. Mine isn't good enough so my coach has me working on release independently.

In fact thats the whole point of the lag I guess, to promote a 'quick maximum release', maximum clubhead speed at impact, maximum distance of the golf ball, you have no choice but to release quickly as you club is lagged behind you through holding a ninety degree to the last possible downward point on your swing.

[Sandy Sammy]

[rudygu]

For me, the simplest way to generate lag is to keep my arms connected and in sync with my body and initiate the downswing with my hips. I like to feel like my downswing is started by my left leg pulling my left shoulder down and through the ball. As long as the club is gripped correctly the wrists will naturally hinge on the backswing. The feeling that my left leg is pulling my left shoulder ensures that I do not unhinge my wrists too early and keeping my arms connected to my torso (glove under armpit drill) ensures that the clubhead does not get stuck on the downswing.

[tm22721]

On the subject of lag.

You must get to your left side in the backswing. By turning into the right leg the right butt goes back around to the target at the end of the backswing. In the downswing just turn left hip atop the left leg which stretches the left side and compresses the right side. The compression drops the right elbow to your hip very quickly and creates extreme lag ala Hogan and Garcia. Hands must be totally passive, the lag is created by your body not actively dropping the hands.

Look at videos of Hogan from down the line. His upper right arm is in line with the club shaft as it comes down from the top !! Incredible feat.

[schapman]

I actually tried the pistol grip type right hand trick i saw on here the other day.

I noticed a definate snap to my swing and some great height/distance. Basically helped me fix my swing a bit because i then noticed how hard I was gripping with my lower hand thumb/index finger.