Do you conciously try to add lag at impact?

[Dub]

I've been feeling like my shots are being robbed of distance and trajectory...to some degree.

I seldom feel the crisp impact and solid launch that I enjoyed when I played regularly a few years ago.

The last two rounds I've played, though, I can feel things coming back into form a bit.


I am making an effort to bring all clubs back low and wide and then feel the grip butt pointing downward at the target line at the top and then as my swing drops into the slot.

The results have been a smoother swing with better ball flight without overswinging....in fact, maybe only about 80% of prior effort.

What do you do to feel or enhance lag leading into impact?

[kc8kir]

I wouldn't say I "add lag at impact" more like I "allow lag generation through the turn of my swing".

The more I try to add action with the hands (instead of feeling like the body just pulls them through impact) the less lag I get and the worse my shot patterns become. The feel is one of the body pulling the club from the top, or playing tug of war into the hitting zone. That tells me the club is lagging. It's too fast to try and hold then whip my hands (for me anyways).

If you are going to pursue a passive hands approach to the swing though, I will add that it is very difficult to turn off the hand control through the hit. The instinct to hit with the hands is very strong!

[mirv]

when i went for a lesson about a month ago, one of the things that the pro told me, more or less in passing, was that lag isn't something you can consciously create, that no amount of trying to force your wrist to stay bent will correctly create proper lag. he said it comes from just practice, practice, practice, and it's a relaxed, unconscious effect that is the result of having everything in proper motion during the swing.

[SubPar]

Lag is not something you "do". It is more the result of things you don't do.

Don't grip too tightly.
Don't swing with your arms. (swing with your core and let the arms follow)
Don't release the right hand fully till after impact.

See Ron del Barrio for excellent technique.

SubPar

[darthfader]

Ehhh.... trying to do anything specific with the hands on the way down won't lead to anything good, in the long run. A consistent swing is simply the result of being able to maintain a consistent address position, posture, balance, grip pressure, plane, and tempo. The actual strike should take care of itself. This is hard to accept for most golfers. I know it was for me.

I played golf for 20 years before I understood what "lag" really felt like, or how it is created. Like most concepts in golf, the more you try to force something (usually with the hands/arms), the less success you will have.

I'll explain this the best way I know how. Most golfers don't generate "lag" because they lack the ability to seperate their upper body rotation from their lower body rotation. They're simply too stiff and weak in their "core" area (knees to hips). Their downswing is either a "throwing" or "casting" motion with the hands/arms, or a violent "spinning" move, or some combination of the two. Either way, the arms get "disconnected", the club gets off plane, and there is very little "coiling" of the upper body against the lower body. No coil = less centrifugal force = less "lag". WHY do most golfers swing like this? Pretty simple. These inefficient motions utilize the fastest parts of an average male's body (the hands/arms/shoulders), and they avoid the weakest parts (legs, hips, back, abs). [Would be great, if not for the stress they put on the hands, shoulders, wrists, and lower back.]

Tour professionals generate awesome amounts of "lag" because their legs/hips/abs are much stronger AND more flexible than most. This gives them a solid base to fire their upper body around. While their upper body rotates quickly on the downswing, their hands are passive and their arms drop down on plane. (No small task, and it obviously takes a lot of practice to do this when the clubhead is moving 115+ mph.) Because the body is turning, the arms are relatively connected (to the chest), and the hands are passive MEANS that the club WILL be "lagging" behind the hands.

So if the club isn't lagging, it probably isn't your hands. If something is out of sequence, no amount of manipulation will help.

Think of throwing a baseball. When you were growing up, there was at least one kid who unfortunately would get teased because he threw "like a girl". Envision that "throwing like a girl" motion. No seperation between wrist/arm/shoulder/torso... just sort of a "body" throw, with no power. That is similar to the average golfer's swing, from a biomechanic perspective. There is no "windup", no tension, no stretching of the throwing arm away from the body. Same as golf... no coiling implies that there will be no un-coiling... without a well-sequenced uncoiling, no speed.... and no lag.

[Dub]

Thank you all for the help.

Darthfader....you nailed me about the stiffness from my knees through my hips. My core is certainly not initiating my downswing.

I'm going to play with some buddies in the morning. Tee time isn't until late morning...should give me time to hit the range and work on things a bit.

Throughout my round today I could feel at times that I was trying to get too "handsy". I'll try to quiet them down at the range in the morning....light grip pressure, natural hinge...nothing manufactured.....and uncoil from my base upward.

[tm22721]

You generate lag automatically by leaving the clubhead behind you as you start the downswing pivot. You preserve lag by 1) keeping your pivot from slowing down and 2) maintaining passive hands/arms so that the clubhead has no choice but to trail behind your body. Any hand/arm manipulation destroys initial lag.

Get a rope and tie a weight on the end. Try to swing it from the top without the weight passing your hands before the point of impact. Hard to do.

[MiniMoe]

I won a free trip to a three day golf school where I had my swing filmed for the first time. The instructor told me I had too much lag (almost more than Sergio), and wanted me to change a few things to fix that. I tried a few things he suggested then realized that part of the golf swing is very much controlled by the subconscious. There are times when I am swinging very well, I feel something in my set up that helps with having too much lag. I have not figured it out quite yet, so I don't fight my natural tendencies. Funny thing is... my whole swing is controlled and influenced by my arms, not the wrist and hands.

[nevets88]

I think the opposite. Don't throw the clubhead out or prematurely.

[Scott_Tee]

Stand still, keep your balance, and cocentrate on hitting the ball with some consistent tempo.

[keel]

A golf teacher once told me to try to slice or cut the ball in half with your irons. You won't be able to do this but the idea is to try. This would mean hitting the ball at the hosel with an open club face (90*). This move allows me to focus on the impact position, without any other swing thoughts, a good thing. Your hands will rotate naturally because you can't physicaly hold that angle. I know,sounds crazy, but works for me

[bruce]

Any time i tried to add lag to a swing at the range it would end up with a shanked ball.

[RC]

I agree with all those that say you don't create lag by doing something with the hands, but rather by a good core body swing and passive arms and hands. Lag is a response to a good swing, not an initiative you mentally cause to happen. I think it is a good idea to allow kids to swing hard and hit as far as they can first, then work on control. The reason is they naturally develop good lag or power -- the same way kids learn to throw a baseball a long way, etc. Of course you want kids to have good grips and posture and the basics, but then let them blast it. You can learn refinements easier than adding distance -- but even grooved weak swings can gain distance with better mechanics based on whole body swinging techniques.

[mako224]

The more you think the worse you will hit the ball. Stop thinking. Only one swing thought needed....TEMPO.

[Williamevanl]

Ehhh.... trying to do anything specific with the hands on the way down won't lead to anything good, in the long run. A consistent swing is simply the result of being able to maintain a consistent address position, posture, balance, grip pressure, plane, and tempo. The actual strike should take care of itself. This is hard to accept for most golfers. I know it was for me.

That is hands down the best explanation of what separates the average golfer from a scratch golfer. I just realized all of this about 6 months ago after watching so many videos and reading everything that I could find. I kept seeing obvious differences in my downswing vs a pro's downswing and I couldn't figure out what the hell they were doing differently. It wasn't until I started trying to do things right that I felt the actual golf muscles at work. Anymore I try not to move my arms at all, it seems that they will move on their own at the midpoint of my downswing, any conscious effort on my part to move my arms at any point in the swing leads to an over the top move. Anyway, good read darthfader.

[jonanthans]

The more you think the worse you will hit the ball. Stop thinking. Only one swing thought needed....TEMPO.

bingo.

Watch one of the best tempo swings ever, Annika Sorenstam. Effortless. Fluid. Results.

[PEZGolf]

I've been feeling like my shots are being robbed of distance and trajectory...to some degree.

Here is my experience, which I use with my golf students: if you properly use the body turn (primarily a shoulder turn, but with active use of the hip turn and the legs), and understand the sequential steps of the swing---they are the opposite in the downswing compared to the backswing, you will naturally "lag" and achieve the fastest clubhead speed with maximum accuracy that you are physically capable of. Most golfers do not truly understand the sequential steps, and therefore cannot achieve maximum distance. The key part of this is that your legs are the last to be employed in the backswing, but the first to be used in the downswing--they lead the downswing, and that will accomplish a successful weight shift --at the right moment of impact.

After I first met the Head Pro at the Meadow Links Golf Course in Richfield Springs, NY, he was watching me hit balls on the driving range. He than said to me, "Do you realize that the first thing that you do on the downswing is slam your left heel to the ground, and lead the action with your legs? You create a maximum lag by doing that." My response was, "That is why I worked hard to do that. I used to consciously slam my heel to the ground, but now it is a natural and automatic trigger to my downswing." In my opinion, it is correct to lift the heel of the forward foot (left for right handers) slightly off the ground, and then use it as I do. Trust me--it works. I teach all my students to not keep them forward heel on the ground, even though that is taught by the "modern school" of golf instructors. Thank God there are teachers like Jim Hardy who realize that the swings of Ben Hogan and Sam Snead and Byron Nelson are worth copying.

[uttexas]

This happens subconsciously and is more of a feel than anything.