Lag for dummies

[grantc79]

Just do what this guy does:

[Brent]

Nice Find.

[Zeph]

Yep, Garcia has got a lot of lag, hitting his irons a mile.

[TN94z]

Garica is the master of lag!!

[SpringBokVol]

I think I might be the only guy who thinks there is a thing as too much lag.

I would take less lag (distance) for greater accuracy every day and on every shot.

[CG031]

  SpringBokVol said:

I think I might be the only guy who thinks there is a thing as too much lag.

Well, do you consider Sergio having too much lag? Because he hits the ball pretty darn straight with just about every club in his bag - although, not many pro's don't...

I saw him on the range last year at The Barclay's and I watched just Garcia from about 5-10 yards behind him for 15 minutes. Every shot he hit was a simple 3-5 yard controlled fade, with every club. I never saw him hit a draw. So, it looked like he had pretty darn good accuarcy.

[shankapotamus]

  SpringBokVol said:

I think I might be the only guy who thinks there is a thing as too much lag.

But having less lag won't make you any more accurate.

[tm22721]

Lag is NOT the goal, that is the typical urban myth. The holy grail is shaft flex and the way to do that is to maintain clubhead acceleration through and past impact. When acceleration slows shaft flex is lost and the shot is destroyed. Start out slow and steadily increase acceleration. Before impact keep left arm glued to the armpit to continue acceleration.

[grantc79]

  tm22721 said:

Lag is NOT the goal, that is the typical urban myth. The holy grail is shaft flex and the way to do that is to maintain clubhead acceleration through and past impact. When acceleration slows shaft flex is lost and the shot is destroyed. Start out slow and steadily increase acceleration. Before impact keep left arm glued to the armpit to continue acceleration.

You are basically saying the same thing I am, just in a different way.

Lag produces shaft flex. It is called the law of the flail. Basically as long as the ball is of a flail is behind the handle then the ball is accelerating and as soon as the ball catches the handle it immediately slows down. You might view is at constant acceleration but seeing as how it is impossible to achieve constant acceleration without lag then I just refer to it as lag.

[Marinemike]

My biggest takeaway from that video is that his backswing keeps going back after he turns his hips forward. Do that and you have no choice but to have acceleration and an inside to out swing path. You can't even help it!

...It also makes a duck hook a non issue.

[grantc79]

  Marinemike said:

My biggest takeaway from that video is that his backswing keeps going back after he turns his hips forward. Do that and you have no choice but to have acceleration and an inside to out swing path. You can't even help it!

Actually, it makes the duck hook a bigger issue than you might think

[shortstop20]

  grantc79 said:

Actually, it makes the duck hook a bigger issue than you might think

Yes it does, get too far to the inside and you will have to "save" the shot with your hands or it's FORE RIGHT!

Flip the hands too much during the attempt to square the face and it's duck hook time. I think the biggest thing people miss is the fact that they sit there and stare at the hands wondering, "How do I make my hands do that?" They don't consciously do it with the hands, the hands areen't even creating the lag. The lag is created by the rotation of the body while the club is "lagging" behind. When you turn your body back towards the target before without actively moving the clubhead you create lag just like a baseball pitcher does with his throwing hand. That's why his arm drags behind him as he unwinds towards the plate. Don't look at the arms, look at the body. If you look closely you will notice the "lag move" starts just after the body starts to rotate, it's no coincidence why.