Compressing the Ball

[skwon11]

I can do it... small accomplishment but now that I can do it... I get it. The ball flight is different... it doesn't just move towards the sky in a straight line... it takes off like a plane (not the distance... just the ball flight... although the distance is better as well). But I have an issue that I'm hoping to get a comment or 2 on...

To get the feeling I'll put the ball back just behind center... play it like a punch. Feels great. But when I put the ball position back up to center or just slightly forward of center... just not happening. I don't mind playing my irons just slightly back of center but... does anybody know why this is happening? Comments welcome!

[jambalaya]

You're probably not holding your lag long enough. Flipping the club a bit too soon to hit down on the ball when it is further up in the stance. If we contact the ball properly our shaft should still have a forward lean to it which allows us to hit the ball at a slightly downward angle. What is probably happening is that your club shaft is almost straight up and down when you contact the ball when have the ball forward. You've lost the angle between your back wrist and the forearm.

[Where's the Cart Girl?]

You're probably not holding your lag long enough.

Bingo. Bango. Bongo.

[skwon11]

Any drills to hold the lag? I'd rather not try to consciously do it... in the past... doing things like that plays some havoc on my swing.

[shaun]

Skwon11,

Take a look at the last Swing Analysis column on the main page -- you'll find some discussion about the "lag stick".

[EightBlue]

Any drills to hold the lag? I'd rather not try to consciously do it... in the past... doing things like that plays some havoc on my swing.

here's an easier solution, try the "gun" swing. take about 10-15 swings with your forefinger and thumb off the club. (they should look like a gun). then swing with your normal grip.

this exercise takes your more active fingers off the club and forces your more powerful muscles to take over.

[jambalaya]

I wish I had a magic bullet for the lag thing. It might mean changing some very fundamental things about your swing. There are a lot of golf videos out there from some very good instructors that could tell you better than me. I suggest you Google or go to YouTube and get some answers.

[$2 Nassau]

definitely do not try to consciously hold your lag, IMO. Work on getting your weight to the front foot, rotating so your belt buckle is facing the target at or shortly after impact, and having constant acceleration through the ball to a complete finish. Lag will just happen.

[misty_mountainhop]

What is this obsession with lag? Just hit the ball; lag is natural a consequence of a decent swing. Good weight transference, downswing initiated with the lower body, quiet hands and under NO circumstances trying to "help" the ball into the air - that's what the club's loft is designed to do.

To the OP: sounds to me like what you're seeing is increased backspin on the ball when played from further back in your stance. Little to do with "compressing the ball" as that's what happens every time you hit one. That nice feeling you're getting is probably purely down to a good contact that's proper ball-turf; which it certainly ought to be if you're playing it from back of centre.

[jambalaya]

What is this obsession with lag?

Yeah. It is not like anybody gets obsessive about golf. But I do agree with your part about lag just happening. That is why I didn't offer anything specific it would just mess things up for him probably.

[misty_mountainhop]

Yeah. It is not like anybody gets obsessive about golf.....

Lol! Yeah. You have a point there.

[Zeph]

Lag does happen yes, but the problem for many is they use muscles to prevent lag. If you do this some thousand times, the musles will learn to do something wrong. Which makes it hard to fix something that should happen all by itself.

[lobsterzilla]

use the lag stick ... ust be prepared to stab yourself in the chest for a bit.

[shaun]

Further to my post last week: The lagstick can really help your ballstriking if you've managed to ingrain a habit of releasing the club early. I think you need a relatively solid swing for the drill to work for you, though -- which means that most higher handicappers would probably do better to concentrate on other areas of their swings first. (Actually, that's particularly true if you're coming over the top because, by swinging along an out-to-in path, it's easy to avoid completely the lagstick's wrath.)

I've been using the drill for a while now; I've moved from making contact with my hands at, or maybe slightly ahead of, the ball -- where the stick would inevitably spear me in the stomach -- to making better contact with what might be called "proper lag". To this point, I haven't gained much (or any) distance with my irons. The improvement lies in added consistency and a flatter flight trajectory. (On the distance point, I'd made the mistake of thinking that, because I could hit a three iron as far as 195m or so, I must have been making good contact. Not so.)

Anyway, my tip is to use a large knitting needle for the lagstick, rather than a bicycle safety flag. I've used a 40cm plastic needle with a diameter of about 4.5mm. I don't know what kinds of flags you guys have in the States, but my old flag nearly put me in the ER when I first used it. You don't need the lagstick to punish you for it to work (unless you're into that kind of thing!); you just need to know that it hit you.

[Zeph]

It may be all in your head. I've been scooping my way around the golf courses for years. What helps me get better contact and ball flight, the same feeling and trajectory when I'm hitting a punch shot, is really to tell myself to hit down on the ball. Once I manage to get that into my head, I can work on lag, but as long as I keep scooping, there's no way I can get any lag. I was puzzled by how I could hit a punch shot where I grabbed down on the grip and took a half backswing and hit it further than a full shot. The reason was that I compressed the ball better with a downward strike. So I told myself, that must be possible with a full swing too, and what do you know, just by thinking "I'm going to hit the ball down into the mat", took care of that problem. It actually feels like I'm releasing the club more now, it's probably because the club doesn't release until it comes down to the ball, whereas before, I was releasing all the way from the top.

It will of course take time for the muscles to learn it, but knowing where to begin is half the battle.

[tm22721]

The lag drill link to me to a website he wanted $15 a month to see the viedos.........

Put an impact bag two feet behind the ball on the target line. If you have shifted your weight to the left leg and your head is behind the ball by impact you will miss the bag. This is called 'secondary axis tilt' and it prevents clubhead throwaway, ie it sustains lag.

[jambalaya]

It may be all in your head. I've been scooping my way around the golf courses for years. What helps me get better contact and ball flight, the same feeling and trajectory when I'm hitting a punch shot, is really to tell myself to hit down on the ball. Once I manage to get that into my head, I can work on lag, but as long as I keep scooping, there's no way I can get any lag. I was puzzled by how I could hit a punch shot where I grabbed down on the grip and took a half backswing and hit it further than a full shot. The reason was that I compressed the ball better with a downward strike. So I told myself, that must be possible with a full swing too, and what do you know, just by thinking "I'm going to hit the ball down into the mat", took care of that problem. It actually feels like I'm releasing the club more now, it's probably because the club doesn't release until it comes down to the ball, whereas before, I was releasing all the way from the top.

I really like your practical explanation. Amazing how easy it is to do something if you just slow down or execute with a half swing to get the feeling. When we "lose" something in our swing we should fall back to that position to get the feeling back into our swing. What you say kind of leads into a point I want to make.

Slowing things down probably helps us with a lot of things including weight shift. Coming over the top prevents us from doing a lot of things right in the swing including compression and lag. I think one of the big factors in an over the top move and consequently an outside in swing is weight shift. Hit some half swing iron shots starting with your weight mostly on the front leg. Don't shift the weight back much on the backswing, keep most of it on the front leg. I'll bet you'll find yourself compressing the ball more and swinging a bit more from the inside out.

[misty_mountainhop]

Lag does happen yes, but the problem for many is they use muscles to prevent lag. If you do this some thousand times, the musles will learn to do something wrong. Which makes it hard to fix something that should happen all by itself.

Muscle memory? It's the brain that needs help "unlearning" a bad practice.

It may be all in your head. I've been scooping my way around the golf courses for years. What helps me get better contact and ball flight, the same feeling and trajectory when I'm hitting a punch shot, is really to tell myself to hit down on the ball. Once I manage to get that into my head, I can work on lag, but as long as I keep scooping, there's no way I can get any lag. I was puzzled by how I could hit a punch shot where I grabbed down on the grip and took a half backswing and hit it further than a full shot.

What IS it with this "compressing the ball"??? It's either hit properly....or it's not. The ball will compress, by default, if you hit it with ~300g of steel travelling at upwards of 60mph. What everyone is calling "compressing the ball" I suggest should probably read "hitting the ball properly i.e. out of the sweet spot".

Re. decent ball striking and to some extent, lag. It's the product of a good swing and requires you to have a bowed/palmar flexion left wrist position (for a right hander) at impact i.e. the wrists lead the hands which lead the clubhead at impact. The reason the punch shot gives you that feeling easily is due to the fact that you have your hands/wrists leading much more consciously than with a full swing. Lead with the hands and you'll have this mythical lag. The "hitting down on it" is a good thought (for practice anyway) and is going to help because you're blocking any conscious/subconscious thoughts telling you to "help" (i.e. flick at it via the wrists) get the ball in the air; this is what the club's loft does.....trust it to do it's job.