Learn the Correct Way to Create Lag
A common misconception is golfers are trying to create and hold lag. Ideally, it's a byproduct of a good golf swing.
No pro is swinging 115mph and holding lag. Otherwise they wouldn't be swinging that fast.
The folks at AMG do a great job at explaining this with real data.
0:00
I don't think there is a day go by Sir0:02
almost not a lesson that goes by where0:04
the player coming in at some point in0:07
the lesson talks about needing more lag0:09
to compress the ball more something we0:10
hear quite often I'm going to show you0:12
not only how to create lag properly but0:15
also how to use it more downswing which0:17
is probably more important0:21
right so at address we've got some built0:24
in already because no you know not many0:25
people set up like in a dead straight0:26
line okay yeah so your belt buckle0:28
that'll give you this offset angle here0:30
the average is right around 135 degrees0:32
if angle right there so you've already0:33
got some lag angle okay built in yeah0:36
this would be zero0:38
we're about 135 exactly so as you go0:40
back start shifting weight and getting0:42
the club to swing the club will go back0:45
continue to set it'll kind of max out0:47
set kind of right here in transition0:49
you'll get a little bit of load in the0:51
wrist so that's your maximum lag angle0:53
there's a window there of kind of the0:55
progression of that it's going to0:57
roughly be around 135-ish 140 is right0:59
here it's set up to about 95 to 100 at1:02
the Top If I keep my left wrist flat1:05
and lag it that's not quite 90 degrees1:08
with it flat now I can bend my wrist and1:10
go way more which we don't want to do1:11
right so you want to think about1:12
creating this lag with a fairly flat1:14
left wrist it's right around and there's1:16
some Dynamic movement so there's exactly1:18
it would change direction somewhere1:19
around 95-ish degrees and some players1:22
are going to do that earlier than others1:24
and some players are going to kind of1:25
delay it what we see from our amateur1:28
golfers is when they delay it they'll1:31
set it with the elbow elbow which is not1:34
the correct way to do it yeah so they'll1:35
they'll say I want to get a lot of width1:37
early right they don't have this kind of1:39
dynamic kind of setting motion as they1:42
go to the top they'll do no set and1:43
instead of setting the wrist they'll1:45
bend their arms this way yeah it1:47
actually unsets the it uncocks or it's1:49
even worse and then there's so literally1:51
in an effort to try to create width they1:54
actually Rob themselves of lag right1:56
that's lagging all that we're talking1:57
about and really put themselves behind1:59
the eight ball with how the arm moves2:01
exactly okay so it's a gradual set game2:04
roughly what's what's nice 25 from 1352:06
40 degrees ish that's you're setting 402:10
degrees is from basically address to the2:13
top of the swing of lagging2:17
so from the top you're roughly around 952:20
degrees of that lag angle okay right2:22
from there to left arm parallel what2:24
happens so you might load a little a lot2:26
of guys stay the same but right to there2:28
it's pretty much what it was at the top2:30
might be a little bit less we see a lot2:32
of golfers will try to manually increase2:35
that by narrowing and doing something2:38
with the wrist to crease that and again2:40
it usually just causes the cut the club2:42
to cup a lot and open the face exactly2:43
and they also over bend the elbows that2:46
gets the left first cup like you said2:48
they lose the club face because there's2:49
a little momentum involved right the2:51
club's swinging back towards the target2:52
as the arms are kind of starting down2:54
and that keeps it should keep the club2:56
head behind my head a little bit that's2:58
what allows in some players that angle3:00
to increase a little bit but for3:01
practical purposes it's roughly the same3:03
angle here as it is at the top that's a3:05
good way to think about it3:08
so I think this is where a lot of the3:10
confusion starts you're looking at two3:11
major Champions both here at left arm3:13
parallel and their downswings these guys3:15
are on TV a lot and when The Telecast3:17
shows a replay of the golfer here in3:20
yellow broadcasters will inevitably say3:22
this player has the most lag in golf and3:25
that's usually followed up by something3:27
like if you folks at home want to hit it3:29
farther crease your lag like this guy3:31
and the confusion happens because none3:34
of those comments are really true sure3:36
from this angle the player in yellow3:37
looks like he's got a ton of lag3:39
certainly more than the player in blue3:41
but once we turn on the angles you can3:43
see there's less than a degree of3:45
difference between them and why these3:47
angles look so different here from this3:49
view is just really an illustration of3:52
how the camera can lie if we rotate3:54
these guys to the down the line view3:56
notice how much flatter the yellow3:58
player is compared to Blue that's why he4:00
looks I can't stress that enough looks4:03
like he has more lag even though he4:05
doesn't so the flatter the club the more4:08
of the illusion you'll get for lag and4:10
that's just all it is really it's just4:12
the illusion of more lag4:14
[Music]4:17
you're your left arm parallel you've got4:19
your wrist set your right elbow has it4:21
narrowed it's pretty much stayed where4:23
it was at the top too fairly flat left4:25
wrist everything's good yeah you're in a4:27
good spot from here you can either go4:29
way off the rails or hit a good shot4:30
yeah so from there you've got to get the4:33
club head below the hands and let that4:36
angle out4:38
say that one more time you've got to get4:40
the club head below the hands4:42
and let the angle out okay so if I'm4:45
thinking back to the beginning of this4:46
video you went from roughly 135 to 95 so4:50
you you added about 40 degrees of flex4:52
in the downswing right the last third of4:56
the downswing left arm parallel to4:57
impact you have to get rid of 50 to 605:01
degrees of this angle5:03
yeah it's going to be a hard concept for5:06
you guys to understand that's not a cast5:07
it's not a cast that's releasing the5:10
club well at the same time you're moving5:12
and shifting and turning you have to be5:14
letting that out because it impact good5:16
players have their hands slightly higher5:18
than they did at address so that angle5:19
is actually out a little bit more yes5:21
from here to impact is .08 seconds5:24
that's fast try it on yourself so this5:26
is not a hold hold hold hold release it5:28
here you've got to get it out5:31
pretty gradually all the way down so by5:33
the time you get to here you have 605:35
degrees less angle 50 to 60 degrees less5:39
than you have right here right and I5:41
think people get confused like okay but5:43
this will help clear it up if I did5:46
nothing with my body from here this is5:48
to impact5:50
that's what the arms do that's what the5:52
arms and wrists do now if I add the body5:54
movement to that5:55
that puts me in a perfect impact so you5:57
have to let that out we've talked about5:59
shooting the BB imagine a BB's in the6:01
shaft shoot that out you'll still have a6:03
little bit of shafting because of the6:04
body movement but that's how you go from6:07
lag to unloading that lag so here's the6:09
kicker lag angle is not shaft lean that6:13
take that in in your head for a second6:15
often you'll hear lag used to describe6:18
both of these angles the problem with6:20
that is these two angles are not the6:23
same we've had too many golfers tell us6:25
that this simple fact alone has caused6:28
them years of frustration from trying to6:30
adopt movements as if these two angles6:32
were the same hopefully that'll start to6:34
change we call the angle between your6:37
lead arm and the shaft lag angle and we6:39
call the amount the shaft leans forward6:41
of impact shaft lean you can call them6:43
applesauce and spinach really doesn't6:45
matter just as long as you understand6:47
that these angles are not the same6:48
they're not created the same way and6:51
they're not utilized to produce the same6:53
things6:53
[Music]6:56
if there's over the top and then there's6:58
over the bottom which I stole from you6:59
yeah so I don't know where I got that7:01
from many moons ago but it makes sense7:03
this is over the top I can have a pretty7:05
good downswing but if I overhold lag we7:08
call it tipping out so the club will7:10
start to tip outside the hands early the7:12
club really shouldn't get outside the7:14
hands till it gets below the hands if it7:16
tips out early because you're trying to7:18
get shafting by holding lag all you've7:20
done there is bake in a scoop yes that7:24
makes it worse that's why so many of you7:26
are struggling to have shaft lean7:28
because if the angles you're trying to7:30
hold and create it's it's guaranteeing7:33
that you won't have shafting and this is7:35
going to be like a mindset shift yes7:38
because I know everybody's been taught7:39
for so long to drive the elbow forward7:42
and take the grip in front of the ball7:43
only thing that does a lot of times is7:45
get you really steep over the bottom and7:47
makes the problem worse because like I7:49
showed the tip out is actually a scoop7:51
the shaft lean comes from this motion7:53
not this motion okay7:56
now if I take that to the top of the7:58
swing7:59
that's actually right there does impact8:01
this would be8:03
if you made a top of backswing like this8:05
now you can hold this angle and create8:07
shaft lean but you're not going to hit8:09
it anywhere exactly so there's your8:11
trade-off that's right so you have to8:13
get rid of your lag angle in order to8:16
create shaft lean so we really want to8:18
drive this point home to you you're8:20
looking at our Pro here at the top and8:21
by any standards this will be a very8:23
normal looking top of the backswing8:25
especially as it relates to this lag8:26
angle he's created he doesn't have the8:28
downswing thought of trying to hold this8:30
angle but if he did this is what the top8:32
of this swing would have to look like if8:34
you wanted to hold his impact lag from8:37
the top kind of looks crazy right now8:39
what about the other way what if he8:40
tried to hold his lag from the top down8:42
to impact this is what that would look8:44
like you'd miss the ball by about three8:46
feet like you just can't get the club to8:48
the ground if you successfully hold that8:51
angle as crazy as both of these look we8:54
see golfers every week who tell us8:55
they've been trying to do one or the8:58
other versions of these hold moves that9:00
idea alone makes the downswing brutally9:02
difficult and thank goodness there's an9:04
easier way9:08
by Pro standards a very lean shaft with9:11
a seven iron like you're seeing here9:12
would be about 12 degrees of shaft lean9:15
that's two seconds on a clock face for9:17
reference now if you're at the slower9:18
end of the scale for Club head speed9:20
you'll want to also be at the lower end9:22
of the scale for shaft lean roughly six9:25
degrees or one second on the clock face9:27
the normal range for tour Pros is around9:29
8 degrees so keep that in mind when9:32
you're rehearsing what you want to do9:33
through impact just doesn't take much to9:35
have world-class shaft lean9:40
if I just hold this club with two9:42
fingers I can't manipulate this at all9:44
and start it right here this 90 degrees9:46
and just let it swing that's a ton of9:49
shaft lean and this has gotten rid of9:52
the lag angle right I'm just not9:54
disrupting it now to train that until9:56
your golf swing you need to be able to9:58
feel that we got a great little drill10:00
for that yeah I'll do this a lot unless10:01
it's just to show people that you know10:03
I'm letting go of control and I'm using10:05
the the sequence and the movements to10:08
get the lag and the shaft lean at the10:09
right time this is we call this our10:11
flute drill but Ben Hogan did something10:13
very similar with this and he had a ton10:15
of shaft lean and lagging his Dolphins10:17
yeah he would like kind of goes and10:19
fingers so similar you hold it with10:20
three fingers of each hand leave your10:22
pink and your ring finger off we'll do10:24
it all the time I'll swing it Forward10:25
back and then through again just holding10:28
it here to show them I can't hold any10:30
angles and when I do that they usually10:33
surprised to see that I can hit it10:36
pretty darn good right and I have tons10:39
of shaft lean I've got lag I'm unloading10:41
at the right time and I can't manipulate10:43
it you want to use the weight and10:45
momentum of the club along with good10:47
sequence to get all the good stuff the10:49
lean and I'm smiling because when we see10:52
guys do this in lessons10:53
and they'll look back well first they'll10:55
look to watch the replay of the video10:57
and they've like you said they've never10:58
seen themselves having the shaft that's11:01
angled forward or lag up here at this11:04
part of the swing and they can't believe11:07
that they did really nothing11:09
to create those angles they didn't hold11:12
anything they just basically got out of11:14
their own way got out of the way of the11:15
club yeah especially if they've been11:17
struggling with it their whole life yeah11:18
letting some of these angles out feels11:20
really freeing it feels like other11:21
sports they played if you played11:23
baseball you wouldn't check swing right11:25
that's basically what you're you're11:26
training in yeah and the progression is11:28
just to gradually start to add the11:30
fingers and the grip pressure11:32
but the key is creating lag so you can11:35
use it here so you can get rid of it so11:38
you can produce some shaft lean and it's11:40
understanding how this angle allows you11:42
to produce this angle that really starts11:45
to click the uh turn the light bulb on11:47
really allow you to get lag and shaft11:49
lean because you got to have both of11:51
them to play really good golf if you11:53
want more compression on your iron shots11:55
More tour quality solid iron shots every11:58
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[Music]English (auto-generated)
AllGolf instructionsPGA TOURRelatedRecently uploadedWatched
Release Lag to Create Shaft Lean
You have to release lag to get shaft lean.
If you try to hold it you will dump the club creating a scoop. Your mind knows you can't hit the ball so to help you hit the ball it will make other compensations like slowing your body rotation.
You Don't Need a Ton of Lag...
As you heard in the video most Pros have about 8° of shaft lean at impact with an iron.
And most Ams need less than this because their swing speed is slower.
With a Driver most Pros are about 1° of shaft lean.
Stop chasing lag to get shaft lean, you need very little to increase your ball striking.
Start Releasing Lag to Keep Lag and Get Shaft Lean
Hopefully this article and video will help you free up your swing and stop trying to manipulate lag and shaft lean.
You need very little and it always is a byproduct of a good pivot and golf swing.
Free up your swing and you will have more lag and shaft lean.
Happy Golfing,
Shawn