Clinic - Lag
Lag - everyone wants more of it, but what does it do and why do we need it?
lag we started to address it a little bit yesterday but I didn't really talk about it too much in our drills because we're not really worried about adding any power we're talking about just getting some control and some sequencing which is vital for the swing to start to all fall together but lag at the end of the day is your primary responsibility your primary goal in the swing is to create maintain and then release lag in that order because about two-thirds of your club head speed comes from just the release of your wrist angle that's a lot I think about that for a second if you're swinging at a hundred miles an hour 60 to 70 miles an hour of that is coming just from the release your wrist angle now how many of you guys tend to cast the club pretty much everybody why do you think you cast the club yep that's why it's that simple so if your thesis statement for your golf swing is to create maintain and then release lag where should your priorities be well should be I'm creating and maintaining and releasing lag right but if your idea is to not create maintain and release lag at the right time and your idea is just to try and hit as hard as you can with your right side your priorities in the wrong spot so going forward I want your priorities to be on understanding what lag is how important it is how you properly create it how you maintain it and how to get rid of it at the right time when you understand what this is all about you're going to see a huge boost in club head speed and I want to explain how significant this is for the typical average good ball striker when the club is about three feet from the ball with a six iron a typical tour pro good players in a swing about 92 miles an hour with a six iron three feet away from the ball that clubs only going about 22 miles an hour think about that for a second one foot two foot three foot this far away that clubs going super slow I could hit you with my car 22 miles an hour it's not gonna hurt you that bad I hit you at 92 miles an hour you can be splattered on my windshield so how could this club possibly quadruple in speed and three feet what would you do to multiply that that kind of speed what do we got weight shift centrifugal force so if I shift my weight here that's going to quadruple the speed so you want my hip to go up and back that's going to quadruple the speed release what what do you guys hear on TV all the time how should you get through the ball I heard some of you kind of say it yesterday I said you weren't getting through the ball this will help me get through the ball how about you turn your turn your chest your hips through right you guys hear that one much to turn your chest to the target through the ball rotate hard rotate as fast you can will that quadruple the club head speed if I rotate really fast no and when you snap the towel what are you really snapping it with your wrists thank you your wrists are going to provide all of that club head speed there's nothing else that you can do to quadruple the speed in only three feet I don't care how fast you try and rotate your chest to the target that club's not going to quadruple in speed so your most powerful asset in the swing is leverage what are the three sources of club head speed your three primary sources of club head speed there's a video on the site called three sources of club head speed lag which is leverage right so when we're saying lag just to clearly define this this is the club head lagging behind my hands into the hitting area which creates an angle which is leverage right you guys remember Archimedes from high school days what did Archimedes say give me a lever big enough I can move the earth right leverage is the most powerful multiplier you have so leverage is our number one priority because two-thirds of our club head speed is coming just from this lever what else do we have for club head speed rotation right rotation makes up a small amount of your club head speed but how much anybody have any idea how fast the typical tour pros hips are moving at impact how fast are they turning 22 that's a good guess where does club heads moving at over a hundred miles an hour how fast are your hips got to be moving no how come they say on tv all the time turn your hips fast you can johnny miller says that all the time nick faldo says all the time you just go to the top and rip your hips as fast you can how fast are their hips moving that's interesting isn't it average tour pros hips move about 10 miles an hour at impact 10 how fast is 10 miles an hour not very fast clubs moving at over 100 their hips are moving at 10 how fast are their hands moving hands got to move really fast right so if we how do we get our hands to move really fast yeah that's really fast hands average tour pros about 18 miles an hour clubs moving over 100 hands only moving at 18 hips are barely moving at all so clearly just rotation isn't going to help the club move that fast right so we know that leverage is extremely important what else what's our final source of club head speed what's that well release is releasing the leverage that we have so we've got leverage in there we've got rotation we're missing one more no starts with a w though width there you go width is our last source club head speed so those are your three options if you want to hit the ball a long ways you need leverage you need rotation and you need width my the way that you put those things those three things together is a variable it's an option to you you can have a lot of rotational speed now but rotation is what kind of force if you're turning centrifugal is a result it's centripetal force so when you're rotating you're creating centripetal force which the result is what you said centrifugal force how would centrifugal force act on the golf club and we talked yesterday about centripetal and centrifugal force centrifugal force if i'm turning my body really fast it's going to create centrifugal forces which is going to make the club head want to do what that's right it's going to go out away from me so the faster i spin what does the club want to do which is going to do what to my leverage bingo so your two primary ways to kill all of your lag and hit the ball absolutely nowhere is to go to the top of your swing and spin your shoulders as fast as you can and push against it with your right hand because where can the right hand go well it's fully loaded at the top of the swing what direction can it go at this point out what's that going to do my leverage kill it if i spin my shoulders really hard trying to hit it with my shoulders yesterday what's that going to do so you put those two together even if you're pretty mellow with your hands and you try and spin from the top i'm not going to be able to stop this club from wanting to be thrown out away from me which is why i kept harping on you guys yesterday where i want your chest pointing at impact down where were you guys out there like this that's why even on these little shots i'm teaching you to start moving correctly so that you start releasing the club because as soon as you keep turning your chest through all you're doing is delaying the release of the club or if you do it early start spinning from the top you're starting to throw the club out away and you're losing all of your leverage does that make sense so how do we create lag in the swing reverse when you're going to the top your arms are loose and supple and then you do your weight shift and clubs still going backwards but your arms are being dragged by your body okay i agree that's called a down cock what about setting our wrist early because if i just set my wrist is this not technically going to be lag at the as i start down so you don't think it's a good idea to set my wrist early here how how come lose width oh very good if i lose width what's going to tend to happen what's going to if i if i just set my wrist early and i make a really narrow swing what is going to be the direct result of that i talked about it yesterday it's going to affect my body in a certain way that's right you won't get a full turn how come exactly what's your primary indicator to start changing directions go the other way what's your brain use tension that's right so what am i doing when i set my wrist like this right off the ball creating tension in my forearms i feel it right away by the time i get to the top where can the club go my forearms are tight the club can only go in one direction which is this way all right my brain's trying to release that tension and as he talked about if i start setting the club early and start doing this how much have i turned i haven't really turned at all but i feel tight my left shoulder girdle is saying hey i don't really like this i want to get rid of all of this tension so the way that you create lag the right way is to not set your wrists early in the swing just let the club go back your brain will start to feel the club feels a little awkward or heavy so you'll set your wrists a little bit and as you get to the top when you change directions with your weight shift that's what sets the club that's what creates lag so that you can have lag late in the downswing you don't need lag in the backswing it doesn't do anything you only need it late in the downswing like you can see here where i have a sharp angle between my club shaft and the forearm that's all been created by my hands being really soft and me shifting my weight and doing nothing else my weight shift and my hip rotation you can see my hips have turned now they're getting back to square and they're continuing to open late in the downswing and i have a lot of angle here that's all been created by just my torso i didn't do anything with my arms i didn't do anything with my wrist i didn't try and create this angle it's a byproduct of moving correctly now for those of us who tend to kind of do the opposite that's why i sent out that transition drill yesterday and you kind of want to go like this from the top that transition drill to learn to try and exaggerate this little down cock motion is a good one because you're not used to being in this position halfway down you're used to being in this position halfway down so that's why we have drills like that to kind of help you overcome some of those bad habits because it's literally doing the exact opposite but as you learn to prioritize lag over just what you feel is powerful that's how you start getting to the right position so weight shift helps you maintain lag so your number one job create lag we create lag by weight shift keeping our wrists don't set your wrists early just keep your wrist nice and mellow we maintain lag by soft wrists soften up your grip don't push against the shaft with your thumb and shift your weight and then how do we release the lag post up the the answers are here people this is not a trick question so the big payoff is the release that's what we're all wanting is a a great release where we're releasing the heck out of that golf club as fast and as hard as we want we never have to worry about the ball going left and if you do everything correct that's exactly what the payoff will be what is the release we talked about a little bit yesterday it is rotation now i just said don't rotate your chest so what do i mean how is the release rotation that's your foot no your wrists are slamming on the brakes because we want that club to now snap and release so we've got a post up which was the previous slide which is that pushing that leg into the ground pushing your hip back because you're supposed to be moving in what direction in relation to the club always in the opposite direction so your body is going this way your body goes up and back to get the club to move down and out so what can be rotating at this point your forearms which is going to rotate the club face do you have any idea how much faster the club face the toe of the club face is rotating than the heel when you release it properly or is it maybe it's going the same speed any ideas the toe of the club when you release it properly is moving about 12 miles an hour faster than the heel and in the center of the face it's about six to eight miles an hour so if you can give up six to eight miles an hour club head speed that's totally free all you got to do is turn your forearms over then by all means hold the club face square to the target as long as you possibly can so but if you'd like six miles an hour club head speed for free by just letting your forearms turn over then this is a great way to hit the ball you know 20 yards further so excuse me when i do that um hook it or pull it way yep because you're spinning the snot out of your shoulders so you're like this your shoulders can't be pointing over here and flip your hands over and your hands have got to be passive it's not that you're trying to flip your hands over the release is all happening automatically remember the toe of the club is wanting to rotate around the heel of the shaft it's designed this way to move this way it doesn't want to just stay straight unless you swung the club perfectly vertical because it's on this plane it does it wants to turn so all you got to do is let it that's why i was telling you guys yesterday where was your checkpoint on the follow-through club towed up or slightly towed in i didn't want to see this which i saw a lot of yesterday right because you guys were doing this so now if you're holding onto the club face not only are you slowing it down and adding loft to the club and hitting it up in the air with a lot of spin it's not going to go anywhere but you're not allowing the club to release this is passive so you can take just your two fingers and feel the club i don't need to hold on to it tight it's going to release like this automatically it wants to do this let it but if you're holding on to the club with a death grip you're never going to do this and then you're going to have to start trying to flip your hands over and that's impossible to time and control if you're trying to make the club do something there's a problem you're just holding on to the club too tight so this rotation to be clear is a passive rotation it's not that you're trying to flip your hands over but it's also critical that your shoulders are not turning as you're doing this because now you've got two moving targets you're helping shut the club face with your chest and make the club go over there you're going to snipe hook it all the time so you really you post up your shoulders don't turn just your forearms do which is what we're exactly what we were trying to ingrain in what you were doing yesterday just in a slow motion deal take a look at this picture of tiger yes we had the impact slide up yesterday now how much has his body changed the clubs move about three feet how much has his body changed from this frame to this frame clubs moved a long ways it's moved three feet so certainly he's had to move his body a long ways right how else would you move the club three feet do you guys think his body's moved the only thing he's done is taken his left wrist and done this look at his left knuckles you can see them under his right hand now you can see the back of his right hand here you can only see his thumb and forefingers back of his right hands pointing this way now we can tell the club face it's blurry obviously but it's closing but an easy check is with his glove how can you see the fingers on his glove unless it's turned over that's how you move the club from here to here not by doing this stuff this is why every single time you guys kept looking out to go see the ball where did your shoulders go open right where the ball go you either you usually topped it or if you released it properly it happened to make good contact you smothered it left where your eyes go your shoulders will go where your shoulders go everything else is going to go okay so when you're doing these drills your job is to stay down and release it so now when i put my right hand on the club which is what we're going to do today it's going to look like this where's my chest pointing still down at the dirt where's my hips pointing over there at you guys but i've moved the club a long ways the club is the only thing that needs to move fast in the golf swing not you getting to a full follow-through is a result it's not a cause you don't ever try and get to a follow through that's the last thing on earth you'd want i'd want you to do your swing after you strike the ball is over you have nothing else to do your body shouldn't be trying to get anywhere because the golf ball doesn't care the golf ball is 100 yards down the fairway at that point so why would you ever try and get to a follow -through now a lot of instructors actually teach you to do that they're teaching to do that because you have incorrect movements that they're trying to put a band-aid over but the reality is if i could stop right here i would every single time but why can't i stop momentum of what the club that's it i'm done i already told you i slammed on my brakes heck rory's hips are going backwards i'm just stopped what are my shoulders doing nothing but something is still moving this club is still going it's decelerated from 100 to about 60 but that's not done that means it's if for me with an iron the club's still moving 60 miles an hour so what am i trying to do with my follow -through try to make a pretty picture what's the purpose of the follow-through it serves only one purpose in life and that's it you know you nailed it to safely decelerate the club that's it it serves no other freaking purpose in life we use it as a diagnostic tool but it that's the only point so literally if i could stop here i would but i can't i'd get hurt so i allow the club to pull me to a follow -through i didn't try and get here i didn't have a choice if this club doesn't could if it doesn't stop moving it's going to drag me up you have any idea how how heavy this thing is through impact effectively due to the physics of it a driver weighs over a hundred pounds that little 218 gram head 210 gram head gets multiplied because of the centrifugal force it weighs much more than a sledgehammer so how are you ever going to stop that so the last thing on earth that you'd ever want to try and do is get to a follow-through i'm trying to stop at impact release the club the club's still going so it drags me up with it i'm just trying to stay where i was wherever your hand whatever momentum you have so if you're doing it without your arms there is no momentum so that's why my drill stops here as soon as my arm goes it's a little momentum from my arm because my shoulders relax my arm goes there put a club in there it goes a little further but it looks good good this one drives me nuts i hate when people teach somebody to go from some people actually teach from a follow-through back and i'm like that's the dumbest thing in the world that has nothing to do on the golf swing i understand what they're doing they're trying to get you to get all the way your weight to the left side that's what people do that for because they start you there to so you know what it feels like to be on your left side i'm going to teach you how to move to the left side instead of fabricate this ridiculous follow-through looking thing release we talked about it what does it do what is it it's rotation there's obvious rotation here in his forearms it helps square the face because the club face is always doing what it's always rotating don't let anybody tell you the club face stays square nobody on the earth does that unless they want to hit a weak fade the club face is always rotating that helps square the face up now you're being like wait a second i'm going to start spraying all over the place if i'm trying to do that you are not rotating the club face what is rotating the club face that's right sir isaac newton's rotating the club face you just get out of its way i promise you if you relax your grip that club face will not stay open it naturally wants to turn over and if you've stopped your shoulders from turning the club the momentum of the club is going to keep going what is it going to do on your forearms it's going to turn them over because something's got to allow that club to keep going from here to here all you got to do is allow this to happen it helps deal off the club face it adds speed we just talked about that it's free six seven eight miles an hour and this is my big one it allows the club to accelerate independent of your body now this is another huge pet peeve i have on tv all the time you hear these guys talk about rotating your chest to the target now if i'm doing this how fast can that club move bingo so if i want to hit it far what do i got to do i gotta rotate my chest faster what does your spine hate sheer force you're trying to move every single critical organ you have in your body all of this mass as fast as humanly possible around an axis it doesn't want to be rotated on like that whereas what we're doing is just slam on the brakes and let your forearms turn you can do this all day every day for the rest of your life and never have any injuries your forearms you keep doing this stuff with your spine aka what i saw with tiger in 2010 i said he was going to get injured and he did that's what's going to cause that kind of injury you do not want your body tied to the speed of that club head and also as we talked about earlier if you start rotating your shoulders from the top what is that going to tend to do to the club and your lag it'll cause you throw it away because you're creating centrifugal force you cannot beat newton on this deal if you start spinning your shoulders you're gonna create centrifugal force it's that simple it's a byproduct of it so what we want to allow it to happen is we want that club to move independent of us allow that club to speed up and accelerate without you getting in its way how do we learn the release my favorite video on the site for the release is this one five minutes the perfect release it walks you through in five specific steps that you must do in sequence for a reason to teach you how to release the club exactly like tiger or any other great ball stiker all these guys on the tour release the club where the ball doesn't go anywhere so they all are releasing the club they may get their shoulders open or what have you have some variations but their forearms even zach johnson still releases the golf club okay so to learn this be patient because training that left hand takes time you must follow the progression it's very very specific for a reason if you go right away to put your right hand on there you're going to muck up everything that we just did so just like the rst five step stuff which was this was a precursor of many many years ago i created this video it's doing the same thing it's adding the right hand at the very very end so that you learn how to get your body in the right position by controlling the movement with the left side of the body does it make sense so if you're not certain how to release it i helped you guys a little bit yesterday but we very very simple and it's stuff that you can do inside first of all you don't need a club you just know how to move your body you can add a club later add your right arm later but again it's body movements that we're really focused on so you don't need a club you can do this all winter long and have a perfect release by the time spring rolls or really in a few weeks so
Gary
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Christopher
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)