Drill – Work On Lag Anywhere

By | on February 16, 2023 | 32 Comments |


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Paul Wilson is the creator of Swing Machine Golf and founder of Ignition Golf. Paul's golf swing technique is based on the Iron Byron swing machine. YouTube Channels: Paul Wilson Golf and Ignition Golf Tips. Please Join me on Google+

32 Responses to “Drill – Work On Lag Anywhere”

  1. June 10, 2013

    AlanFrance

    Thanks Paul,
    This is a great drill,and easy to practice. There is one question that I would like to ask and I am sure you will clarify this for me.
    You quite frequently refer to the release point being 2 feet in front of the ball for irons and 3 feet for woods.
    Should I practiice this when my hands are at the more forward positions as mentioned above or at the impact position.
    This would allow for the body tilt to the right when starting the downswing with the lower body. Perhaps I have not quite understood the release point. But the drill feels good but I have not had chance yet to try it at the golf club. I can’t wait.
    regards and thanks once again
    Alan

    • Alan,

      I am not exactly sure what you are saying either. Working on the release point is never a bad thing where ever you work on it. To work on this point take the club to the top and stop. Hold the lag as you start down. Then release it to this point. Repeat.

      To make it more simple just think of it as the only other time in your swing where both arms are perfectly straight. People who hit with their arms tighten them (chicken wing) so they never hit this point. If you can work on this you are maximizing your arc width which will increase clubhead speed and consistency.

      • June 11, 2013

        AlanFrance

        Thanks Paul, I have worked on this drill today and was very pleased with the contact I was making with the ball and the accuracy was very much improved.Thanks
        Alan

        • Alan,

          Great. I like the fact that people can be doing this anywhere. Now there are no excuses.

  2. Best tip (drill) ever!! Combine this with the trigger drill (straightening left leg for me) and watch it fly! Thanks again Paul. Please keep them coming.
    David

  3. Agree with others, great tip, hitting the ball much longer. Thanks for your persistence in assuring we are doing it right, working on your teaching techniques for about a year, and paying off!

    • Lawrence,

      That’s great news. Glad you are doing well. Keep up the good work. Thanks for the feedback.

  4. August 6, 2013

    VicForsyth

    Paul, I have been having success with my swing when I only think about getting my hip through and my knees touching. This means that my arms are not active in my swing. I am hitting the ball really straight, but am still missing club head speed. How do I incorporate in the lag in my arms without having to think about what my arms are doing during the swing?

    • August 7, 2013

      Paul Wilson

      Vic,

      You can’t. You need to be manually working on the lag angle. I could say just loosen the arms even more but it may take you 10 years to get the club lagging. I worked on the lag angle when I was a kid. I constantly held the angle as long as possible. I did this every time I practiced for a long time. After a while I perfected it and it was in my swing. If you do this you have to focus only on this for a while. If you work on this you will lose consistency because it a a different release angle plus you are not good at it. So the choice is yours. I would be working on it around the house at nigh in practice swings. Hold it as you come down and release it every night tens of thousands of times. This way you can keep working on your swing at the range and playing without shooting a million. Give it a try. It will be well worth it once you get it. I have 13 lag tips in the archive. Go to SWING TIPS > FULL SWING > LAG

  5. January 10, 2015

    TheodoreCornish

    Great drill Paul hey if you are ever in Orlando I want a lesson live thanks

    • January 11, 2015

      Paul Wilson

      Theodore,

      Glad you liked it. No plans to go to Orlando at the moment. If I do I will let you know. I wintered there for 10 years back in the day.

  6. January 10, 2015

    RaymondCHASTEL

    Paul ,
    I constantly work on the release as you show it in this video. I get the impression -maybe it’s wrong -that my left wrist is slowing my swing ,it doesn’t go fluidly through as my right wrist does .Maybe it’s a wrong impression ,maybe it’s my left hand grip (2 knuckles showing ,but handle in the fingers ,”long thumb “,grip which you don’t like but I feel the handle better this way ).
    My shots are always straight ,no fade ,no draw,it’s more a question of feeling restricted in the movement than anything else .
    I tried to work on the left hand grip without any effect
    What do you think about this unpleasant “feeling “?

    • January 11, 2015

      Paul Wilson

      Raymond,

      If you are feeling a slower left hand I would think you are tightening it because I do not feel any resistance at all. I don’t see my wrists as wrists though. I see my wrists as a hinge and a hinge in life is loose. It hinges. It re-hinges. You just have to see it this way too and start loosening up.

  7. January 10, 2015

    DonaldCorby

    PAPerboard this cardio on lag. I have one question. OUr your body is the engine, and your passive react, how can your PULL YOUR HANDS DOWN TO increase lag as you have beautifully shown in this video?

    • January 11, 2015

      Paul Wilson

      Donald,

      If you arms were totally relaxed they would lag. This is due to mass following the turning axis. I know you are never going to be as powerless as I want right away. So if you do not have lag work on holding the angle as I suggest. You will feel your arms when working on this. Once you get it work on turning your arms off.

      I have said many times in the past if you are working on positions in your swing you will feel your arms. Once you get the position you turn them back off by not trying to hit anything.

      Again, I could tell you to just turn them off but in 23 years of teaching people I have never seen anyone turn their arms off to the level I want (except kids who have weak arms versus an adult). So if I know you are not going to fully turn them off I need you to work on the specific position. In doing so you master the position then turn them off.

  8. January 10, 2015

    JohnSteen

    Paul,
    I lave pretty good lag with wedges, but lose it with longer irons and woods. Why is it so and how can I stop lag with these clubs ? The lag is lost when my arms are parallell with the ground in the downswing.

    • January 11, 2015

      Paul Wilson

      John,

      You are losing the lag because you are trying to hit with longer clubs. In your mind you have distance thoughts not position thoughts. This is what I deal with every day. Everyone wants to hit these long shots instead of wanting to do the perfect movement keeping the ball in play then increasing the leg drive to gain more power in the future.

      You only have 1 swing. If you can do it with lower irons and not longer clubs YOU are changing your golf swing. So swing easier. Get it. Then speed up ONLY the lower body. The distance will come in the future. Focus on the movement NOT distance.

  9. Avatar photo

    January 10, 2015

    Bradley

    Happy Belated New Year Paul! I really enjoyed this tip, simple but very effective. I also liked the ability to practice it at home, my office, or just about anywhere. Thanks for providing this as well as a great site for those of us who search for the why as well as how of a technique. When we get these answers, it sticks better for me.
    Cheers!

    • January 11, 2015

      Paul Wilson

      Happy New Year to you too!

      There are many things you can be doing at home. This is the best place to practice. Just stay focused on developing a great swing and the shots will come.

      Glad you like the “why” this is very important to having a full understanding of how the swing works.

  10. Avatar photo

    January 13, 2015

    KennthBova

    Paul, during the moment of impact, does the left wrist snap over as you demonstrated?
    What about the right wrist. During impact, since I am right handed, my right wrist snapped the most.

    • January 15, 2015

      Paul Wilson

      Kenneth,

      No, the lead wrist rolls over or re-hinges after you hit the ball and hit the release point. I want you working on it like this so you get the concept of what is happening and the fact that you will not release it easily once you add body rotation.

      Both wrists will re-hinge if you don’t hit and all the club to swing to its widest point after impact. It is a hinge. This means it hinges and re-hinges. You have to be loose enough to allow this to happen. By working on it you will understand and loosen it so you can turn it off and allow it to happen on its own.

  11. January 14, 2015

    MichaelKramer

    Paula:

    How do you reconcile this lag tip with your instruction to roll club head over early to hook it to sequence it with stronger hip and leg drive? Does’ t this rolling over force you to give up lag?

    Also,one would think that if the arms are powerless and wrists loose that lag would occur automatically (naturally), when you drive your legs and turn the hips.

    • January 15, 2015

      Paul Wilson

      Micahel,

      I reconcile it because they are 2 different areas of the swing to work on. One is lag one is release. In every lag tip I have done I have always said to lag and release it not just work on the lag.

      Working on the roll over actually loosens your wrists because if your wrists are too tight you cannot release it. So although you may cast it doing his drill it will help increase lag once you no longer have to think about rolling it. At this point you would be a more experience player and work on lag specifically.

      Lag would occur if you turn your arms off but to date I have on seen 1 person (last week) turn their arms off enough to gain perfect lag. This is other than kids who have no arm strength and lag it perfectly without me explaining anything about leg. So yes, it can be done but I know people will not loosen up to the level I want so I need them to manually work on the lag angle.

      I did a tip on this very subject here:

      Does Turning Off Arms Create Lag?: https://ignitiongolf.com/powerless-arms-create-lag/

  12. February 22, 2016

    RaymondHare Jr

    Hi Paul,
    Wouldn’t your thumb actually have to release downward to the ground at impact in order to release that 90 degree angle through impact and beyond. You are just rolling your arm and wrist in the video , but the 90 degree arm/club angle stays. Technically speaking doesn’t the wrist have to supinate and roll to fully release the club?
    Thanks,
    Ray

    • February 22, 2016

      Paul Wilson

      Raymond,

      It’s a drill for lag that you can do anywhere. The release part is me showing and early release because 99.9 percent of all golfers I have seen in now 25 years do not release the club properly. If I told people to point there them at the ground then release it they would be late (as usual) with the release. Just do the drill, get the feeling and see what happens.

      You might want to watch these tips where I address what happens down and through impact with your wrists:

      Back Wrist at Impact: https://ignitiongolf.com/impact-back-wrist/

      Knuckles Down At Impact: https://ignitiongolf.com/knuckles-down-impact/

  13. February 23, 2016

    RaymondHare Jr

    Paul,
    I do many of your drills at home and follow you method. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.
    I miscommunicated my question above. I’m really looking for your insight on ulnar deviation of the wrists at impact. If I setup with my wrists in a neutral position (neither hinged or unhinged) with my arms fully extended…I have determined the distance to the ball at impact. But if my wrist unhinges fully in ulnar deviation at impact it adds reach/length to my swing and the club would strike the ground before the ball. It also makes the toe of the club point a bit downward . How do you incorporate this into the mechanics of a correct golf swing?
    Thank you for reply
    Ray

    • February 24, 2016

      Paul Wilson

      Raymond.

      George Knudson addressed this in his teachings which I followed many years ago. Not sure it is really happening but I set up with the ball on the toe to compensate for this. As I said I’m not sure I am really reaching with full extension because my head does move forward as I go back (slightly). Not sure if this is happening with you. I would have to see it.

  14. October 14, 2018

    JimBenjamin

    Paul,

    What is your opinion on going “knuckles” down on the release? My left arm is funny, normally the little bone in the forearm bows in towards the larger bone but mine bows out and limits the rotation of my left wrist. Going knuckles down helps me bow my left wrist a little and I can deloft the clubface slightly as opposed to the clubface being more lofted if I just rotate the forearm because it stops short of full rotation. Hope I explained that correctly. I see the difference when I do it, the ball flight is a little lower.

    Jim

  15. I am still working on trying to create lag. A pro told me to try to keep my hands well ahead of the ball with my arms extended straight with a flat left wrist at impact but I have found that now I often hit the ball way right on the hosel. You are saying to turn your hand over in a snapping position in this drill. So should I NOT try to keep my left wrist flat with hands ahead of the ball at impact? I did buy the ultimate swing trainer and it should arrive any day now. Thanks.

    • Avatar photo

      February 4, 2020

      Paul Wilson

      Lag is going to be created from not using your arms to hit hte golf ball but using your lower body more. I would work on getting your wrists looser, the touching the neck drill and the “roll-over” drill. These things will help create lag in your golf swing. Do not be thinkning about impact, this is such a brief moment in time that if you are thinking about that then you are not thinking about swing positions and using your body to hit the golf ball.

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