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Many golfers in the world, regardless of where you are on your golfing journey, want to hit the ball further and may attempt to do anything their golf swing to create this increased in speed, power and energy.

Lag in the golf swing is very evident on some tour pros golf swings such as Sergio Garcia and Jim Furyk. It is evident because you can see the clubs angle between the left forearm and club shaft reduce during the transition from back swing to down swing. This helps get the hands ahead of the ball leading into impact but also helps create a faster release to increase club head speed through the impact area, resulting in faster ball speed and longer shots.

Lag during the golf swing helps keep the wrists hinged during the swing so that at impact the club is coming through the ball at its fastest possible speed. Many golfers fall under the casting bracket whereby the wrists start to unhinge during the down swing causing the club and wrists to be fully extending well before impact, sacrificing any attempt of increasing swing speed and power.

Maintaining the lag during the golf swing also encourages the hands to be further ahead of the golf ball at impact. If the hands cast during the down swing, the club head will take over the hands at impact causing an increase of loft on the club and a higher launch angle than expected, resulting in finishing short of the target.

With the hands further ahead of the ball due to a lagged position on the down swing, they can also strike down on the ball with a good, steep angle of attack, catching the ball first and then the turf creating a strong penetrating ball flight. Conversely, casting of the club will shallow out the angle of attack and potentially cause thin shots and weaker ball flights.

If a player has too much lag in the swing then the down side to this could be the ball striking because the angle of attack into the ball will be too steep, therefore hitting the ball fat and losing distance. Unless the hands do not rotate fast enough, the lag can cause poor directional shots but this is usually something that happens initially when making the change as the timing takes time and practise to adopt.

Lag in the golf swing will help create a more penetrating ball flight and a longer distance with your irons especially. The shape of the shot can only be influenced by the swing path, not the angle of attack.

Lag in the golf swing will help create a more penetrating ball flight and a longer distance with your irons especially. The shape of the shot can only be influenced by the swing path, not the angle of attack.