I remember a great photo sequence in Jimmy Ballard's How to Perfect Your Golf Swing. It was of Tom Watson, 2 photos, one right at the top of the back swing, the second after the beginning of his hip turn on the downswing. The club looks like it is in the exact same position, except it is bent in the second photo. He has already created his lag with that hip move, and that happened very quickly.
I have more luck thinking of lag as shaft bend rather than body position or geometry. Once you bend the shaft coming down, you must keep it bent until after impact.
I remember a great photo sequence in Jimmy Ballard's How to Perfect Your Golf Swing. It was of Tom Watson, 2 photos, one right at the top of the back swing, the second after the beginning of his hip turn on the downswing. The club looks like it is in the exact same position, except it is bent in the second photo. He has already created his lag with that hip move, and that happened very quickly.
I have more luck thinking of lag as shaft bend rather than body position or geometry. Once you bend the shaft coming down, you must keep it bent until after impact.
Im not sure if you can really hold shaft bend but the thought or the attempt to do it is good to my mind. Interestingly Homer is on record as seeing what we call shaft kick or backward bending pre impact to be the shaft lagging the line or sweet spot plane between the #3pp and the clubhead. The text in the book seems to support holding shaft bend however .......something Im confused about. If he came to see shaft kick as lag why didnt he edit the book accordingly. Maybe I read it wrong.
I dunno. Im going from memory dont have my book with me.
By the way, I'm no expert at this--struggling with understanding it like most. I took a driver with a whippy shaft and did some experiments. First, I set it with the face touching a table leg. Got in address, and went towards impact fix. The shaft bent and I could clearly feel the lag pressure, I think at all 4 pressure points, especially 2, 3 and 4. Also, with the shaft acting like a spring, I feel this wonderful cushy resistance, not like pushing a stiff iron rod, say.
Next, I left the table leg and performed the basic motion with the same driver--2 feet back and a 2 feet forward (to both-arms-straight), doing it with as much thrust as possible. Again, the shaft bends, especially at first. I also get the "cushy feel" and that feel coincides with the lag pressure build-up. Then at both-arms-straight, because the club slows down, I can see the shaft un-bend and "kick" the other way. Even with that short a motion, I couldn't tell exactly when the shaft begins bending the other way (kicking back), or what state it's in at impact, but I am TRYING to keep it bent backward, or trying to maintain the lag pressure. Now, instead of pushing against the table leg (infinite inertia) I'm pushing against the inertia of the club, especially the clubhead. As long as I can maintain the pressure, the club will ACCELERATE. But, eventually it's going to stop so it has to decelerate, beginning at some point. Again, it's a mental image, but I'm TRYING to have that happen after impact.
I also noticed that if my motion was 2 feet back, then back down, forward and out, then just let me and the club keep going to a "natural" stop (almost a full follow-through), the shaft seemed to be bent backward at impact.
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