Developing more club head lag is essential to gaining more distance with your golf swing. Everyone loves to hit the ball a little further, so here are some drills that can help you with exactly that.

First, a quick explanation of some things. Lag itself is referring to the club head lagging behind the hands. If you froze a picture of Tiger Woods or any other good golfer just prior to impact, you would see that his hands are even with the ball, while the club head is still pointing well behind him.

That is a picture of lag.

The more lag of the club head you can generate, the more power you can unleash on the ball. The right index finger, for right handed golfers, is the lag measuring stick. As long as you can feel the pressure from the club shaft on that right index finger, you have lag. The more pressure, the more lag. No pressure, means no lag and means no power. All of the following drills are designed to help golfers learn the feel of that pressure on the right index finger.

1. Impact Bag: The lag we create during our downswing is stored up until impact. If we release that lag too soon, we waste it and lose power. An impact bag is designed for you to swing the club into a bag that will absorb all the energy and force your hands to feel all the proper energy storage being maintained. Normally, you hit the ball and the club just keeps going. When you hit the impact bag, your club stops and enables your muscles to form a memory of what impact should feel like. You should be able to hit the bag comfortably and feel all that lag still pushing against your right index finger. Impact bags can be purchase in almost any golf catalog.

2. Hang on: For this drill, you need a little help. Swing the club in slow motion up to the top of the back swing, then, still in slow motion, start the down swing, only have someone stand behind you and hold on to the club head, pulling on it ever so slightly. Make sure they are allowing you to keep the club on the normal swing plane. The object here is to learn the feel of strong lag. By having someone hold on to the club, you will not be able to release the club head too soon. You should feel a constant pressure against your right index finger all the way through the down swing.

3. Weighted club: A weighted club is great for improving your lag. Swinging a heavy club will put a lot of pressure on that right index finger all the way down. The extra weight makes it nearly impossible to release the club too soon and lose all that stored up power.

Learn more about this author, Jeremy Peters.
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