WATCH: The best way to create lag in the golf swing
This week’s Impact Show explains what “lag” is in the golf swing, and how you can develop more of it to help you hit the golf ball farther.
Kristoffer Reitan just won his first PGA Tour event at the 2026 Truist Championship. He is a Ping staff member and has a complete set of clubs from the brand. He did make a late driver switch this weekend that helped propel him to victory.
Driver: Ping G440 Max (9 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 60 TX
3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX
7-wood: Ping G440 Max (21 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Black 85 TX
Irons: Ping Blueprint S (4-9)
Shafts: KBS Tour X
Wedges: Ping S259
46-S
Shaft KBS Tour X
50-S
54-S
58-S
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Ping PLD Custom Ally Blue H (white finish)
Grips: Golf Pride MCC Midsize
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Videos
Finau’s unique long putter experiment, Webb’s WILD irons | Inside the Ropes | Truist Championship
In this week’s episode of Inside the Ropes from the Truist Championship, Alistair Cameron catches up with Tony Finau, who is in the midst of an interesting long-putter experiment, and Webb Simpson, whose irons must be seen to be believed. Also featuring: Sepp Straka, Ryan Gerard, and much more!
Right now, I am tied for first place in my league! Don’t worry, the wheels will fall off as we get further into the year, but let’s keep the train rolling with 14 brand new clubs this week. We are off on the back nine again, so the driver is back in, and the 7-wood is out, as the course dictates what clubs I tend not to use. Excited to get these New Level irons out there and see if I can catch some of that driver magic I had down at Pinehurst with the Wilson Dynapwr+.
Driver: Wilson Dynapwr Max+ (12 degrees @ 11)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6s
3-wood: Cobra OPTM Max (15.5 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VR-7s
Utility: PXG 0311 X Gen8
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI-85s Hybrid
Hybrid: Ping G440 4h (22 degrees @ 21)
Shaft: Ping Tour 2.0 Chrome 85s
Irons: New Level 702+ (5 & 6)
Shafts: Project X Red 6.0
Irons: New Level 702 CB (7-PW)
Shafts: Project X REd 6.0
Wedge: Titleist Vokey SM11 (50.12F)
Shaft: Nippon Modus Tour 105 S
Wedge: Titleist Vokey SM11 (56.14F)
Shaft: Nippon Modus Tour 105 S
Wedge: Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks (60V)
Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold S200
Putter: PXG Hot Rod ZT
Ball: Titleist ProV1x Left Dash
Bag: Ghost GT-14 Patriot
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Bob Jones
Dec 20, 2017 at 3:23 pm
A simple way to maintain lag is for the sole of the clubhead and the tip of the handle to always move in the same direction in the forward swing. The sole always moves leftward in the forward swing, but if lag is being lost, the tip has pivoted to the right. This effect is especially apparent when the club flips in the impact area. At 1:10 in the video you can clearly see the tip backing up.
Pierce says, “this is the hardest one to change,” and he’s right. Lag gets lost when the golfer hits with his/her right hand because of how powerful it feels to do that, and, well, because it just makes sense to, so we keep doing it even after we understand it’s the wrong thing to do.
ghn
Dec 20, 2017 at 1:43 pm
I do not believe that the ‘angle gets narrower’ right from the top as you say. You are being fooled by parallax because the camera is not perpendicular to the plane of the swing but is facing the player. A few minutes in front of a mirror with a club in hand will demonstrate this.
Many think that Sergio Garcia has some great amount of lag increase on his downswing because of this effect when in fact he merely has a flat downswing plane which makes the fabled ‘angle’ seem more acute.
Andrew Cooper
Dec 21, 2017 at 11:55 am
Spot on, see also Ben Hogan…the lag in the photos is an optical illusion. But it is the basis for so much of this create lag/hold the lag obsession.