Why You Need This:

There is a hidden power in the golf swing that will determine, lag, clubhead speed, forward shaft lean, then release, and much more.

If we can understand the basics of how this works, we can control our golf swing. Watch this video to learn how to get forward shaft lean and hit solid, powerful shots.

What's Covered: How to Speed Trail Effects Our Club

Golf Pros Featured:

Instructors Featured: Clay Ballard    

Video Duration: 4:36

Video Transcription:

Hi guys and welcome back. Today I have a two-part video series talking about how to create forward shaft lean, and the physics behind forward shaft lean, consistency, lag, and releasing the club.

So we’re going to break down the physics of it in this video, and then we’re going to do a lag progression in the next video so you can pick up a lot of speed and we can understand why this is happening.

So this is something we call the speed trail. Basically what this breaks down to is that the force is always going to lead the mass.

The mass is always trying to trail behind and catch up to the force. Sounds really complicated but it’s super, super easy.

So when we have a golf club, I have kind of a golf club training aid here, with just a solid metal ball on the end of it, this is the center of mass is where I would balance my finger here on the golf club and it’s perfectly balanced and it’s lined up with the clubhead and the grip.

So the center of the mass of the club is here, that’s the mass of the club.

The only place that I can put force in this club is where I’m gripping the club, or in the handle.

So my hands are the only place that can put force in the club.

As I swing the club, the center of mass is always going to want to line up with the force and the direction that I’m putting force on the club.

So again, sounds really complicated but I’m going to break it down really easy for you guys here.

Let’s imagine I have this club on the ground, and the center of the mass is there, and I’m going to pull the force of this club right back directly toward the camera.

So if I pull that in a straight line, the mass is going to line up directly with the direction I’m pulling the force, so it’s coming right back to the camera.

Now for a second, let’s imagine that I take this club and now the mass is outside of the line that I’m pulling back to the camera.

So my force is going to be directly back to the camera again, and my mass is starting on this side. As I do that, what’s going to happen is that mass is going to try to line up with this force direction.

As it does that, it has momentum that’s pulling it this way, it will actually go past that center line and then catch back up to it. So it’s actually gaining some momentum as it’s whipping around and catching back up to the direction of the force.

So that’s going to allow it to increase speed, and it’s also going to allow it as it lines up perfectly straight, it’s going to be pretty stable as we’re coming through the swing.

This makes a big difference, it’s a big deal when we’re talking about forward shaft lean and creating consistency in the golf swing.

So now let’s take that in the example of lag and releasing the club, and the forward shaft lean here at impact.

Now as I’m swinging this club, as I’m coming into the downswing, the force or my hands are going in the direction roughly toward the ball right now.

They’re going to constantly be changing as I’m going through this arc, but the force is going down and toward the golf ball and the mass of the club back here is trailing right along with it.

It’s wanting to catch up with that. We know in the golf swing we have the straight line release, which I’m going to be releasing that club out here in a straight line.

As I fully release the club, now my force and my mass is going to be kind of lined up here, but until that point this is always trailing behind.

As I go farther and farther forward, this club is just trailing right behind, and you can see here at impact it’s going to be lagging behind with my hands leading in front.

This will always happen in the golf swing, and that’s what’s going to create stability.

So as long as the force is leading the mass, everything is nice and stable.

If we flip in the golf swing, so if we start to cast and all of a sudden the head gets in front of our hands, now the force is behind the mass and this is very unstable.

So for those of you who’ve read Dave Pelz’s old short game bible, the book “The Short Game Bible,” he talks about this as a push cart.

He’s pushing a cart with your clubs on it, and if he’s pushing behind the mass, very, very unstable.

If he’s pulling the cart, force leading the mass, everything is really, really stable, and it’s nice and controlled.

So roughly how this breaks down, if the force, if the hands are staying in front of the club, in front of the center of mass, everything’s going to be stable and the club is going to be accelerating as we’re coming through here.

This is going to be fully released as we get to our straight line release position, that always ensures that the club is stable through impact, and the club is accelerating through impact.

So you can really get a lot of whip through contact, a lot of speed through contact and be very, very consistent at the same time.

So now let’s go ahead and do a series of drills that are going to help you to build lag and to work on releasing this lag so you can get nice, consistent, stable speed in your swing.