How to Create Lag for Increased Driving Distance

When golfers talk about lag, they usually picture one thing: the angle between the lead forearm and the shaft during the downswing. That image is common, but it can also be misleading. If you chase that angle by simply adding more wrist hinge, you may create a dramatic-looking position without gaining any real speed. A better way to understand lag is to look at how your body motion, arm structure, and club position work together to keep the club trailing behind your pivot. That is where players like J.B. Holmes separate themselves. Despite a backswing that does not look especially long or wristy, he still produces elite driver speed because he uses his body in a way that creates the right kind of lag.

This matters because driving distance is not just about effort. It is about how efficiently you deliver speed. If you understand what actually creates the appearance of lag, you can spend your practice time on movements that improve both power and strike quality instead of forcing positions that only look athletic on video.

Why the classic idea of lag is incomplete

From a face-on view, lag is often defined as the angle between the shaft and the trail forearm. The problem is that this angle by itself does not tell you much about how much speed you are creating.

You can see a similar-looking wrist angle in a short pitch shot and in a 120-plus mph driver swing. Clearly, those are not the same motion. So while that forearm-to-shaft angle can be part of the picture, it is not the whole story.

If you focus only on that visual, you may assume that more lag means more vertical wrist hinge. In reality, 3D motion data shows that the appearance of lag has surprisingly little to do with simply cocking your wrists more. Many golfers try to “hold the angle” longer, but that often leads to tension, poor sequencing, and a late flip rather than more speed.

A more useful definition is this: lag is the club trailing the motion of your body long enough for your pivot to help create speed. That turns lag from a static position into a dynamic sequencing trait.

J.B. Holmes: speed without a huge-looking wrist set

At the top of the backswing, Holmes does not have the exaggerated, fully hinged look many golfers associate with power. But he does have something more important: a strong coil and a body that is ready to unwind in sequence.

He makes a full turn while maintaining his tilts and posture. That gives him room to start down with the lower body and core rather than throwing the club from the top. As he transitions, his arms shallow, his right elbow works back in front of his torso, and the club begins to fall into a delivery position that allows his body rotation to keep driving the motion.

By the time the shaft approaches parallel to the ground in the downswing, he still has the look of lag. But that look is not primarily coming from extra wrist hinge. It is coming from how well the club stays behind his body while his torso continues to open.

Two different forms of lag

A helpful way to think about lag is to divide it into two categories:

• Vertical lag: the up-and-down hinging of the wrists, similar to hammering a nail
• Rotational lag: the club staying behind you as your body unwinds and rotates open

Most golfers obsess over the first one. Better drivers of the ball tend to excel at the second.

Vertical lag can create a certain visual, but rotational lag is what really allows you to use your body effectively. If the club stays behind your torso as your hips and chest open, your pivot can keep accelerating without your hands having to immediately take over. That is a major source of efficient speed.

An easy way to picture it is this: imagine cracking a whip. The handle leads, and the rest follows. If the tip races out too early, you lose the chain reaction. In the golf swing, your body is the handle. If the club gets thrown in front of you too soon, you lose the benefit of sequencing.

How rotational lag looks from overhead

The overhead view is one of the best ways to understand this concept. From that angle, you can compare where your chest is pointing to where the shaft is pointing.

In Holmes’ downswing, his chest begins opening toward the target while the club remains well behind him. At a point where many golfers already have the shaft moving out in front of their torso, Holmes still has the club trailing his body rotation. That is rotational lag.

As he approaches impact:

• His pelvis and chest are opening
• The clubshaft is still trailing relative to his torso
• The clubhead does not pass his chest until later in the follow-through

That last point is especially important. If the clubhead passes your chest too early, your hands and arms have taken over too soon. If the club continues trailing while your body rotates, you can deliver speed more efficiently and with less need for perfect timing.

This is one reason some players can look compact yet still hit it a long way. Their speed is not coming from a long, loose arm swing alone. It is coming from how well the club is organized relative to the body.

What happens when the club gets out in front too early

Compare that to the typical higher-handicap pattern. In many amateur swings, the club starts moving out in front of the body early in the downswing. The chest is not very open, the shaft is no longer trailing, and the golfer has to rely on hand action to square the face and find the ball.

That creates several problems:

• Less speed because the body is no longer driving the motion efficiently
• More timing dependence because the hands must rescue the strike
• Inconsistent face control because the release becomes more reactive
• Poorer contact because the low point and arc become harder to manage

If Holmes and a typical amateur are both shown from a face-on view at roughly shaft-parallel in the downswing, they may appear to have some amount of lag. But from overhead, the difference becomes obvious. Holmes has his chest more open with the club still trailing. The amateur often has the chest more square with the club already working out in front.

That is why the same “lag angle” can produce very different results. One golfer is using the body to transport the club. The other is throwing the club into position early.

The body creates lag by sequencing correctly

Lag is not something you hold with your wrists. It is something your motion creates.

Holmes starts down with the lower body and core, while the arms shallow and organize behind him. That sequence allows the club to stay in a trailing position. His right elbow works back in front of his body instead of flying out and steepening the shaft. The result is a club that can approach from a shallower, more powerful delivery.

This is where the steep-versus-shallow body discussion matters. If your transition is too upper-body dominant, the shaft often steepens and moves out in front of you. If your lower body and torso begin unwinding while the arms and club shallow, you create the geometry that supports rotational lag.

In practical terms, better sequencing gives you:

• A shallower approach into the ball
• More room to rotate through impact
• Less need to throw the clubhead early
• More potential for speed with the driver

Grip and clubface: the hidden matchups behind speed

There is another piece to this puzzle. If you are going to keep the club behind you and rotate your body aggressively, the clubface has to be managed correctly. Otherwise, the ball will not start where you want, and the speed pattern becomes hard to trust.

Holmes uses a somewhat strong grip. That matters because a stronger grip can help match up with a body that is rotating open through impact. If he had the same body motion but a grip and face pattern that left the club too closed or too open at the wrong time, he would struggle to control the ball.

Here is the key relationship:

• More open body rotation tends to leave the clubface more open unless something balances it
• A stronger grip or the right amount of shaft/forearm rotation can help square the face
• Those matchups allow you to keep rotating without fear of leaving the face wide open

Tyler often refers to a shaft-rotation move as the motorcycle movement—a bowing or rotational action that helps organize the face. Whether you use more grip strength, more shaft rotation, or a blend of both, the point is the same: your face control must match your body motion.

At about waist height in the downswing, elite players often have the clubface in a narrow functional window—roughly vertical or just slightly beyond. If the face is too shut or too open there, your body may instinctively slow down or your hands may take over to compensate.

That is why face control is not separate from speed. It is one of the things that allows speed to happen.

Why this matters specifically for the driver

The driver rewards efficient sequencing and punishes poor matchups. Because the club is longer and the swing is faster, any pattern that relies on late hand timing becomes harder to repeat.

When you create rotational lag with the driver:

• You give your body more influence over speed production
• You improve the chance of delivering better launch conditions
• You can create speed without feeling like you must “hit” from the top
• You gain a more reliable strike pattern than if you simply throw the clubhead early

This is a major reason long hitters often look as if the club is trailing them deep into the downswing. They are not just holding wrist angles. They are using the geometry of the swing to let the pivot keep working.

Swing hard—but in the right direction

One of the most interesting points from Holmes is that many long hitters learned to swing hard first and refine it later. That idea has value, especially for players who have been trained to make every swing look smooth and controlled but have never learned how to access speed.

The basic logic is simple:

• It is often easier to tone down speed later than to suddenly create it from a lifetime of cautious motion
• Learning to move fast can teach you what athletic sequencing feels like
• But speed training only helps if your mechanics allow the club to stay behind you long enough for the body to contribute

That does not mean swinging wildly. It means giving yourself permission to move with intent while building the matchups that support that effort.

How to apply this in practice

If you want more distance, stop chasing lag as a frozen wrist position. Instead, work on the pieces that create useful lag naturally.

1. Check whether the club is behind you in transition

Use a down-the-line or overhead video if possible. In transition, look for the club to shallow and trail your torso rather than immediately moving out in front of your chest.

2. Train the right sequencing

Feel your downswing begin with the lower body and core while the arms organize behind you. A good sign is that your right elbow works more in front of your torso instead of pushing outward.

3. Match your clubface to your body rotation

If you start getting the club behind you and begin rotating better, pay attention to ball flight:

• If the ball blocks right, you likely have a face-squaring issue
• If the ball pull-hooks, your face may be too closed for your pivot pattern

That tells you whether you need to adjust grip, shaft rotation, or release pattern.

4. Use speed practice intelligently

Hit some drivers with the intention of moving faster, but only after you have a basic sense of how to keep the club trailing your body. Speed without structure usually leads to throwing the club early. Speed with the right delivery pattern can produce real gains.

5. Evaluate lag from more than one camera angle

Do not rely only on the face-on view. A golfer can appear to have plenty of lag there and still be losing the club behind-the-body relationship that matters most for speed. Overhead and down-the-line views often reveal far more.

Ultimately, creating lag for more driving distance is less about forcing your wrists into a dramatic angle and more about building a swing where the club stays behind your pivot long enough for your body to do its job. When your transition shallows the shaft, your torso opens, and your clubface matches that motion, the club can accelerate with much less manipulation. That is the kind of lag that actually helps you hit the driver farther.