The Sergio Garcia Power Lag

Video Transcript

One of the most exciting players on the PGA Tour is Sergio Garcia. What a lot of people do not realize is how small Sergio is and how far he hits the golf ball. He is often times in the top 10 in driving distance, he has been number one in driving and in total driving, and he has been number one in GIR, greens in regulation, so he is a tremendous ballstriker. He has been taught solely on the golf swing by his father and there are some very interesting things concerning Sergio. One of the things I want to talk about today is lag, and you can see tremendous lag, or stored energy, in Sergio's golf swing, reminiscent of a young Ben Hogan. That means that as the club starts down he keeps the shaft very close to his shoulder as starts down and stores a tremendous amount of power late into the downswing. From here he unleashes that power. Now how can you increase lag in your golf swing. Well, there are a couple of things I would like you to be aware of. One is that you can not have tight wrists and have a lot of lag. You also have to be able to have flexibility in your wrists. Some people can not bend there wrists that much. But if you can it is the wrists that really allow a tremendous amount of lag. As you start down you are going to hold this position, this amount of angle in the left arm and the shaft, and as you start down Sergio actually increases this. You just basically lower your arms into what I call the deliver position, half way down. So it is not really pulling the arms, it is more of a lowering action. If you look this way as I go up to the top, if I just lower my arms that puts this look of tremendous lag into my swing, which you see from Sergio. That club is coming from behind him, down his back, and right out this way. Then he just rotates like crazy. That is what allows the smallest guy to hit the ball as long as the longest players on the PGA Tour.

Jim  McLean
Jim McLean Golf School
Doral Golf Resort and Spa
4400 NW 87th Avenue
Miami, FL 33178
Tel: 800-72-DORAL

Jim McLean runs the Jim McLean Golf Schools, considered by some the world's finest. He is listed as one of Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teachers and Golf Digest's #3 instructor in the world.

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