Alvaro Quiros is one of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour. One of the quickest ways to get power in your golf swing is creating and retaining wrist lag, or to hold the angle in your wrist late into your downswing. Your wrists create a tremendous amount of clubhead speed through impact. Here’s some simple drills and tips to help you create more lag in your golf swing.

Hold Right Wrist Angle

The most common move in golf is “casting”. That is a premature release of the right wrist angle if you’re a right-handed golfer. This then creates a whole host of swing faults, insconsistencies and power leaks in your golf swing. Holding this right wrist angle for as long as you can will help you come into and through impact wiht maximum wrist lag.

For most beginners, you can’t overdo this too much, as the tendency is so common to release it and throw the club at the golf ball. There are even some training aids like the Tic Tac and Greg Norman’s “The Secret” that are made specifically for this swing fault.

Look at Alvaro Quiros below. Look how late into his golf swing his wrists are still cocked. That’s some serious clubhead speed through the golf ball.

Pull Butt Of Club Towards Ball

Another great drill is to get to the top of your golf swing, then your thought on the way down is to pull the butt of your golf club down to your golf ball. By pulling the butt of the club, you will have to retain lag in your wrists. If you overdo this (most likely won’t happen) you will come into the ball with a wide open clubface and hit every shot to the right. If this occurs, congratulations…as you have now over-compensated your lag, and need to bring it back just a bit.

Hold The Clubhead Coming Down

This one you can’t do at full speed. But get to the top of your backswing, and have a partner stand behind you. He then grabs your clubhead as you start down slowly. You will get a sensation you have most likely never felt before. One in which the clubhead is WAY back there as you are coming down. Your partner should hold it until your club is parallel to the ground then let go. This is a great drill for “feeling” lag in your downswing.

Turn Your Body Through The Ball

One drill I’ve worked on before is to get my 90 degree wrist cock (preset it at address); take it back to 9:00, then turn through the ball without feeling any release of your wrists. You’re going to feel like you’re hitting the ball with your body. This is a very powerful feeling, and one that will quickly improve your golf swing consistency. This is a “core-powered” golf swing. If you can get to the point of compressing your ball without feeling like you’re releasing your lag (wrist cock), you’re well on your way to becoming a better ball striker.

Wrist Lag Training Aid

This golf training aid will give you the “real feel” of lag in your golf swing. Just click on the image above, or on Power Golf Wrist Lag Aid.