Ever since the early 90’s, starting when handheld camcorders came into existence, golf teachers (and golfers) have been obsessed with creating the ‘delayed lag’.
Mike dubbed this phenomenon, “Golf’s Biggest Lie.” Certainly it’s right up there with my all time favorite, “Keep Your Head Down!” This thinking was certainly pervasive until recently.
You see, technology, in the form of 3D analytics measuring torque, forces, and moments, as well as grip dynamometers that can measure when and how much torque is being applied to that end of the club, didn’t come along until 2012 and 2005 respectively.
We can also deduce the timing of torque on the handle by the angle of attack and spin rate on Trackman.
There is a delay between the stimulus from the brain thinking, “throw!” and the force being driven into the grip through the hands. Then there is a secondary delay between the initial force and the straightening of the club to line up with the left arm. It simply isn’t instantaneous.
“Handle dragging” as it’s now known, would overly delay the uncocking of the wrists so that the face of the club would tend to be wide open for a big block to the right. Golfers would than correct by flipping the face abruptly with a twisting maneuver of the wrists.
I find the best practice for hitting with a high positive angle of attack and low spin is to throw the club starting just after the anatomical center of mass starts to move down and targetward. It essentially feels like it’s starting immediately from the top.
And there is no time for delay with the Austin pivot.