it's refreshing to see these calm guys talk about golf as opposed to other KZfaqrs trying to be funny and quipping all the time.

Hi clay probably the best explanation of forward shaftlean I have seen on KZfaq. And the importance of it. Well done. And coming from me as your worst critic. This video took me back brilliant

Thanks for the content, merry Christmas

Great vid. You guys change and improve my game so much I might have to give you a percentage of my winnings off my friends.

can't remember which of your videos but you gave the best instructions I have ever seen about the right forearm and elbow in the downswing. Trying to keep right forearm pointed up to the sky and that improved by contact immediately. Got rid of most shanks and put shaft and hands ahead of clubhead at impact. I have a poor mans FlightScope (skytrak) so my results are real. thanx

This is amazing - your bad handsy swing with the 8 iron carried about 134 yards. That is my "go to" distance with an 8 iron all the time. Out on the driving range in the new year to practice my new golf club shaft lean into the ball.

Great job with vid. Always enjoy

Great video making much better contact now by turning my wrist and forearm down.Can't believe how long I've been slapping at the ball with my baseball swing.

I'll post one more comment here. It seems to me that most golf videos are focusing on distance, and how to hit farther. But to me, accuracy, hitting the ball straight, is more important for my game. I'd rather hit the green from 100 yards with PW than deloft a 60 degree to 50 (as I can't do that yet) trying to reach the green. I think for me, and you touch on this, at this point in my golf game, I'd rather club down to get the distance and keep the accuracy. But I'm going to keep working on what you talk about here. Thanks

Thanks for another great video, Clay Ballard. I have few questions interm of forward shaft lean: 1. To get forward shaft lean we need to have hands lower at impact. In order to have lower hands, do we need to bend our legs or body more? And how much do we need to bend? 2. Why is hand position at impact different from hand position at set up? why do we not set up hand position with forward shaft lean? 3. Same with the left wrist bowed, why do we not set up with left wrist bowed or back swing with left wrist bowed? I am looking forward to hearing from you soon. Thanks again

This is the perfect 'lesson' for me!! I do 'cast' a bit. What I noticed is that in past videos you referenced throwing the shot putt (getting hips through) and I actually did this in College. As a result, and I'm not a real big guy, my right wrist (I throw the shot with my right hand) has pulled tendons and my wrist only goes back about 45 degrees - while my left wrist bends back 90 degrees - so, I can't make my right wrist go like you show in the video. I have to work with this situation, but if you had any ideas on how to compensate for this, I'd surely listen. Thanks.

First! Now let’s see if I can get my game better, too!

Most important...shaft lean help you hit the sweet spot which is 3 or 4 grooves up. Without it you hit 1st and 2nd groove

Looks like forward shaft lean gives you better distance control... cool thanks

Excellent Video! And I came acrossed iit at just the right time. Wednesday I was adding still shots of Tiger's swing to my Pinterest page. I was particularly interested in his long and mid iron positions. What really stuck out to me was his position at and just before impact. As you pointed out in the video the forward shaft lean helps to transfer maximum power at impact. In the Tiger stills you can really see how powerful of a position he is in just prior to and thru impact. I was comparing it to pics of my own swing and I'm definitely not in a very powerful position. I don't have access to stills of my entire swing at the moment, but I'm pretty certain that I am (as you stated) casting and my power is being released prematurely. I'm definitely going to work on this! I would love to see a good video lesson explaining "lag". Thanks for a Great, Informative Lesson!

Two questions: 1. Do we really try to get shaft lean? Don’t this accure automatically if we shift weight properly, then would the shaft be leaning forward relative to the address position? 2. If we strive to deloft every iron, how are we suppose to get the ball up in the air if we don’t have really fast SS?

🔥 🔥 🔥🔥

@Clay - I have good release of my wrists, bowed and cupped, lead and trail respectively and get a lot of power, but I still struggle with early hip extension. I noticed you mentioned getting lower to the ground forced the handle of the shaft forward. Does it also help with rotation somewhat? Because it looked like it did.

In the video, with the 8 iron, it was said that Pro's deloft the iron by about 30%...Is it 30% for all irons or just the 8 iron.

i do this and all my shots start hooking....what am i doing wrong? everything's definitely going further with lower trajectory though

You've had this video out for just over a month but I just now ran across it. I am kind of curious that you didn't cover in this video that with having shaft lean it makes it a lot easier to compress the ball. Which is what you want to have happen at impact with every club in the bag to a certain extent (excluding the driver and putter of course). Without the shaft lean compressing the ball is almost impossible and can lead to a lot of lost distance on the shot.

The simple answer: it makes it easier to hit down on the ball with your irons.

I ask terrible at trying to get shaft lean, I release my wrist around halfway down to impact

I practiced that forward shaft and closing the clubface as shown in the video but then I started hooking some shots terribly.

For the past year, I've been trying to work on my shaft lean at contact. But no matter how hard I try working on various exercises and drills, I can't seem to successfully shaft lean. It's driving me crazy.

I don’t know I scrolled all the way down to the end with Tigerburningbrighta question and I did not see mine where did you respond!

how do you not close the face too much with the knuckles down drill

Does this principle apply to woods and driver as well?

What a hat man, you look like Indiana Jones dad.

I can get that shaft lean but my lead wrist hurts like hell after a while. I need to release the angle a little earlier? Not good as im a full time guitarist 😄😮

OK. Here is my question again. Bob Epstein Hi Clay et al. Could not see my question so I posted it again. Been listening to your videos for a while now and found them very helpful, although I am still a beginner, and still need to follow thru on these techniques. My question on this particular video is this. If forward shaft lean is to be implemented, I trust really on all clubs, although perhaps less emphasized on woods and drivers, then when a player let’s say chooses any particular club to go the distance required let’s say an eight iron as in the above video, then just by definition of how this technique works, would the shot in all cases (if done properly) go much further than the distance required. In addition would this then mean a lesser club would be required to go the required distance then what normally would be used since the forward shaft lean should make the ball go further. Or would staying with the same club be appropriate because distance gained, although further, would not be factor. If true would this not really complicate matters since the player would really have to do a lot more analysis on his shot distance with each club and vary to the proper club on each and every shot instead of just choosing the usual club for the distance needed? Actually when looking at the video again I think about the ball not going that much farther is true, in fact maybe Im thinking about this in the wrong way and you need the forward shaft lean to make sure the ball goes the intended distance with the club you are using. Is that correct?

whats your hat called ?? where can i get it?

Very recently I saw the somewhat famous 2 minute video wherein Ernie Els talks about "holding the box" through the first half of the downswing (watch?v=nzIRQXMMIG4). Els' video, plus this Ballard video, compliment each other nicely. The technique that each emphasizes are different, but their end goal for the swing is the same.

What clubs would you use for forward shaft lean?

Quentin could not find my previous comment would you please mind repeating it. Thanks

Hi Clay et al. Could not see my question so I posted it again. Been listening to your videos for a while now and found them very helpful, although I am still a beginner, and still need to follow thru on these techniques. My question on this particular video is this. If forward shaft lean is to be implemented, I trust really on all clubs, although perhaps less emphasized on woods and drivers, then when a player let’s say chooses any particular club to go the distance required let’s say an eight iron as in the above video, then just by definition of how this technique works, would the shot in all cases (if done properly) go much further than the distance required. In addition would this then mean a lesser club would be required to go the required distance then what normally would be used since the forward shaft lean should make the ball go further. Or would staying with the same club be appropriate because distance gained, although further, would not be factor. If true would this not really complicate matters since the player would really have to do a lot more analysis on his shot distance with each club and vary to the proper club on each and every shot instead of just choosing the usual club for the distance needed? Actually when looking at the video again I think about the ball not going that much farther is true, in fact maybe Im thinking about this in the wrong way and you need the forward shaft lean to make sure the ball goes the intended distance with the club you are using. Is that correct?

Views on the fact swing was 7 degrees to the right ?

Would it be too much trouble to respond again?

When look at the different videos, or read different golf book every one say it's style and instructions are the best, and next person has totally 100 percent opposite opinion to the previous one. Hardly you can find. Two people to have same opinion and agree with each others. You get totally confused which one is correct?.

Why would a slow swing player need to lean the shaft?

The only good info in this video is at 5:40. The real reason you want to hit down with your irons is to hit the center of the club face. Sometimes these guys that are so knowledgeable they aren't able to see what really matters. Don't believe me? Its the same reason why we don't hit down on drivers. Forward shaft lean only matters so we can hit the center of the face because the ball is on the ground. And in reality "center" isn't even center of the face. 3-4 grooves up is the sweet spot but isnt the center.

Why not go ahead and lean it at address?

I'm a firm believer but I think it would be better to show a good result from a bad swing. Like at minute four you show a bad swing with a bad result. How about you show a bad swing with a good result? Because that's what most people do. They make compensations to make their bad swing "good".

Forward shaft leans seems near impossible. I practice everyday for at least 1-2 hours. In China so I don’t have any teachers except you.

What a joke😂😂🤣😅