A common notion that have been very prevalent for a good period of time is that trying to sustain lag into impact is an important part of hitting the ball far.  Recently I attended a symposium where Dr. Aaron Zick offered his double pendulum model of the golf swing and pointed out various GOOD golfers do not always hold onto lag.  In fact those that did not naturally sustain lag late into the forward swing hit much poorer shots when trying to sustain lag unnaturally.  Even to "speed up the hands" to create lag is not necessarily desirable.

I do think you should have your hands slightly ahead of the golf ball for impact but that's primarily so that you strike the ball cleanly and with a descending blow.  Since the ball is usually on a Tee with the driver, having the hands ahead of the ball is not an imperative.  

 Just being clear... I'm not against having your hands ahead of the clubhead at impact.... just the idea that you need to sustain the lag to hit the ball further due to angular momentum.  Sustain the TORQUE, not the lag.

I think that concept of torque and continuously applying force is essential and i've been struggling with it myself until this day.

I often felt that I  was more hitting at the ball and rarely through it. The key for me is to slow down my pivot in the early downswing and focusing more on placing my club and arms on the right track : I always keep in mind the image of ben hogan in his 5 lessons book when he talks about shifting the base of the plane line to the right in the downswing. when I get to the delivery position my left hip being already cleared and the club being on the right track I then am able to accelerate my pivot (shoulder turn) using big muscles and feel that the clubhead reaches full speed after impact: compression is much better and it "feels" easyer to square the clubface. When my pivot starts too fast in the early downswing(fireing the lower body) I then struggle to square the clubface: pivot stalling, right elbow straightening long before impact, right hand has to roll over the left to square the clubface ending in a less powerful and much more hazardous shot.

Timing is hard and that's what makes the golf swing so complicated in my opinion.

Great post, I have to say you have a great hability to express complex matters into simple images and clear words.

Matt.

Your problem isn't starting your pivot too fast as a result of firing the lower body.  You're problem is a lack of hip action which leads to over acceleration and being out of sequence.  How did I come to this conclusion?  Let's take a look at what you say;

1) When you get to the delivery position you are able to accelerate your shoulder turn with big muscles.  2) When you fire the lower body your pivot stalls.

These are symptoms of a lack of hip action.  Your hip action is only working to impact where they are square to the ball.  I see this all the time.  This is why your pivot is stalling and you accelerate your shoulder turn with your big muscles.  They have to replace the work your hips are supposed to be doing.  The hips must continue to turn all the way to the finish.  In fact your hips should be turned as far towards the target as possible at impact.  Your hip turn should drag down your shoulders which in turn drags down your left arm till it's at least 45 degrees past impact.  The pivot train drags down the left arm past impact.  If the lower body stops prematurely the upper body takes over and you are out of sequence,