I started a thread so I could follow up on it and keep tabs on my swing changes over time. Very open to suggestions, feedback, and comments. I have a lot to learn.
I had a lesson today with a new guy (Woody). Very helpful. In other lessons I have felt a bit like they were trying to have me swing a specific way. Today it felt like he worked more with my swing. Two big changes: 1) I was too close to the ball, way too close, and 2) he reduced my wrist set by about 50% and put me on a wider takeaway. One more subtle change: He wants me to take the left side out of play by hitting a fade as my standard shot shape. That involved simply making my base swing what feels like a little bit of a hold off fade. Results were good. With fewer moving parts and room for my arms, both my distance consistency and dispersion improved significantly. Holding off a little bit after impact, my path went from inside-out to a neutral to slight outside-in path. Boom, boom, boom, straight to little fades. If I over cut the ball, at least I can plan for one miss that keeps consistent distance. The two-way miss was gone.
For some reason I had it in my head that I didn't want to hit a fade. I thought I had to hit a draw to be a "good" player. But this works. 8 iron, for example, I can better count on 165-170 carry with spin and soft landing. I'm not getting those occasional 180+ yard carry trap draws that can mess me up. We didn't do anything with driver (only 8i and 5i today), but I am bigtime looking forward to bringing these changes there. I have spent way too much time left off the tee.
Ongoing efforts involve slowing down the transition and keeping a consistent tempo. I've been making progress but plenty of work remains here.
I had a lesson today with a new guy (Woody). Very helpful. In other lessons I have felt a bit like they were trying to have me swing a specific way. Today it felt like he worked more with my swing. Two big changes: 1) I was too close to the ball, way too close, and 2) he reduced my wrist set by about 50% and put me on a wider takeaway. One more subtle change: He wants me to take the left side out of play by hitting a fade as my standard shot shape. That involved simply making my base swing what feels like a little bit of a hold off fade. Results were good. With fewer moving parts and room for my arms, both my distance consistency and dispersion improved significantly. Holding off a little bit after impact, my path went from inside-out to a neutral to slight outside-in path. Boom, boom, boom, straight to little fades. If I over cut the ball, at least I can plan for one miss that keeps consistent distance. The two-way miss was gone.
For some reason I had it in my head that I didn't want to hit a fade. I thought I had to hit a draw to be a "good" player. But this works. 8 iron, for example, I can better count on 165-170 carry with spin and soft landing. I'm not getting those occasional 180+ yard carry trap draws that can mess me up. We didn't do anything with driver (only 8i and 5i today), but I am bigtime looking forward to bringing these changes there. I have spent way too much time left off the tee.
Ongoing efforts involve slowing down the transition and keeping a consistent tempo. I've been making progress but plenty of work remains here.