Took 3 Lessons After a 20 Year Break. I'm Doing This One Thing Better Than Ever.

[Used2PlayALot]

Lesson #1

Got some fundamentals back into my head. 

Squared up my address. 
My natural stance was slightly open. Now, I just close it a bit, and I am square.

Keeping club face vertical/closed on takeback. 

Trying to loosen up and release wrists at contact.
Like whip cracking the wrists at contact area.

I tried to transfer the "smooth whip, snap the wrist" mindset to the longer clubs. 
Like most rec hackers, I think I have a tendency to muscle/jerk the long clubs, instead of smoothly letting the club do the work. 
I think that showed a glimmer of hope, as I hit a few 5 irons clean and smooth, without feeling like I was trying to crush the ball.

I was hitting my PW very nicely, 100 yards, smooth and clean.  Not over swinging.  Pure strikes.
I was hitting 7,5,3 irons progressively worse.  Thin, skulled, sliced, toe, etc.   
Nothing like the wedge.  Like a different player

Lesson #2

Today, I focused on:

1) smooth tempo. As the clubs get lower/longer, I tend to think I need to generate the distance by swinging harder. Today, I swung every club like it was a wedge. Hit the 5i and 3i smooth as butter, and no jerky muscling. 
I let the clubs to the work, and the result was crisper contact, longer distance, and straighter balls (even when off-center)  and 

2) keep the wrists not tight.  Loose wrist will flip over naturally at contact, but next lesson, I will think about that more explicitly.

3) and start the downswing with the hips. That allows some wrist lag.

I also kept the ball mostly in the middle of my stance for PW, 7i, and even 5i.
5i was maybe a ball towards the front foot, but nothing extreme like inside heel of front foot

Lesson #3

Wanted to continue the theme of "smooth tempo" and just reinforce reps with lower clubs. 
Hit a bunch of 5i and 3i, with the same tempo with on 3i and PW. That was a huge mental leap that I never made back in the day.  

3 irons, I'm not getting the classic loft, but the balls are going straight. 
And I am hitting a many pure balls in the sweet spot
Mis-hits are also going straight, which is good. 

I hit driver today and was making clean contact on some balls. 
Driver was going low, but straight. Some were dead straight.  
If I am honest with myself, I could never hit driver in the Big Bertha era.
With Rocketballz, I could finally hit a driver, sometimes.
With smooth tempo, I got a taste of consistently ok drives.  Very pleased!

For a new tweak, I de-lofted the club at address, and moved my hands ahead of the ball. I think this gave a feeling of a descending blow; by de-lofting, I was hitting crisp and getting a tad more loft, ironically. 
Still thinking of starting the downswing with the hips to induce wrist lag, and I was hitting some pure balls. 

Overall, quite pleased. And I am experienced enough to not expect this to translate directly to the golf course.

 

Going forward, more of the same.
Smooth tempo, hip rotation, etc

I am already smart about not making stupid decisions.
I can lay up with 7i from 220 and not go for the low risk 3W into a green hazard

Used to shoot 80's
Now, I shoot 100+

Goal is to break 90, or at least play the irons game like that.  
I know the short game will not come back so quickly, if ever.

Edited June 24, 2020 by Used2PlayALot

[billchao]

@Used2PlayALot, did you start this topic with the intention of having people discuss your lessons or are you just trying to keep a journal of sorts about getting back into the game? Because if it's the latter, you can make use of the Blog function of the site, which can be found here: https://thesandtrap.com/blogs/

[Used2PlayALot]

I am open to feedback on my process.

Here is my blog

 

Edited June 24, 2020 by Used2PlayALot