My Swing (bunkerputt)

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Things are starting to come around.  Here's a half-wedge swing practice motion.  Clubface is a lot more controlled in the follow-through.  Left elbow could be a little less at the target on downswing, more pointing at left hip.

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BTW,  In case you were wondering, I found the tree in the background helps me for a couple of reasons:

It helps me to saw off wedges at the right point so they are flighted correctly.

It forces me to focus on my motion and not on the fact that I'm going to hit a tree branch at some point.  This kind of mental strategy is one of the biggest reasons I'm actually hitting it with this practice motion more times than not, maybe 80% of the time.  20% is still a regression to old habits, trying to hit at the ball and not get to a good P8-8.5 instead.  That's up from 50/50 two months ago and 65/35 last month!  It's coming along nicely.  Not quite there, but maybe another couple of months or so.

This is the first time in my 6 years playing that I've ever even thought about controlling the club on the follow-through.  That's a big mistake that I see a lot of golfers making and wish that I had picked up on earlier.  It makes me hate that old half-truth:  "The ball only cares about impact."

The ball may only care about impact, but if you don't care about what happens after impact, you aren't going to get quality impacts.

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And check this out.  Still not perfect, but much better than before, right Stretch?

Arms/club package in similar spot.  Arms are "straight", as in as straight as my body will let me get them.  Anything more and it hurts my elbows.  Stance is narrower because I'm hitting SW.  Could be just a hair wider, but the narrowness gives me a good feel for getting the knees working correctly on the downswing, so if it's a crutch, it's a crutch I need at this point.

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Just some quick notes about power to reinforce a lesson I know, but keep forgetting for some reason...  Did some testing and I think I found out why sometimes my driver clubhead speed seems to top out at around 105 and sometimes at around low 120s.  It's all about the legs and how much squat I get in the backswing.  Occassionally, especially when working on a swing change that feels weird, or when hitting off mats, or when the ground feels slick or unstable, I get "stiff legged" on my backswing.  I don't squat into the ground enough to jump and provide additional speed to the clubhead.  Just some rough numbers, but making identically aggressive swings except for squatting more on the backswing, driver clubhead speed average goes from 102-104 to 120-122*   Somewhat of a timing element in the power piece because the level of the head is changing maybe an inch or so, lowering the low-point of the swing.  Good balance of power/consistency seems to be somewhere around 115, minimizing vertical head movement with ample clubhead speed.

* Tested using medicus solid-state accelerometer, configured for 44 inch driver measured from grip end to sweetspot and 75 inch player height

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I have quite the peculiar stretch of golf going on right now:

27 holes played

21/21 fairways hit

0/27 greens hit

Though technically I did hit a couple of greens from short chips on reachable par-4s.  But on any substantial approach I've been long 90%, chunked or topped 10% (trying not to go long).  Culprits are lack of a single full-swing tempo with the irons and not knowing how far I can actually hit them.  They're going longer than before, I know that.  Maybe even as long as a real-life 30-handicapper on the internet.  Old 7-iron (modern day 8-iron) carries somewhere near 165 according to google earth into a breeze with crappy range balls.  Ball flight is a low launch, climb to medium-high push-draw.  It shoots off a few degrees right of the target line, zips back to the line almost immediately and holds the line for the rest of the flight.  It's the craziest thing in the world to see, though it's probably what a lot of good longer players see every day.  First for me though.

Haven't gotten a good mark on a playing ball yet.  I used to play this par-5 at my relatively short home course, driver, layup with 8-iron (235 carry over water), PW.  I got there this weekend with driver, 8-iron, playing into the wind and I still flew the green.  It's a little weird not being able to see the second or third stages of the driver ball flight, but I know instantly whether it's right or not and where it went.  It's also a little bit weird needing to play from the tips just to give myself some room to make a full swing.  I guess I can thank Mike for that.  Well, maybe Mike and a more aggressive workout routine .  Definite progress.  Not quite there, but a good roadmap nonetheless. Still shooting mid-to-high 80s, but it's a problem that I think can be solved with a few more reps, some time on a Trackman and some actual putting practice.