In my last lesson with Brian I learned I was using too much shoulder/body rotation and I later realized I was still using too much negative torque in trying to hit the E Jones swinging pitch shots.
In the last two months, I've practiced these shots quite a bit. It was really hard to learn to unwind as I wound up and let gravity control the fall of the club and make sure I use all the energy of the fall in the shot (really all this means to me is not having to use much torque and having a somewhat symmetrical swing where impact has just a slight lean). I have gone from being a somewhat yippy front-edge divot chipper/pitcher to suddenly hitting a lot of shots within 20-40 yards really close. Yesterday I played in really wet conditions with tons of dead grass/no grass tight lie positions and was hitting some nice shots. Those shots used to scare the hell out of me (I still don't relish them).
I have the same feel putting and my distance control is getting better (my apologies to Damon, by the way, for suggesting the "let the putter fall" downswing seemed less athletic to me than the sort of push I was formerly using, I think I was wrong about that).
I am sometimes now hitting weird shots like pure swinging pitches with 8-irons from 110 yards instead of hitting a 90 per cent gap wedge.
I understand why hitting shots with less shaft lean helps me hit much straighter shots, but the part I don't understand is how the brain figures out how much backswing to use to have just enough energy to let gravity and the weight of the club hit the shot just as far as I need to hit the ball. I mean my instinct is to want to use my right arm to push through with a force that my brain thinks I need to use to make a ball go a certain distance, but I tend to hit shots too far when I do that. I guess there's an instinct side to using gravity and trying to use all your downswing momentum up in contact with the ball, all with little impact negative torque, that just really increases accuracy? Good thing my instincts are much smarter than my more conscious side.
Anyway, if you haven't practiced E. Jones pure swinging pitches. I recommend practicing them to see what it does for your game.
The more I think about it, the more I wonder if the best way to learn golf is to learn this shot first instead of learning it after playing for 35 years. I can only imagine how much better my short game would be if I'd learned this shot at 12 years old.
In the last two months, I've practiced these shots quite a bit. It was really hard to learn to unwind as I wound up and let gravity control the fall of the club and make sure I use all the energy of the fall in the shot (really all this means to me is not having to use much torque and having a somewhat symmetrical swing where impact has just a slight lean). I have gone from being a somewhat yippy front-edge divot chipper/pitcher to suddenly hitting a lot of shots within 20-40 yards really close. Yesterday I played in really wet conditions with tons of dead grass/no grass tight lie positions and was hitting some nice shots. Those shots used to scare the hell out of me (I still don't relish them).
I have the same feel putting and my distance control is getting better (my apologies to Damon, by the way, for suggesting the "let the putter fall" downswing seemed less athletic to me than the sort of push I was formerly using, I think I was wrong about that).
I am sometimes now hitting weird shots like pure swinging pitches with 8-irons from 110 yards instead of hitting a 90 per cent gap wedge.
I understand why hitting shots with less shaft lean helps me hit much straighter shots, but the part I don't understand is how the brain figures out how much backswing to use to have just enough energy to let gravity and the weight of the club hit the shot just as far as I need to hit the ball. I mean my instinct is to want to use my right arm to push through with a force that my brain thinks I need to use to make a ball go a certain distance, but I tend to hit shots too far when I do that. I guess there's an instinct side to using gravity and trying to use all your downswing momentum up in contact with the ball, all with little impact negative torque, that just really increases accuracy? Good thing my instincts are much smarter than my more conscious side.
Anyway, if you haven't practiced E. Jones pure swinging pitches. I recommend practicing them to see what it does for your game.
The more I think about it, the more I wonder if the best way to learn golf is to learn this shot first instead of learning it after playing for 35 years. I can only imagine how much better my short game would be if I'd learned this shot at 12 years old.
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