Tying it all together

Sighhhh in my grand tradition of sending myself down my own rabbit holes, I think the reason I’m having difficulty maintaining that extension in the follow through is my body action in transition isn’t supporting it. I perhaps stumbled upon(pun) what my legs should feel like in transition with driver and long clubs. I’ll grind on this for awhile; now that I can hit the ball from a fairly static stop of swing it seems like an opportune time to go back to transition work. Thank you, sorry to be a bother, and Happy Mardi Gras!! Zach

I’m actually loving exploring the lower body action, and was not at all prepared for how much the “Trail Leg Back 45” concept would shake things up for me. I was looking to the upper body for answers to my impact arm alignments, but the lower body seems to hold the keys. Just a progress update, and thank you Tyler! Zach

New level of iron compression: unlocked! This trail leg back 45 is really doing it for me! All the best, Zach

Working on low to high- it’s time. Isolated the fact that lefty was the problem and also found lefty to be the side that wants to stall through the ball. These reps feel correct and give my right arm a chance to really freely rotate across my chest through the strike. On the Old Gypsy Woman tip, I think I understand why you told me I want my arms to be deep in transition: if slightly after p6 is the farthest out the handle gets, and that point is more or less under your chin, then you need it to come from wayyyy back inside to have room to get there. Still plugging. I’m a solid 8 now, goal is to get to 6 or better by the end of the year. Also thought you might be amused to see that ya boi was in a Popeyes commercial . All the best, Zach Edit: are distance wedges a good way to practice this? If so, is this amount(only one frame here) sufficient, or should I be shooting for more? TIA, Z

Hi Tyler! I’m really glad you gave me that range of motion idea; looking at my swing through that lens I think I’m maxing out several areas too early. Keeping the left crunch going until later has by itself changed the character of my ball striking. Thank you so very much for taking the time. You have so many things going on, and it means so much to me that you find time for us in there. Speaking of, I can’t be on the coaches’ call today; I’m in a play with a matinee performance during that window. I look forward to checking it out afterward though! Sincerely, Zach

Further experiments with the range of motion idea. Edit: I feel like this is proper sequencing led from the lower body, and my slide is also clearing up. For whatever it’s worth, my feel key here has been giving my trail arm permission to get what feels like wayyyy behind me. I kind of had to break up with my PGA buddy to get here; he insists I’m wrongheaded about transition and sequencing now, but I really feel like I have mostly passive(or maybe more like “responsive”) arms through transition and the strike for the first time ever. Am I off base? Included a draw and a fade with foam balls. Always with thanks, Zach

Hi Tyler! Maybe I should prioritize removing the sense of urgency from my progress? I feel like a tone deaf person learning to sing, in that none of these things are things my body is inclined to do, and beating my head against a wall doesn’t seem to help it do them faster. Gentle, detached patience would seem to be the ideal for me, as impossible as that sounds. These are the latest results of head beating. I still like arms way behind in transition(my mental picture is Rahmbo when viewed from slightly overhead, like this), and I revisited the connecting oblique crunch to trail hip video- holy cats that hit different this time. I feel arms and legs extending at the same time, and on video my spine is extending too, so it’s all just like the old Gypsy woman said. I also have much more of a feel of ‘twisting up’ on a straight line with my body. Comboing all those feels with free swinging supination gives me the ability to get to that position you demonstrate on the cover of your book while hitting the ball solidly and shallowly- I used to chunk these. It’s also enabled me to hit some pretty spiffy 30 yard yard wedges. Gonna check out your last coaches’ call today; wish I could’ve been there. Your pupil, Zach

One can practice in the yard all one wants, but… here are a couple on course captures from today. Both shots were successful fades; the first was a groove and a half low but came out just fine. My main focuses at the moment are release related- trail side obliques and feeling a smooth gradual roll of the clubface through the strike. I’m hovering right around 40 for nine holes here lately. May I ask what stands out to you overall? I see I’m still sluggish getting into the lead side in transition, and the trail side obliques are far from fully activated but maybe 20% there. With gratitude, Zach Edit: also grabbed this 8 iron from early in the round. I’ll call that one a no-blique, but I think the trail side oblique has been the missing link in my chain! Z

Hi Tyler! I’m finally going to do what you want us to do on the site and coach myself! Gonna look at me as I were someone else. I had a really good ballstriking day today, and I feel like these swings accurately represent where my swing is. I don’t hate the arm structure. To me the single biggest issue appears most in the F/O 3-wood: too much of my weight shift is accomplished by upper body lunge/fall in transition. If I were prescribing this to someone not me, I’d go pool noodle head awareness drill, Jackson 5, lower body slowly but early. What do you think, Professor? In gratitude, Zach Shown: PW 54 degree (70 yards) 7 iron 3 wood