The book came yesterday, and I got to the range this afternoon. I'm searching for more consistent iron play, that's why I'm trying this swing.
I'm using the swing from the first book. I'm not sure my body would handle the more open stance of the second book. My homemade swing from before the book was not as effective as the one in the book. I would never have thought to put the ball off the lead heel, for example. But it works. The whole package worked well. As far as a grip, I was just using a basic strong grip. I don't really understand what he was trying to say about his moving grip, except that it ends up as a basic strong grip.
First I hit about 25 7-irons. They were pretty darn good. The shots had that sweet, compression feeling. Divots were straight (YAY!) and in the right place, with hands leading the clubhead into impact. I had a couple of very minor fades, but nothing to worry about. Blake said ball flight should be spinny; climbing its way to the apex, then falling abruptly. I've seen that ball flight so I know what he meant. Mine wasn't like that though. Mine was a higher launch, medium spin flight. But not rainbows either. Maybe the range balls had something to do with it. I was completely satisfied with it, though. The nice thing was that I definitely was hitting farther. Probably 10 yards, as far as I could tell.
I found that I have to let the swing happen. If I accidentally rushed or forced the swing, the results were real bad. As far as direction, I was pulling most shots ever so slightly. I was able to adjust my stance and/or my hips at address to fix it. It's going to take a while to recognize a square stance with the feet turned. I was very deliberate about my setup, but it's still weird. Coming from SA, it was a big adjustment to be standing so much closer to the ball! But that lets the body lead the club through the ball. This strikes me as one of those swings that naturally creates lag without requiring a lot of work. Stack and Tilt is like that too, but it hurts my back.
When I got home, I noticed my gluteal and hamstring muscles on the lead side were a bit stiff and sore. So the legs are indeed providing some power. Apparently they are not used to that role.
Once I decided I had seen enough 7-irons, I decided to get brave and try the driver. Surprisingly to me, they went pretty well. Maybe not quite as good as my SA drives, but definitely okay.
I finished up with some partial pitching wedges. I couldn't remember what the book said about "chips" but I figured I'd wing it. I did okay. Mostly they went farther than I was figuring. The body provides a lot of power without a lot of effort, so there is a learning curve there.
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