A Simplified Version of the New Swing and 7 in a Row!

Written on 6-12-2020.

        I have my “older” keyboard, and I am using it to type on my iPad tonight. Our new MacBook Air is in the shop to fix its Bluetooth, a hardware problem according to Apple Support.  It’s a Friday, and we are being mellow out on our glorious deck. It’s Belinda, Kody, and me again.  Danielle just posted on FB about her adventures in Alaska, specifically the news from the past four days on the Isom Creek Fire near the Yukon River, the mosquitoes, and how she and her crew were pulled from the fire a day before they were finished to get tested for Covid-19.  What an adventure!  *Update on 6-17-2020, they all tested negative.

Kody continues his recovery.  Oops!  Pikachu just joined our back deck party.  Hello, kitty.  

I bought Kody some new dog food, because he wasn’t eating the old stuff.  He gobbled the new food right away, so I guess it was the flavor.  He went to go see Jess for lunch today, and to Aunti’s house tonight, too, because Char was in town.  He should sleep well tonight.  That was the most activity he has had since the accident.  

Speaking of the accident, B and I saw Frank at the store, and he joked he was going to buy Kody a Get Well card and some Milk Bones.  All joking aside, he was truly concerned, and I let him know Kody is recovering well.  He’s on his way to chasing rabbits again soon.  Hopefully, not trucks, though!

On to golf...

My own adventure continues with the single plane swing.  I did my Friday “longer than usual” workout today, and I cooled off at the end by using a training club Don gave me.  After my workout, I added some notes in my um...err...notes.  This is what I wrote to try and help me learn this new motion more quickly, and it is a way of simplifying it and the differences from a traditional swing.  

Address: Legs straight, arms pointed straight at the ball before the swing

At Impact: Left knee flexed and braced, trail arm straightens in the follow-through

Finish: Let the swing balance me!

See, that’s a very simplified version of the new swing that I am trying to emulate.  I noticed that when I tried to remember lots of different things when I was practicing swinging a club, it didn’t work out too well.  Those thoughts were steady head, trail foot stays on the ground during the strike, brace into the lead knee, remain in the bends, and stand up in the follow-through once the ball is gone.  That was a lot of different things to focus on, and I really could only focus on one feeling each time.  Eventually, they will become a part of my sub-conscious, and I will focus only on...

following my routine and my intended target.

I got a reply from Tim Graves and Moe Norman Golf, and I sent that information about my club-fitting to Don via text.  When he didn’t reply right away, I called him to let him know.  I didn’t want him to do a lot to work on my club altering estimate without this new information.  He called me back when I was on the putting green practicing at Pinon Hills, and I did get him the information in plenty of time.  He didn’t have to do much to change what he had already done with his estimate.  

Surprisingly, Tim Graves does not recommend single length clubs, and he referred me to an article he had written about that topic.  He stated a couple of obvious things in that article.  First, nobody has a set of clubs that are all the same length.  Drivers, woods, hybrids, irons, wedges, and putters typically have different lengths.  True.  

Second, he said that even Bryson DeChambeau has spent hours developing his own single length club set to get the results he wants with each club.  Also true. 

He stated something that was not so obvious, too.  He said that their research showed that single length irons were mostly inconsistent.  Shot distances were not staggered in equal increments, according to their data.  Not sure if that is true.  The article also said that Moe Norman did not use single length irons, but he would choke down on certain clubs or swings.

I asked Don if we put different length shafts on my club heads, would that work?  No, definitely not, he said.  They were designed to be used in a single length set, and it would throw the weight (or MOI) off on all of them.  According to Don, with the new information from Moe Norman Golf, the ideal length was the same one we had come up with for my 7-iron, so that is what we are going to do.  

When I practiced today, I had some real success at Pinon Hills.  First, I played 18 holes putting several times.  My goal was to be even, but it took multiple attempts.  I usually would end up two over.  Finally, I played all eighteen holes to the only hole that was cut legally (the others had the more shallow cut for the coronavirus), and I met my goal.  I must admit that I modified the lengths of the putts to have that success, but then I did something that was really cool.

I lined up six balls from varying lengths around that same hole.  Mostly, they were from around ten feet away.  My new goal was to make four out of six before I could leave.  After a couple of tries, I somehow figure something out.  I lined up the first one, and I thought I missed a similar putt to the left, so I aimed more to the right.  Makes sense, right?  I also made sure to put a little pop into the back of the ball, which made for a purer stroke that went straighter.  Bingo!

I lined up the second one.  Once again, I thought where did I miss last time from that same area, and I changed my aim for the better.  I lined it up again and gave it the same pop.  Bingo!

I lined up the third, the fourth, and the fifth, making sure I gave each one that pop on the back of the ball.  Bingo, Bingo, Bingo!

I ended up making seven in a row!  I wanted to see how far I could go after making six in a row.  Turns out, I could make one more.