Six More Weeks of Winter

Written on 2-22-21.

        I am attending a webinar from Graves Golf, and it’s called “6 More Weeks of Winter Training.”  I learned that a 7-iron should be 1/2” or 1” shorter for the distance from the front of my feet than the 6-iron, so if the 6-iron is 26”, the 7-iron should be 25” or 25.5”.  

Also, always have square shoulders.  Keep it simple.  This is the same for full swings, pitches, chips, and putts.  Have square shoulders to the target line.  

Look for the 90, 90 drill?

Written on 2-27-21.

I never found it, the 90, 90 drill.  Oh, well.  I have found some other things, though.  I will write about those things tomorrow. 

Written on 2-28-21.

I am viewing another YouTube video on a Sunday after mass.  It’s called Decoding Moe Norman’s Single Plane Swing Series, and it’s Part 3 today.  I am learning about why he kept his feet down throughout the swing, even after impact and all the way through to the follow-through.  Moe is talking about how his left big toe never moves.  I know that some of what he says isn’t true, but he is describing the feelings he has.  I think that is both.  That big toe probably doesn’t move much, if at all.  I like Moe.  He says, “Watch,” before he swings sometimes.  I think he enjoyed showing...

off what he could do, and he was so skilled, I don’t blame him.  I used to say that to Belinda often.  Watch me.  Watch this!  

Todd is saying you are either playing into your legs or on top of you legs (conventional swing).  Moe wanted golfers playing into their legs.  When golfers do that, “you have power coming from your heels and stability coming from your toes.”

You stabilize into your lead toe (explains how it won’t move).  I am just listening and watching all of this stuff with the hope that it might click in someday.  Brace into your trail leg and limit that rotation.  Push off and into the lead toe.  You can roll your trail ankle if you want, but the majority of the foot pad is staying down.  That is the end of that video.

So, where am I at with my training?  I continue to train every day and get as many drills in as I can.  It is time consuming to do them all.  When I do them, I emulate perfect form as best as I can, and if I think I am doing a drill right, I will send it in to have a coach evaluate it.  

I sent in my version of the chopstick drill, and I learned that my right wrist wasn’t bent, so I wasn’t really mimicking a swing very well.  Otherwise, the coach said it looked good, and I was doing it correctly.  That is an easy fix.

I just finished all of the drills.  True, I took breaks again in between, but it’s 4:47.  I started just after 1:00, so it takes a long time, but I am reminded of what Moe told Todd, “Hard work.  Can’t buy it.”

I am using Photo Booth to see how my form is in the computer room, and I am using the mirrors in our bedroom, too.

As I go through all of the drills, I learn how to do them better.  For example, at positions three and four, I saw that I needed to make some tweaks.  At position three, I noticed I was straightening out my trail arm completely, but it’s supposed to be slightly bent.  At position four, I saw that my back of my wrist wasn’t facing the target.  It’s because of the drills, I find things I am doing wrong.  I can’t think of a better thing to do with all of this cold weather.  Until it warms up, I can’t continue with my 14 lessons anyway.  I am stuck on lesson 9 until I can go to the range.  Lesson 10 had no drills, and lesson 11 requires the driving range.

It’s later in the evening, and I am watching Moe Norman clinics from ’87, ’91, and ’98.  In the last one, he said something that helped me understand the trail hand.  He said it’s never on top of the club, because it keeps the club from twisting through impact that way.  I know Todd calls it non-rotational, but now I see it as being always consistent that way.  If it’s on top, you can never tell how much it’s on top, so to speak.  He said, “How can you get your club face back to square…”

In that same video, he says the closer to a pendulum, the better.  I just pull with my left hand.