Patrick started the lesson today by refining my grip a little more. I need a short left thumb but my thumbnail should not be digging into the side of my left hand pointing finger. The shortness should be at the base but it can extend away from the hand a little bit at the end. It should feel like the pad of the thumb should be flat on the top of the grip. When doing this, along with the club being on the pad of the outside of my left hand, I can really hinge up and down rather than front to back.
We tested this out with the chipping motion and I hit some really good ones and could feel the hinge of the wrist at and after impact. I could also feel my left elbow softening and falling inside even more.
Patrick then used my blue sharpie to draw a line on the leading edge of my wedge. He also drew two lines on the golf ball and told me to hit it. In true Wojdylo fashion, I am living out on the toe of the club. The two lines from the ball were dead straight so that is good but they are still more towards the toe of the club rather than being on the sweet spot. Patrick explained that this is a downswing issue because I still lift with my left shoulder. We will work on it staying low on downswing days.
On the backswing, I really feel my right nipple leads the entire swing. I start with my movement down with the left side, create the triangle the left ball of the foot, the right ball of the foot and the right heel. When I can feel the right heel resisting I then feel as if my right nipple stays as flat as possible and leads the turn back. When I do this, I get a great shoulder turn and don’t feel as if I need to use my arms.
I am still working on getting the top of the backswing but it has gotten so much better. If I can really suck in with my lower right side, lead with my right nipple and turn my shoulders flat, I hit a draw almost every time. When we added the slight grip changes today I hit a right barrel riser that was the best shot I’ve ever hit in my life.
Once again, I still live on the toe of the club but I am really starting to feel coming from the inside. Patrick mentioned my thought of keeping the right nipple low and flat on the backswing will be similar to the feel of the left nipple staying low and flat on the downswing. That will be a discussion for tomorrow as we will address my left shoulder lifting.
I am getting closer and closer to hitting the ball extremely well but I still have the pull up with the left side right before impact that keeps me on the toe of the club. The blue sharpie line Patrick put on my leading edge was worn out on the outside of the club by the end of the lesson. He doesn’t seem overly concerned but it definitely causes issues when I try to hit longer irons.
I am not able to play in the Patrick Kelley tournament on Monday, March 15th, 2021. He is not happy that I am not playing but work calls and I still haven’t even worked on pitch shots or hitting anything further than 130 yards off the tee. Maybe next year!
