I think I found the eureka to my wedge woes

Question
QUESTION: Quite some time ago I was complaining about a shanking problem after about 45 minutes of practice with short irons.  The other thing was that my partial swing shots would pull a bit.

A lot of things played into the equation.  

The first thing I did was change my short irons (I replaced the 7 and 8 irons with a 38 degree hybrid, bought a demo 9 iron that was 1/2 inch longer that my old ones, and lengthen my wedges); problem eliminated at least down to the 9 iron. I took about a 3 month hiatus from the course and, along with some of your tips, found a common thread between the pulled partial shots and the shanked full shots: clearing of the left hip on the downswing).  During the time frame, I started getting extremely proficient with sand and flop shots.  My golf game has been pretty good since Jan (I have pretty much been about a 12 handicap since then); the wedge problem never occurred on the golf course.

The next step was I built a set of short irons in phases (breaking 90 with the 9 and PW at Miramar and only 5 over par on the back 9 at Lomas SF).  The wedge problem only occurred with the lob wedge (and only with an open stance).

I had the lie adjusted on LW to match that of the SW (because the SW has been a "can't miss" club"). That helped (I would tend to get a slight pull with full shots after the 45 minutes; the shank was if I didn't mind my "Ps and Qs).

I also found a nice X wedge for $15 yesterday (it was at Play It Again Sports and I think it was a demo club). I took it out this morning and did various things with it (it works great in the rock-hard trap at the Miramar practice green).  The pulling started to happen after 45 minutes as usual, but this time I found out that I could hit a full swing perfectly straight with  a square stance and I could do the infamous Phil Mickelson flop shot consistently.  The adjustment I made was to put left foot a little more forward (looks like it is more back in the stance - probably still really in the middle); pulling problem gone.

Then I got to thinking.... why is it that I never had a problem with a flop shot, a bunker shot or a cut-lob shot but yet what I described would occur after 45 minutes of practice with a normal pitch shot. I also remembered that I needed to take a more compact backswing when doing a knockdown shot (I put the ball back in my stance a little and open the stance a little).  The final thing is that my woods and long irons have been super-consistent since about August of last year.

So here's the answer: fighting Mother Nature.  With the open stance shots I was playing the ball too far forward and, when I was fresh, I was compensating for pushing the ball by exaggerating the clearing of the hips.  Then when the muscles would get fatigued or stiff, it was as if I would lose the ability to turn the hips. I had almost no tightness in the left forearm or the torso.







ANSWER: Lou:

Sounds like this could be your best year ever.  Perhaps you can shoot your all time low this summer.  You are on the right track, stay positive and go get em.  

Eddie

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I also finalized my setup.  The 7 wood is OUT (I hit the 4 hybrid pretty well and hit the 4 wood better than the 7; besides, I can choke down on the 4 wood to hit it 190-200).  I decided to have both the 8 iron and the 38 degree hybrid; the latter behaves more like a 7 iron distance-wise and they're like a "one-two punch."  Lastly, the 64 deg wedge is indispensible in hard-packed bunkers (I also have more control of the distance).

I made one more adjustment to the driver and the 4 wood: moved the ball back 1 inch or so (driver slightly behind the left heel and 4 wood about 1 1/2 inches).  

Now it is time to step up the putting.  I'm OK but need to get better.  Need to get DEADLY.

Who knows... may break 80 by the end of the year.

Answer
Lou:

Very cool.  Way to go.  I have some great practice sheets for the Short Game if you want me to send them to you I will.  Send me your personal email address and I'll send them to you.  What it does is gives you measureable results and a discipline to your practice.  

Eddie