Clicking?

Full Swing
The past couple of days I have been working on this new feeling that Dong wants me to do. A couple of days ago, I asked him to take a look at my swing and see what he thought of me shifting my hips & then dropping my arms. He said it looked good, but he wanted me to try something. First, on the backswing, I was to feel as though my left shoulder would dip towards the ball. Secondly, on my downswing, I was to mirror that feeling in my right shoulder. At first I hit a few shots, and it was kind of achieving what he wanted me to accomplish but I could tell that he knew I needed more understanding of what exactly I was to be doing. He put a club across my chest and dissecting my shoulders. I then took my backswing, the club represented where my left shoulder was pointing, and it was to be pointed at the ball. As I started my downswing and approached the ball he showed me that I need to have the other end of the club, which represented my right shoulder, pointed at the ball.

Immediately the next few balls after knowing this sensation were amazing. The swing looked amazing. Both Dong & the onlooking Grant & Martin were impressed. I was no longer laid off at the top because having that sensation in my left shoulder kept my shoulders from leveling out the little bit that they did to get my club laid off. Then, on my downswing, I no longer came out of the shot. I also was able to release the club properly rather than my old compensation of holding it off.

I worked on it today in the AZ rain, and it looks like it's achieving what I've been trying to get to all these years. So many things I was trying to fix (laid off, steep downswing, open shoulders at impact, coming out of the shot, holding off my release, etc.) seem to be corrected all in sensations that I grasped immediately. The keys I was trying to work on before (shifting hips & then dropping my arms) were the right things, but there was a disconnect & to get used to all those moves would have taken days, weeks, or who knows how long. On the other hand, understanding what my shoulders were doing and what I have to do now, seems to have just clicked, & I'm very excited!

Short Game
Interesting thing was that I incorporated all the same sensations in the full swing into my short game because I felt that I used to come over the top & would skull the shot from time to time. So far, it has the same amazing results! Can't wait to keep working on it and see how good I can get.

Getting flattened
Since my swing is now properly more shallow than before, I no longer need the 2* upright lie angle on my clubs. So Grant, Michael, and I went to Dong's place to have all our clubs' lofts & lies adjusted, clubs cut down, & other club repair work done. I changed all my clubs to Dong's specs (2* down) which essentially were 4* difference from what I had before.

So far, I'm loving how the sole goes through the turf now. Especially with my wedges on chips & pitches. This is all really, really exciting.