Shallowing out the plane

Today Dong continued to help me out on my swing. I told him what I was trying now with trying to keep my butt out during my downswing to create some space for my arms to swing, not get steep, and to not come out of the shot. He said that I was doing what I wanted, but he felt that I wasn't exactly working on the root of the cause.

So what he wanted me to do was to feel as though on my downswing I was coming down with the club flat, my arms in front of me, and my right elbow towards the ball. All of these things were to keep my club from coming down steep, and that caused my body to come out of the shot to save it. What ended up happening was that this flat feeling downswing (which was actually on plane) fixed nearly everything. My lower body, including my right foot, worked towards the target and stayed out of the shot. The club came down on a shallower, more on plane arc, dissecting my right arm rather than my right shoulder. After impact, the grip of my club was lower and finishing more left instead of the steep angle created before.

Of course, I really didn't have any control of where the ball was going, but I finally had my swing shape right. It's only going to be a matter of time that I get used to this, start improving, and making my misses smaller.

Later, Dong and I ended up playing this game called "Rabbit" with another mini-tour player, Michael Schnegelberger (really long name). I was obviously not in great form to play in any sort of match, but it was only a $5 buy in, and I didn't embarrass myself too much finishing a couple under after nine holes.