2026-06-02 — Delayed release: AoA fixed, dynamic loft is the next variable
Sessions: three shot-analysis sessions today — 6i 17:01 (38 shots), 7i 20:05 (27), 8i 21:03 (43, half-swings). Plus 7i from 2026-02-19 (67) as a before/after. Worked on: delaying the club release — hands leading, club whipping around behind. Goal was attack angle and smash/strike quality, not start line. The 8i session was deliberate half-swings to feel impact/release, not fatigue.
What the data showed
Clean strikes only (full club data), targets from the published bands:
| Club | Smash (all→clean) | AoA (clean) | DL | Launch | Carry | Solid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6i | 1.199 → 1.228 | −0.7 🔺 | 27.0 | 21.0 🔺 | 154 | 0/17 |
| 7i | 1.131 → 1.168 | −2.2 🔺 | 28.3 | 21.6 🔺 | 135 | 0/16 |
| 8i (½) | 1.186 → 1.231 | −3.9 ✅ | 29.1 | 22.2 🔺 | 132 | 0/18 |
- AoA improved through the day: −0.7 → −2.2 → −3.9. The release work is real; by the 8i it was at target depth.
- Filtering to clean barely moved smash (~+0.03–0.05) — the deficit is systemic in delivery/contact, not a few chunks.
- On straight + clean strikes (|axis|≤6°, |f2p|≤4°), smash was still ~1.27 (6i) / ~1.24 (8i) — well below the 1.40 / 1.36 targets. Even square, clean strikes leave efficiency on the table. Best strike on each club was the lowest-loft strike (6i best smash at SL 26.5; 8i best at DL 27.1).
corr(smash, carry)strongly + on all three (+0.97 / +0.87 / +0.89) → distance is strike-limited everywhere.
Mechanism
Loss is not direction (it survives the straight filter) and not attack angle anymore (the 8i had good AoA and still made only 1.24). The remaining limiter is dynamic loft / compression: both clubs launch ~22° with ~7,000 rpm even when square — energy going up, not out. Smash tracks DL/spin loft almost monotonically here, which points at too much effective loft at impact plus off-center (high-face) contact. (No impact-location field — that part is inferred from the vertical-gear fingerprint.)
Before/after confirms the lever — 7i, Feb 19 → today (clean)
| DL | AoA | Launch | Spin | Smash | Carry | CHS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 19 | 34.4° | −1.0 | 25.6 | 8,112 | 1.119 | 113.5 | 82.5 |
| Today | 28.3° | −2.2 | 21.6 | 6,763 | 1.168 | 135.2 | 87.5 |
| Δ | −6.1° | −1.2 | −4.0 | −1,349 | +0.049 | +21.7 | +5.0 |
In February the 7i delivered 34° dynamic loft on a 34° club — zero shaft lean, a textbook flip. Today it's ~6° of lean. The delayed release is the dynamic-loft fix, and it cascaded exactly as the fix→change table predicts: launch and spin down, ball speed and carry way up, AoA steeper with DL down (the ideal "cover it" combination).
Highest-leverage next focus
Forward shaft lean — hands ahead at impact to keep de-lofting. Same downward strike, but finish ball-first so DL drops into ~25–26° (6i) / 28–30° (8i). Expect launch into 16–18°, spin into band, and the missing ~0.13 smash / ~25 yd to convert to carry. Then chase center-face contact. The 6i lags the 7i/8i (still DL ~28 / AoA −0.7) — bring its impact in line with the shorter clubs.
Trend
Re-run python3 analyze.py --trend 7i after the next sessions to confirm DL keeps
dropping and smash keeps climbing. Feb→June 7i dynamic loft 34.4° → 28.3° is the
baseline trendline to beat.