I've also just been getting started - spent a few nights up till the wee hours reading the book and the archives, watching videos, etc.
The only not at home practice I've been trying to do the last few days is get in a bunker and hit small chips while trying to hit the ball first and then take a divot. At first it was extremely frustrating because I couldn't make clean contact for many many hours. It's amazing how impossible it felt at first.
I think I've tracked it down to a flaw in my pivot - my hips were rotating by my right hip coming forward causing my right arm to get closer to the ball and leading to a super fat shot. Things have vastly improved when I work on getting my left knee straight and making sure I preserve the angle in my left hip socket - it leads me to pivot by pulling my left hip back. After this - I've been able to finally hit down with some precision and I've been making much better contact. I think the bad pivot was caused by a subconscious desire to hit up on the ball.
I've seen Ben Doyle's bunker lesson without the ball but I think there might also be a lot of advantages to chipping with a ball: You can easily see the divot and if you hit it fat you'll know for sure. I've chipped many times on a carpet or grass and you can fool yourself into thinking you're chipping it well because it's so forgiving. I hope there are no downsides to this practice routine.
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