Back on track! Got my shit back together and along the way learned a very important lesson:
Swing practice immediately after a heavy lifting session followed by 35 minutes of intervals is really dumb. Because exhaustion was preventing muscles from firing in the right order or at the right time, I should have just rested. Instead I made some new bad habits, broke my swing, and it took 2-3 sessions to get back on track.
I did nothing but drills for 3 days, which was tedious but when I got back over the ball yesterday I was back where I was before and even making decent contact off the tee for the first time.
Today was my best range session ever - 60 balls, 20 each of PW, 9i, 7i. Only completely fucked 5. My slice is getting better, mainly because I'm doing a better job of setting up, and straightening my swing. I'm not taking anything like hard swings, I'm just focused on rhythm and fluidity.
Progress! Not sure I want to add in a 5i yet, I may just work a 6 iron into practice and then add woods and tee shots.
Question for the real golfers: do I even need to play with 3-5irons anytime soon?
I've also been practicing chipping and putting a couple times a week, and for reasons I can't explain it seems pretty natural. I'm putting the ball where I want it inside of 100 yards pretty consistently and my putting seems ... decent? I need to dedicate practice time to getting out of sand.
Funny about this - I bought my clubs during the COViD period when everybody was running around taking up new hobbies and frantically buying sporting goods, so there were no left handed sets for sale anywhere. I found a guy in Cedar Park to make me some. Nice guy, but he sort of cobbled them together based on components he had and it didn't matter anyway since I didn't actually take it up until 3 weeks ago
This morning at the range I was talking to a much more experienced lefty who asked me if I got my clubs at a garage sale, not because they were terrible, but because he didn't understand why a beginner would be using low profile irons with extra stiff shafts.
I was intrigued by this, and borrowed a Calloway Edge 8iron they had inside. Suffice it to say that was a completely different experience. So, I went home and watched a couple of video reviews and my new Calloway Edge Set from Costco will be delivered tomorrow.
I'm sure if I improve I'll have to upgrade at some point, but this seems like a better starting point than were I'm at with what I've been using.