Zach Johnson's Wedge Technique
Zach Johnson's Wedge Technique
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Description
In this video, I'll show you the keys to Zach Johnson's wedge technique. You'll find out: 1) How Johnson controls ball trajectory and spin, and 2) What you MUST do right for pro-level consistency.
Video Practice Points
- Control the club face with a proper release through the hitting area
- Stabilize the lower body with a narrow stance for consistent shots
- Move the ball position back to flight the golf ball down and control spin
Related Articles
Zach Johnson Wedge Technique: Keys to Gain Consistency
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Hey everyone, This is Rotary Swing
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Instructor Chris Tyler. And today I'm
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going to be going over this past
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weekend's Northwest Mutual Champion Zach
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Johnson. We're going to be talking about
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his wedge play and some of the key
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components that he uses to become one of
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the best wedge players on the planet.
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Okay, so those of you that were fortunate
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enough to watch a little golf this
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weekend on TV, You would have seen a
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pretty exciting conclusion to the
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Northwest Mutual Championship event,
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where we had Tiger Woods and Zach Johnson
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battling it down the 18th fairway all
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tied. Tiger hits it in the green site
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bunker, Zach hits it in the hazard from
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the middle of the fairway, comes back to
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this drop spot and holds the wedge shot
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for a four, Getting himself into a
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playoff against Tiger, where he ends up
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beating Tiger in a two-hole playoff and
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winning his 10th PGA Tour event. And
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bringing his career earnings to $30
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million. So congratulations to Zach,
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that's some great play and some stick-to
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-itiveness, I guess you could say, holding
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that wedge out.
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Never really a doubt, I guess you could
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say.
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So I want to go over some of the key
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points. I've been very fortunate to play
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a lot of golf with Zach over the years
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and he, aside from a lot of the other
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stuff that he does on the golf course,
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aside from his putting and all the other
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consistent style things that he does in
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the golf course, his wedge play is
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fantastic. Now if you remember back to
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the Masters, his first Masters victory,
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he didn't go for a par five at all the
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entire week. He laid up and relied on his
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wedge play and he is a fantastic
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controller of the golf ball. He knows how
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to flight his golf ball properly. He
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knows how to control the spins on the
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golf ball. And that's the reason why I
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want to break down his wedge play this
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week and discuss a few of his key
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ingredients that he gets going in the
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golf swing. So also I want to bring to
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your attention, we are using the new
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swing viewer for this review today. So
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this is new to you guys on the website. I
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urge you all to use this tool. It's a
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fantastic tool to be able to analyze your
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own golf swing. You can actually put your
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swing in there and you can record over it
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and save it for future reference. Or you
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can put a pro's swing in there and
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compare it with your swing.
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It's a very great tool for you guys to
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all utilize. So I really urge you to do
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use this and hope that it will make you a
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better wedge player moving forward.
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Okay so let's go ahead and get into some
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of the stuff that Zach has here. I've
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drawn a few lines on the screen so we can
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get some clarification here what they
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are. This first one would be where the
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flagstick is. You couldn't really see it
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in the video so I wanted to make sure we
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could all see that.
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Also wanted to bring to your attention
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the club face, the line of the club face.
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It's aimed at the direction of the hole,
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but I also want you to take notice of
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this line on the ground. This is his foot
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line.
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All right, you're going to notice that he
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stands quite a bit open, and Zach stands
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quite a bit open for a number of reasons.
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One of the big reasons that he does this
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is that he plays the golf ball real far
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back in his stance. And this is for
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flighting the golf ball or controlling
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the flight or trajectory of the golf
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ball. Number one and number two because
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Zach has such a strong grip. He stands a
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little bit on the open side here so he
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can get the club face back to square with
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the golf ball being so back in his
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stance.
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That's a big thing that works for Zach
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very well and he controls this very well.
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We do have a video on the website called
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the penetrating wedge series. That's a
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great video you guys to check out.
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So when we're done here check the
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penetrating wedge video out. That's going
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to give you some good tips on how you can
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start to flight your golf ball like the
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pros do.
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For those of you that have ever been to a
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professional event, you can see either
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when the golfers are warming up or when
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they're on the golf course. Every one of
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those guys, the best wedge players, will
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keep their golf balls down and they will
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control the spin properly.
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So let's move in and let's look at some
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of the other key components to Zach's
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wedge play. Let's go ahead and put a line
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on his spine.
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And then I also want to put a circle
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around his head so you can see how very
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little head motion he has. Now I've
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excused my illustrations here. I'm not
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much of an
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going to go ahead and get started into
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the backswing here.
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All right, what I want you to notice is
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when we get to the top part right before
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we start to transition into the
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downswing. Notice how his spine angle is
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perfectly where it was at a dress
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position. Now that's a huge thing for you
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I want for you guys to understand. That's
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a huge tool for you guys to maintain some
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consistency in your golf swing.
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So trying to maintain that spine angle.
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Well you can use this swing viewer to put
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your own swing in and you can check your
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spine angle.
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So go ahead and use that tool. Use that
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feature.
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Also notice that Zach stands with a very
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narrow stance. Okay and this is this is
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what's going to help him in the
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downswing. We want to eliminate the lower
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body as much as possible. There is some
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loading and unloading but we don't want
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to have any of that side to side motion.
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This will help with consistency. This
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will help with the strike overall. But
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keep your stances very narrow.
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All right so let's work into the
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downswing here.
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And we're going to start down.
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Okay also notice just before impact the
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head has moved very little. The spine is
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still in check.
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All right we're going to move into
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impact. Head position is still beautiful.
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Spine is still perfect. Now, here's the
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interesting thing about Zach is that you
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can go through two more frames, like we
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just did there, and you're going to see
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that. His spine angle is still perfectly
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intact and his head position still has
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not moved. I also want you to take note
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of his right foot and the right heel. See
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how that that's not come off the ground.
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That's the good that's the reason how he
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can control his body. He can control his
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body and move as one piece. If he were to
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lift this foot up and fire up onto the
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toe he'd be working and spinning the hips
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open.
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And And Zach is one of those guys that
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controls the club face with the rotation
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of his body and his arms at the same
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time. Not necessarily what we teach, but
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it's a great move for him to be able to
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be consistent and it works very well for
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him.
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So those are some of the key components
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that he does and uses in the golf in the
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game of golf.
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He is a great controller of his golf
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ball. So the point is is that you really
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want to work on maintaining the spine
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angle. You want to keep the head position
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very very quiet. You want to play that
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ball, position back and make sure you
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narrow up that base a little bit to
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control the lower body movement.
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And also like I said before earlier is
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check out the penetrating wedge video.
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That's going to give you some really good
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insight as how you could put this to use
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in your own game.
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