Went and hit balls at the PGA superstore last night. The dowels' really helped getting my right shoulder down plane and as Ted says"put me a position to deliver the punch".
It also started ingraining that the key to getting the hands in front of the ball is to get the shoulder more downplane. I was hanging back but trying to drive the hands ahead of the ball.
Result for me was my last range session my ball was taking off at anywhere from 14 to 16 degrees. I was getting that down to 10-11 by getting the shoulder more downplane and not letting the hips fire off too quickly.