#Goal: Your program will take string input which may include any alphanumeric character including a space and hyphen, and your goal is to output the shortest amount of key presses on the d-pad to output the required string.

#Considerations: You do not need to include the key pressed for pressing the actual character.
Focus always starts at the A
Enter = must be pressed at the end

Goal:

Your program will take string input which may include any alphanumeric character including a space and hyphen, and your goal is to output the shortest amount of key presses on the d-pad to output the required string.

Considerations:

You do not need to include the key pressed for pressing the actual character.
Focus always starts at the A
Enter = must be pressed at the end

input: Code Golf
output: 44

Explained:
A -> C = 3
C -> ^ = 6 (moving to the left)
^ -> o = 5
o -> d = 2
d -> e = 1
e -> + = 5
+ -> _ = 1
_ -> + = 1
+ -> G = 3
G -> o = 3
o -> l = 3
l -> f = 5
f -> = = 6

input: Code Golf
output: 43

Explained:
A -> C = 2
C -> ^ = 6 (moving to the left)
^ -> o = 5
o -> d = 2
d -> e = 1
e -> + = 5
+ -> _ = 1
_ -> + = 1
+ -> G = 3
G -> o = 3
o -> l = 3
l -> f = 5
f -> = = 6

The winning submission (I'll allow at least 48h) will be the shortest solution (in bytes). As this is my first question, I hope this is clear and not too hard.

The winning submission (I'll allow at least 1w) will be the shortest solution (in bytes). As this is my first question, I hope this is clear and not too hard.