swing changes

The Premier Man

well lads,
im undergoing much needed swing changes at last but its a nightmare and would really make you wonder if its working.iv got lessons and have to change a few things but was in the range today and went from shanks to hooks to hitting a couple perfect back to the scutter again.i was off 10 but have gone back to 13 and decided for consistancy i needed to do something.my question is has anyone else gone through swing changes where at one stage they felt there was no hope and it was a nightmare?did ye end up a much better player at the end?how did ye stay going through it all?how long (with a good amount of practice)did it take for it all to come together?

Nonoperational

I suppose to start you need a fairly reproducible swing for it to be worth your while changing anything more technical than the basics such as alignment etc...

If you do, and you have a glaring fault in the swing then ya, a change is good but it takes lots practice.

For someone off 10, getting some consistency is the hard thing...

EvanCornwallis

When a teaching pro changes things in your swing it can feel very strange and unnatural. Stick with it and put in the work and your game will reap the rewards in the long term.

I can't say how long or how much practice it will take, as some people get to grips with changes faster than others.

Stick with the changes and don't let it get you down if things don't turn around right away.

SEORG

Have changed a few things early this year.

-My grip, I have changed from really strong grip to a neutral (proper) grip. I used the Ben Hogan instructions for that. It took a while to get used to it and hit shots with confidence but I'm just about there now.

-Sway, didn't know I had this problem until I went for the lesson and saw my swing head on on screen. My hips would sway back on my backswing as I turned them and my shoulders. I was actually over rotating both. I have this one sorted now. The first few times I was out on the course I was very conscious of it and trying to keep my left hip from moving back. That was stopping the weight transfer on my backswing to my right leg so had to sort that. But after a lot of practice, just turning without a club in my hand, I now find it the natural way to turn my hips.

-Downswing, this is the one I am finding toughest. I am coming over the top on my downswing and releasing the club too early in the downswing thus losing power and distance. I have only been working on this for the last 10 days or so but I am finally beginning to seeing some results.
Starting the downswing from the ground up and letting my hands fall naturally before I break the hinge in my wrists and release the club a bit later in the swing.
When I hit a good one I am getting an extra 25 yards with my 7 iron. Just have to keep at it and see some bit of consistency and hopefully it will pay off. Luckily the driving range is on my way home from work.

I do video my swing when I am at the range so my practice always has a purpose. The last 25 balls I hit are where I look for the results using the changes I have been practicing. I use the golf channel swing fix site to upload the videos and check how the swings are coming along afterwards. It's free to use if you are just uploading and looking at your own videos.

Maybe a bit of overkill but my irons were killing me on the course. My d riving stats are about 60% fairways hit but my GIR was somewhere near 20%, so I had to do something about it to hopefully cut a few more shots off the handicap.

http://swingfix.golfchannel.com/

The Premier Man

how do u video ur swing at the range?

SEORG

I usually use my iPhone. I stabilize the phone by putting it in one of my shoes since I wear my golf shoes at the range. (very high tech)

Have also used my regular camera on one of those small tripods.

Keano

The Premier Man wrote: »

well lads,
im undergoing much needed swing changes at last but its a nightmare and would really make you wonder if its working.iv got lessons and have to change a few things but was in the range today and went from shanks to hooks to hitting a couple perfect back to the scutter again.i was off 10 but have gone back to 13 and decided for consistancy i needed to do something.my question is has anyone else gone through swing changes where at one stage they felt there was no hope and it was a nightmare?did ye end up a much better player at the end?how did ye stay going through it all?how long (with a good amount of practice)did it take for it all to come together?

I'm about to embark on massive swing changes so feel your pain but I did play with a guy last year who told me he'd gone through swing changes and his handicap went out. He now hits the ball a mile and straight every time. The day I played with him he must have hit a lot of GIR and won the comp. Stick with it!

mike12

Hi,
I did it but there were just small fixes in the end i can from 18 to 8.
I see a lot of 10 handicappers that are 10 because they have super short games i am the opposite i have a decent long game and am terriable pitching and chipping my long game and putting save me.
I would always recommend a swing change starting in September so you have 6 months before the start of the season if you are going thru major changes now them you may have to write this summer off.
The pro is the biggest thing you have to trust him if you are a bit unsure about what he is telling you change. I was half way thru a lesson with one pro when i was shopping around for a new one and i said it's ok i will just finish the basket on my thanks.

Mike

loadwire

I'm getting lessons at the moment - had first one just over a week ago. I've gone to the range 3 times since and I would say I'm still struggling to get any kind of consistency. I'm happy enough as long as I'm hitting some shot well - while there are more bad shots than good at the moment, the good ones are better than my 'old' good ones. I've a second lesson next week so I'm just trying to take note of any patterns in the misses I'm having.

I would say it's natural to get worse before you'll get better, but at the same time another lesson will make sure you've not gone off track and are ingraining bad movements into your swing.

U.P.O.

I recently saw an interview with Butch Harmon and Tiger Woods that i try to remember when im getting fed up during a swing change.

He basically said, (referring to Tiger), here is probably the greatest player ever to play the game, he practices harder than anyone who has ever played the game, he puts in 10 hours a day hitting thousands of balls a day, all day every day, having some of the best coaches in the world watch over him for 8 hours a day and it still takes him 2 years to learn a new swing.

An amateur will go to his local PGA pro, for 30 minutes, hit the range once a week for an hour and get frustrated if he doesnt see results in 3-4 weeks.

For Paws

Stick with it Premier.

I was forced (by a car wreck) to re-learn the game almost completely.
My biggest problem was the memory of my old swing. Bits of it were still there, and it many weeks before I realised that unless I was disciplined in my practice I was wasting my time. I couldn't swing the club the way I used to and until I started believing in the new swing I had no consistency.

Btw I was extremely lucky to have a good young teaching pro (Ed Pettit) to help the teaching sessions work.
Anybody know where he is now ?

spacecoyote

I'd say I spent a good 9 months before I really settled into a new swing. Starting about last April-May decided I wanted to be able to shape the ball, deliberately & in either direction. I was a natural fader of the ball, and it really took a long time to get the right feel for hitting a draw. I wouldn't say that I'm exactly 100% now (driver is still not quite 100% consistent, some of the draws lean towards hooks & the fades towards slices), but with reasonable accuracy I can move the ball how I want to.

There were lots of incremental changes for me before I got there, but I feel it was worth the effort for the long term advantages I can gain from it.

The Premier Man

thanks for the help lads.after disastrous practicing recently i went for another lesson this mornin as i had the day off and hit the range for a good part of the rest of the day.finally im starting to see progress which has given me massive motivation.i booked and paid for another 3 lessons on the spot so i couldn't go away and have a couple of good rounds and think all is fixed only to be back at square one again in a few weeks.by the way the pro is gary mclean in carlow driving range and i couldn't reccomend him high enough.

Golfgraffix

Keano A Legend wrote: »

I'm about to embark on massive swing changes so feel your pain but I did play with a guy last year who told me he'd gone through swing changes and his handicap went out. He now hits the ball a mile and straight every time. The day I played with him he must have hit a lot of GIR and won the comp. Stick with it!

Keano, 10 years ago or so i was playing of 19, i could hit the ball but had no consistancy after some lessons we worked on a new grip, mine was eway too strong. I reckon it took 6 months of pure crap golf to get it right, very hard to stick with but it was well worth it. Without doubt the biggest and hardest change i have ever made.

Good luck with it

J

John Divney

I changed a lot, stance width, ball position (always in the middle now, used to move to the left the lower irons and woods.


The main thing I changed though was to stop actively trying to get lag, by totally relaxing my wrists and grip from the transition on. When you move the hands to start the downswing the club lags behind if you are tension free, like a finger pushing the edge of a ruler, or imagining the clubhead is tied to your hands on a piece of string, and thinking of the lag that would get from simply starting the downswing.


I stopped using the shoulders as the dominant power source, and use my arms for speed. trying to keep shoulders close to level at impact, this has improved contact consistency. also stopped the one plane backswing and bring my arm over the shoulder line, not flat one the same plane. This is much better for me, combined with the lesser reliance on shoulder rotation for power.

I also stopped trying to get this 'boring' ball flight and realised my ball flight is actually very good , my low irons go high, so do my high irons, so when it came to hitting greens on a windy day, I simply use a 8,9,gap, sand, lob and play the penetrating wedge shot style off my right foot, small back swing and followthrough, big divot after the ball and lots of spin. One of the easiest shots in the game imo, and accurate as ****.

People say you need a low ball flight like the pro's, but the whole point of the game is dropping a ball on a green and stopping it, a flight that drops vertically does that the best.

On the links I'll play a 3 iron stinger when needed, but I'm not changing the swing anymore as it just causes to much hassle, the logo down impact for low ball flight is difficult enough and started to effect me mentally and I fell apart on the course too much.

Quahog217

Im going through this myself at the moment. Im playing of 9 at the minute, started last year off 7 and drifted out due to inconsistent play.

Ive had 3 lessons but my swing is all over the place at the minute.

Im not putting in enough practice time at the minute, I think that's the main problem. Im not the most patient person either. My natural swing is really poor so when I try to change it, its really tough.

I really need to improve my iron play so i'm going to get one more lesson, get the right drills and hit the range hard and try to stay positive.

And trying to improve the quality of practice, quantity is not always the answer.