Making a successful swing change

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Successfully modifying your golf swing can take your game to a new level. But it is not without risks or challenges. There are so many things to consider that myself and co-host Adam Young tackled this topic in our latest podcast episode.

Many golfers can get into a loop and wonder if the "grass is greener" with a different version of their swing. In our podcast and this companion article, we discuss the following concepts:

Why relevance is critical when making a swing change
What the process should look like and how much time it should take
Why You Should Consider Taking Classes (and Having Continuity)
Having patience, creating a framework and functionality

I encourage you to listen to the entire episode here:

Below is a summary of some of our main thoughts.

Is the change relevant to your swing?

There is more information than ever about the golf swing. In recent years, the educational community has made enormous strides in its collective knowledge with the use of modern technology. Overall, this is a great thing. But it does have a "dark side".

You can spend hours on YouTube and social media devouring technical information about the golf swing from top instructors. However, if the information is not relevant to your golf swing, it could be harmful .

For example, in our discussion, Adam Young mentions how many teachers advocate for "making the shaft shallow" in the golf swing. This can lead to great success for certain players based on their inclinations, but it can lead to complete disaster for others.

So before proceeding with a swing, ask yourself the following question. Is the change I make relevant to the unique matchups in my golf swing? And more importantly, will it help?

In other words, don't change just to do it, for aesthetics, or to keep up with recent trends.

What is the process like?

If you continue with a swing change, there is a basic process that gives you a greater chance of success.

As Adam Young suggested, it is best to start your changes in an consequence-free environment . He discussed the metaphor of a dog trainer who works in the home rather than the dog park. The reason is that if your habits start to change, it is best to start slowly in a comfortable environment that does not distract you. For golfers this could mean the following:

Do not go on the golf course at first
Hitting balls into a net without any visual feedback can reduce pressure
Practice the change you are trying to make without even hitting balls. Or you can hit the ball up to remove the variable ground contact

At the beginning you should be able to change the pattern successfully. For example, if you are trying to hit the ball with your driver from a negative angle, you want to be able to physically (not always) achieve it fairly quickly. However, it would be best if you weren't concerned about performance (where the golf ball is going).

Over time, through practice, you can begin to add more “layers” of expectations. You can normally start taking shots on the range and watch the trajectory. Then you can bring the new swing change to the course in a practice context. Finally, your ultimate goal is to make the swing change with some success (not perfection) during the pressures of a real round of golf.

(listen to the podcast episode for more details on this part, it's important!)

How long does it take? When should you do it?

We both found that was about three months as a reasonable amount of time to make a successful swing change.

It's been nearly 10 years since I went through a major fluctuation in general, and I started the process during the winter (be sure to check out our winter exercise episode). In retrospect, I am happy that I chose the low season, because that is a good time to start experimenting with changes and also to create an environment without consequences.

If you choose to make a season change, especially when playing tournaments, you could lose faith in the process because you focus too much on the outcome (your scores) rather than on the process. run through. of training your body to move differently.

Taking lessons will make the process more efficient

There are more ways than ever to create a swing yourself. And there are plenty of examples of golfers who can teach themselves how to make swing changes successfully.

That said, taking classes with a teacher gives you a much higher chance of success. More importantly, with their guidance, you can make the changes in less time.

However, you must be willing to do the job. If you find a teacher you like, you can expect some work to be prescribed between classes. If you don't want to do the job, don't expect anything to change!

This brings me to my next point …

Continuity is crucial

One of the biggest challenges in making swing changes is the aforementioned access to information.

A few years ago I was chatting with a friend of mine who is a swing instructor. A golfer he'd worked with on a swing switch came into the store and showed him a video from Instagram asking if he thought the streak tip was something he should pursue. It had nothing to do with what they were working on.

Don't do this!

If you choose to make a change and work with a swing coach, you have to keep your blinders on. There will be times when you feel frustrated and tempted to listen to a different voice. As you know, they are just one click away on YouTube or Instagram.

Part of the process is to make sure you commit and hesitate to change course.

Have patience and manage expectations

Three months is a good rule of thumb to successfully make a swing change, as I mentioned earlier. That's not exactly overnight, so you have to be patient.

More importantly, managing expectations is another crucial element we discussed in our episode. Often golfers fantasize about the future and the kind of golf they think they can play after making the change. Unfortunately, these hopes and dreams often do not correspond to reality.

As such, words like "eliminate" are not helpful throughout the process.

Suppose you were looking for a nasty slab. Essentially, you have two options: work on shrinking the slice or change your swing pattern (play a tie).

In the first scenario, your goal is not to eliminate the slice. A successful swing change would rather reduce the left-to-right curvature of the golf ball. You will still hit big shots from time to time, but if you can do it less often, then you've passed .

Conversely, some golfers who suffer from excessive cuts see better results when trying to hit a draw. Technically, they may never hit a slab again, but a new problem could arise – a hook. Likewise, your goal will be to make the big hooks appear less and less over time.

Framework and functionality

There are two words that I seemed to repeat over and over in our episode – framework and functionality .

One of the benefits of making a swing change (if you do it right) is having a framework. When a golfer is "lost" with his golf swing, he often drifts from one idea to another. This usually does not lead to any improvement and increases their frustration.

If you can learn more about your golf swing and the new changes you want to achieve, you now have a framework. That means you can show up on the course knowing what your tendencies are and what you can do to fix them when things are out of sync, which is what they always do in golf.

This is, in my opinion, a huge advantage for any player. Successful golf is a series of micro-adjustments. You don't have to do major overhauls from one month to the next to feel like you're heading in the right direction.

My final thought is about functionality. The purpose of any technical change is to have a functional golf swing . It doesn't have to be perfect and it certainly doesn't look pretty.

For example, I do various things during my swing that many would consider unorthodox. My takeaway is a bit extreme, and at times I can have an over the top in-to-out club pad. But what I do have is a functional relationship with the matchups in my golf swing. I know how to make adjustments in the way the face is oriented based on how I swing the club because I've been working with this framework for so long and I trust it.

So if you're considering making a change, many of the concepts we've discussed in our podcast episode and this article will come in handy. Make sure the change is relevant, be prepared to do the job, get help, get involved and strive for functionality!