Making A Swing Change

Why do savvy golfers make swing changes? They don’t do it because of what their golf-ing buddies say or to copy their favorite pro golfer. Savvy golfers make swing changes because of their ball flight. That’s what really matters. If it’s not what you want it to be, changing your swing can help. (Ball flight is also a factor in monitoring a player’s progress.) The long-term goal with a swing change is to lower your golf handicap.

Making a swing change is also about identifying one major fault and correcting it. Taking care of that problem often cures a lot of other ills. Making a swing change is also about having faith. You might not see a quick payoff initially. You may even regress for a time. But you can let that throw you. Eventually, you’ll see progress. When the new swing fi-nally takes effect, you’ll see a lasting difference in your game and your golf handicap.

Below are five golf tips that will help make a swing change easier:

Because a swing change involves a different motion, it won’t feel good at first. It will feel rather awkward, whether you’re making a slight adjustment or changing your whole swing. But it should feel strange. You’re doing something totally different. You also have to play through the uncomfortable parts and expect it to feel different at first. So you need to practice the change until it becomes second nature. But be careful— as we tell students who take our golf lessons. Your old swing can easily sneak up on you.

Tiger Woods has been working on a swing change the past two years. Tiger is no stranger to swing changes. He’s made a couple before. Like some weekend golfers, Tiger doesn’t like drills. But he is a fanatic about repetition. So he practices his new swing in slow mo-tion—over and over again. Practicing in slow motion is a good way to ingrain the feel of a change. You can’t always do that when hitting balls because the swing is over so quick-ly. Combining slow motion practice and golf drills also works.

Some golfers will work on a swing change in practice and abandon it when playing a round. These golfers are counting on the change sneaking its way into their swing. That approach doesn’t work. You must use the change over and over again to make it second nature. That’s why we encourage students who take our golf lessons to use a swing change during practice AND when they play—the sooner the better. It might be hard at first, but it’s the best—and the fastest—way to make the transition.

Focus on one thing when making a swing change. Make sure it’s a major fault. Then de-vote all your time and attention to addressing the fault. It’s what we do in our golf in-struction sessions, and it works. By correcting that one fault you may also be eliminating a host of other ills that plague your swing and your game. And don’t forget about the other parts of your game, like your short game. It’s easy to get completely absorbed in making a swing change and forget about the other areas of play.

There’s nothing wrong with using golf tips during a round. But don’t be fooled by quick fixes on the course. They may help during a round but that’s it. That’s because golf tips often address only the symptom and not the cause. After awhile, they wear off and you’re back where you started. If you’re making a swing change, you must address the problem’s root causes. In fact, we encourage students who take our golf instruction sessions to have an open mind about golf tips and swing changes.

Ball flight tells you when to make a swing change. It’s also a good tool to monitor progress. Making a swing change can be frustrating. But you must stick with the change. Eventually, it becomes second nature. When that happens, your ball flight will improve and you’ll chop strokes off your golf handicap. Also, don’t go it alone. Work with someone who can see what you’re doing. Why—because what you think you’re doing and what you’re actually doing are often different. Another set of eyes helps.