Change the swing to improve or go with what works now...

[Golfware]

Okay, so here's my dilemma.

 

Go with my "natural" swing that works for me, or change my swing to improve for the long haul. I'm so frustrated. I know my "natural" swing gets over-the-top and can become erratic, especially if my timing is off. I'm working with my pro to change my swing to be more on-plane and down the line, it's just a bit frustrating. I know that I've got to put the work in so that it feels "natural" and will be better for me. Aurgh!!

 

Yes, I answered my own dang question. Dang!!! Anyone else experience this type of frustration?? LOL

[Moecat]

Believe me, I feel your pain

 

My own natural swing is probably more like a punch shot in that my lower body tends to stay pretty quiet during the down swing. My instructor says this is ok as long as I can do a good shoulder turn during the back swing and maintain good lag coming down ... and seriously, as a physical specimen I don't have a whole lot to work with. At my next lesson he'll try to show me how to get my hips more involved in the down swing, but we'll see!

[GolfSpy_X]

I have dealt with thousands of golfers with this exact dilemma Golfware. And you can go one of two ways.

 

1. Natural is usually better for the long-term since your body will always want to go back to its natural motion in time. But that being said it depends on how bad the natural swing effects your ball flight. Although with the technoligies and equipment types out now the natural swing flaws can often be corrected with a change in equipment that better fits your swing. It is better to fit your equipment to your swing then fitting your swing to your equipment...it leads to sometimes irreversible bad habits.

 

2. If you natural swing habits cannot be resolved with equipment that better fits your swing type then I would suggest working with someone that makes swing changes that fix the problems but stay as close as they can to your natural swing pattern and are not year long investment swing changes that can often be reversed by lack of practice or lack of lessons punding that swing type into your head to where they become SOMEWHAT natural.

 

Okay, so here's my dilemma.

 

Go with my "natural" swing that works for me, or change my swing to improve for the long haul. I'm so frustrated. I know my "natural" swing gets over-the-top and can become erratic, especially if my timing is off. I'm working with my pro to change my swing to be more on-plane and down the line, it's just a bit frustrating. I know that I've got to put the work in so that it feels "natural" and will be better for me. Aurgh!!

 

Yes, I answered my own dang question. Dang!!! Anyone else experience this type of frustration?? LOL

[Golfware]

I have dealt with thousands of golfers with this exact dilemma Golfware. And you can go one of two ways.

 

1. Natural is usually better for the long-term since your body will always want to go back to its natural motion in time. But that being said it depends on how bad the natural swing effects your ball flight. Although with the technoligies and equipment types out now the natural swing flaws can often be corrected with a change in equipment that better fits your swing. It is better to fit your equipment to your swing then fitting your swing to your equipment...it leads to sometimes irreversible bad habits.

 

2. If you natural swing habits cannot be resolved with equipment that better fits your swing type then I would suggest working with someone that makes swing changes that fix the problems but stay as close as they can to your natural swing pattern and are not year long investment swing changes that can often be reversed by lack of practice or lack of lessons punding that swing type into your head to where they become SOMEWHAT natural.

 

Yep. I would agree. He's very good and helping me a lot. Just a matter of practicing the drills that he gives me, which make sense and aren't too complicated. I can get too mental and then I'm ALL over with. Oh man.. choices.. choices..

 

But the proof is in the pudding. I know one thing for sure, my short has improved so that my bad scores are coming down. That's the good news... LOL...

[jamo]

I prefer to change the swing. My swing is constantly changing, and I like being able to tweak something and improve. Staying static is no fun.

[Matt Saternus]

I prefer to change the swing. My swing is constantly changing, and I like being able to tweak something and improve. Staying static is no fun.

 

I'm just the opposite, I never want to change my swing. I'm always telling my dad, when he tries to offer advice, "I'm my own golfing role model, I just want to swing like me." Does that mean I'm not correcting things? Of course not. If I feel something wrong, I will work to get it in line. All I mean to say is that I know how my body naturally wants to swing the club. I work hard on my fundamentals (stance, alignment, posture), but I let my body decide what the swing should feel like and I work within those parameters.

 

Good luck with your lessons and changes, should you decide to make them.

[Golfware]

Well. I was at the range yesterday hitting balls with my "new" swing and my contact was SO much better. I went back to my old swing and hit a couple of balls.. and voila! Same dang old misses. So yes, it is worth putting in the time and effort to improve. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

[GolfSpy Dave]

When I started a coupe of years ago, I was the king of the over the top swing and slicing. Sometimes I was cool enough to leave the face open too so that when I sliced it would end up behind me (almost).

All I have focused on for the past years, after lessons, is swinging in to out and maintaining lag. Path is much better, but I am still quick coming down. When it all syncs though with the improved swing, it feels magical. I think that if I had stuck with the old, I would have played the exact game of golf forever.

 

Someone mentioned this Hogan video to me when I was really fighting the OTT swing. Mine will never bee this pretty, but I watch it a lot and try to copy it as much as I can. Especially the first move down. It keeps my right elbow in too.

 

[Richie3Jack]

Okay, so here's my dilemma.

 

Go with my "natural" swing that works for me, or change my swing to improve for the long haul. I'm so frustrated. I know my "natural" swing gets over-the-top and can become erratic, especially if my timing is off. I'm working with my pro to change my swing to be more on-plane and down the line, it's just a bit frustrating. I know that I've got to put the work in so that it feels "natural" and will be better for me. Aurgh!!

 

Yes, I answered my own dang question. Dang!!! Anyone else experience this type of frustration?? LOL

 

I play to a +1. I've seen about every big name coach or one of their underlings and have tried just about every instructional philosophy there is.

 

One big problem with a lot of instruction is that it focuses on the backswing and tries to make the swing look 'pretty' with nice backswing plane instead of focusing on the downswing and more important IMPACT and POST-IMPACT.

 

So golfers wind up working on things that feel unnatural to them and they can't get down repeatedly and the big picture...working on something that really isn't that important.

 

My feeling is that you should always try to break down what your common missed shot(s) and then find the root cause of that problem. Break down what happens at impact to cause that shot and why your impact position gets there.

 

For instance, there are many golfers who get laid off at the top of the swing and hit it quite well. Tiger gets a bit laid off, Ian Poulter does as well. So, if I was an instructor and they told me that they struggled with coming OTT, I would probably attack the laid off move because being laid off usually causes golfers to come over the top. But if you're laid off and not coming over the top and your common miss is dead right, then I would attack something else because while that laid off move is not optimal or 'pretty', it's just not the problem.

 

In other words, you can really have your natural swing and just figure out what is causing your missed shots and make slight tweaks to fix those misses.

 

 

 

 

 

3JACK

[GolfSpy Dave]

For instance, there are many golfers who get laid off at the top of the swing and hit it quite well. Tiger gets a bit laid off, Ian Poulter does as well. So, if I was an instructor and they told me that they struggled with coming OTT, I would probably attack the laid off move because being laid off usually causes golfers to come over the top. But if you're laid off and not coming over the top and your common miss is dead right, then I would attack something else because while that laid off move is not optimal or 'pretty', it's just not the problem.

 

Can I ask you what you mean by "laid off"? I know that I have OTT issues, but my new miss is now dead right or late hook.

[mudfish]

Here is another question that I already know the answer too, but does everyone here recommend getting lessons? I'm just not sure if I have the time for them, but I'm sure they would be beneficial...I have a 4 year old, and getting out once a week is tough enough, BUT my swing needs help, I'm stuck with what I should do...

[GolfSpy Dave]

So does this make sense...

When I hit my driver well, my posture is more stand-up than bent over. Obviously bent over some, but little knee bend at address.

Enter today's iron debacle, shots with more destinations than Southwest...

So mad that I went back to the range to try and figure something out. Thought about my driver swing, tried standing taller with the irons. What a difference!

It feels like my body rotation is better from this position. I would be curious to tape it and see what impact looks like.

[mudfish]

So does this make sense...

When I hit my driver well, my posture is more stand-up than bent over. Obviously bent over some, but little knee bend at address.

Enter today's iron debacle, shots with more destinations than Southwest...

So mad that I went back to the range to try and figure something out. Thought about my driver swing, tried standing taller with the irons. What a difference!

It feels like my body rotation is better from this position. I would be curious to tape it and see what impact looks like.

 

 

My first goal for this season is to get out and videotape myself for each type of swing and actually look at what I'm doing... My wife who knows little about golf watches me and start critiquing...

 

I recently had a free mini lesson at a golf show and the dude told me to get off the heels of my feet and keep my weight over the balls of my feet. I was instantly hitting better. 10 minutes, and I was surprised at how every shot was going to the same place... how I just need to remember that on the course...

[Richie3Jack]

Can I ask you what you mean by "laid off"? I know that I have OTT issues, but my new miss is now dead right or late hook.

 

At the top of the swing, the best alignment of the clubshaft is parallel to the target line. If you are left of parallel at the top of the swing, that's laid off. Right of parallel is 'across the line.'

 

Dead right means your clubface is wide open at impact. Not sure what you mean by 'late hook.'

 

 

 

 

 

3JACK

[GolfSpy Dave]

At the top of the swing, the best alignment of the clubshaft is parallel to the target line. If you are left of parallel at the top of the swing, that's laid off. Right of parallel is 'across the line.'

 

Dead right means your clubface is wide open at impact. Not sure what you mean by 'late hook.'

 

 

 

 

 

3JACK

Thanks for the definition. Late hook for me is a shot that for the first 75-80% of the time in the air it looks good, then it tails left at the last part. Not a nice draw type left, but sharper.

I can make ugly in new and exciting ways.