Chisags Tip Of The Day #31

[chisag]

Changing Your Natural Swing 


Most golfers go through the same swing journey to one extent or another. The first time you pick up a golf club and swing it ... that is your natural swing. There are exceptions of course. For instance some have the idea the face needs to stay square to the target line and they manipulate everything to achieve that goal, so that isn't a swing but a club/face manipulation. But most use a swinging or a hitting motion the first time they hit a ball. Young kids usually playing clubs too long and too heavy so they have no choice but to swing the club because they don't have the strength to manipulate it in an unnatural way.

The journey usually goes something like this. Using your natural swing you decide you want to get better, making better contact and hitting better shots. You look at videos, read instruction or maybe even copy something you see on YouTube and recognize you have some faults in your natural swing and start the journey of self correction. You want to shallow your plane on the downswing, you extend on the backswing, you rotate your forearms, you supinate or pronate, you open or close your stance and the list goes on and on and on and .... If you keep at it, you begin to figure out what works and what doesn't but that can take years. 

The trouble in paradise is your natural swing has the freedom of a swing or hitting motion unencumbered by mechanics and forcing yourself into positions. While attempting a sometimes necessary swing change you are forcing yourself to do something different and that causes both mental and physical tension. Some never get past the tension and that can cause a lifelong pursuit of swing changes that never work because you didn't stick with it long enough, so on to the next one. Those that stick with a swing change and slowly begin to incorporate it into their natural swing will lose that tension and get to the point where they can just swing or hit without thinking. But keep in mind it took Tiger a full year of playing or practicing every single day and hitting more balls in one month than many hit in a lifetime as well as being under the watchful eye of his instructor. Yet many expect a change in weeks or months and that is a recipe for failure. 

As an example my natural swing had good tempo and was on plane but I flipped through impact. This initially worked very well for me and after only a few years my index was around a 10 but stalled and I wasn't improving. Picking the ball worked well enough but it became clear when I took a lesson that I needed to fix the flip and make contact with a forward shaft lean, taking a divot after impact and compressing the ball for more accurate shots and better distance control. This caused a myriad of problems through the years because in order to accomplish this one change, I manipulated everything else trying to accomplish it. I often did the wrong thing attempting to produce unnatural lag causing tension and movements with my body that worked against my natural swing. So I started and stopped attempting to quit flipping several times but always went back to it after a poor ball striking round. After years of attempting that change, in the end it was basically (and I am grossly over simplifying) just flipping after contact. So a good 10 years later I learned to do what I did the very first time I swung a club with a slight change. 

Almost every successful journey to improvement ends the same way. After going through some or many swing changes you eventually get back to your original natural swing but updated with some minor changes. Even looking at all of Tigers swing changes, his tempo and basic swing didn't change. Yours shouldn't either. So while pursuing those swing changes you are sure will make you a better player, always remember your natural swing tempo and basic shape should not change. Keep that in mind when doing something new and always attempt to stay as close to your natural swing as possible when making changes. And congrats to those that have reached the finish line of their journey understanding at some point your swing is what it is and you have learned to play golf and not golf swing. 

[cksurfdude]

Well shoot.... if only I had read this about 10 years ago (lol) when I first picked up this game .. AND then also been smart enough to heed its advice!

 

8 hours ago, chisag said:

And congrats to those that have reached the finish line of their journey

..the only thing I might disagree with: there is no "finish line" in this unwinnable game (which is in large part why we love it so much!)

[Kenny B]

10 hours ago, chisag said:

But keep in mind it took Tiger a full year of playing or practicing every single day and hitting more balls in one month than many hit in a lifetime as well as being under the watchful eye of his instructor. Yet many expect a change in weeks or months and that is a recipe for failure. 

Well written, but I would argue that this last sentence is not indicative of most golfers who look to make a change.  Maybe some on the forum that understand that habits are not broken; they are replaced with many iterations of drills.  However, I’ve seen many who expect to see positive change after a one hour lesson and a range session.  A change takes a long time, and it’s even longer when we play in leagues or casually on weekends.  We want to play our best, and that’s a recipe for reverting back to the “comfortable” swing we had before the lessons.  

[GolfSpy TCB]

For sure @chisag. 

My pursuit of swing changes over the years - mostly self inflicted (yes... I mean that as a negative), have been out of jealousy toward those with more mechanically sound natural swings than I have.  But I am probably not alone by saying I play my best golf when I'm swinging comfortably, and not trying to get into this position or that plane, etc.  Wish I was straighter.. yes, which I was longer... yes, wish I could putt (that's another story haha).  My natural swing (maybe ingrained from 20 years of baseball) is over the top at the start of the downswing and adding a little loft at the bottom (I believe you called it "flipping"  ).  

I will only add to your assessment above by saying (and this is in my own personal experience - always YMMV), that I have improved my scoring less through focusing on swing changes... and exponentially more when focusing on putting, chipping, pitching, trouble shots, etc.  And just let my full swing game take me where it wants to go (and thus bringing all those other areas into full play).  I'm convinced I can teach myself to be better at all the less than full shots by practice, drills and repetition.  But to your comment, changing the full swing from the natural to something else... rare breed of player to accomplish successfully.

[Jim Shaw]

22 hours ago, chisag said:

Changing Your Natural Swing 


Most golfers go through the same swing journey to one extent or another. The first time you pick up a golf club and swing it ... that is your natural swing. There are exceptions of course. For instance some have the idea the face needs to stay square to the target line and they manipulate everything to achieve that goal, so that isn't a swing but a club/face manipulation. But most use a swinging or a hitting motion the first time they hit a ball. Young kids usually playing clubs too long and too heavy so they have no choice but to swing the club because they don't have the strength to manipulate it in an unnatural way.

The journey usually goes something like this. Using your natural swing you decide you want to get better, making better contact and hitting better shots. You look at videos, read instruction or maybe even copy something you see on YouTube and recognize you have some faults in your natural swing and start the journey of self correction. You want to shallow your plane on the downswing, you extend on the backswing, you rotate your forearms, you supinate or pronate, you open or close your stance and the list goes on and on and on and .... If you keep at it, you begin to figure out what works and what doesn't but that can take years. 

The trouble in paradise is your natural swing has the freedom of a swing or hitting motion unencumbered by mechanics and forcing yourself into positions. While attempting a sometimes necessary swing change you are forcing yourself to do something different and that causes both mental and physical tension. Some never get past the tension and that can cause a lifelong pursuit of swing changes that never work because you didn't stick with it long enough, so on to the next one. Those that stick with a swing change and slowly begin to incorporate it into their natural swing will lose that tension and get to the point where they can just swing or hit without thinking. But keep in mind it took Tiger a full year of playing or practicing every single day and hitting more balls in one month than many hit in a lifetime as well as being under the watchful eye of his instructor. Yet many expect a change in weeks or months and that is a recipe for failure. 

As an example my natural swing had good tempo and was on plane but I flipped through impact. This initially worked very well for me and after only a few years my index was around a 10 but stalled and I wasn't improving. Picking the ball worked well enough but it became clear when I took a lesson that I needed to fix the flip and make contact with a forward shaft lean, taking a divot after impact and compressing the ball for more accurate shots and better distance control. This caused a myriad of problems through the years because in order to accomplish this one change, I manipulated everything else trying to accomplish it. I often did the wrong thing attempting to produce unnatural lag causing tension and movements with my body that worked against my natural swing. So I started and stopped attempting to quit flipping several times but always went back to it after a poor ball striking round. After years of attempting that change, in the end it was basically (and I am grossly over simplifying) just flipping after contact. So a good 10 years later I learned to do what I did the very first time I swung a club with a slight change. 

Almost every successful journey to improvement ends the same way. After going through some or many swing changes you eventually get back to your original natural swing but updated with some minor changes. Even looking at all of Tigers swing changes, his tempo and basic swing didn't change. Yours shouldn't either. So while pursuing those swing changes you are sure will make you a better player, always remember your natural swing tempo and basic shape should not change. Keep that in mind when doing something new and always attempt to stay as close to your natural swing as possible when making changes. And congrats to those that have reached the finish line of their journey understanding at some point your swing is what it is and you have learned to play golf and not golf swing. 

wow, that was a good read for me, thanks for sharing that. I am intrigued by the natural swing, I am fortunate enough at my place in my journey to watch my grandchildren swing the golf club in a natural way, each one is quite different actually. Watching the best in the world over the past 2-3 weeks and seeing the leaders mostly hit power fades off the tee has me thinking I will put that on my bucket list on my journey going forward, it will be interesting to see if that is happy with my natural swing.

[NC Golfer]

Well said, @chisag. I have tried for 40 years, through trial and error and lessons and never really saw a big change. I am doing better with my natural swing and a move to hybrid irons. Also, for the high handicap crowd, I'd recommend taking an extra club or two with a chip or pitch swing. It would have saved years of trying a new swing fix that resulted in topped and fatted irons shots. 

Edited February 12, 2023 by NC Golfer