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Anybody tried to completely overhaul their swing after many years of playing?

bhilton

bhilton

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I have had a pretty bad looking swing since I started playing golf about 12 or 13 years ago. I made it work for many years and actually played pretty well with it. This past year, it seemed to just stop working for me. The swing was all about timing and if my timing was off by just a fraction, I couldn't do anything with the golf ball. I finally gave in this year and started getting lessons from our pro and he has completely changed everything from my grip to my stance to how far I stand from the ball and where the ball is placed in my stance.

I had my third lesson with him today. I could see progress after the first two lessons, but I was still having a few problems. After today's lesson, I finally see it all coming together. I thought just learning the game was hard, but after having the same swing for 12 or 13 years and all of a sudden change the whole thing, I can say this is much harder than just learning the game. Trying to get my body to do things completely different than how I've done them for years is a heck of a challenge.

I played golf this morning and then had the lesson. As soon as the lesson was over I hit balls for about another 2 - 2.5 hours. My body is is pain right now. I've never hit that many balls in one day. I'm hoping to go out tomorrow afternoon and hit about another 2-3 hours of balls. I'm hoping if I can keep this practice routine going for a few weeks it won't take me long to get this swing down and it will come 'natural' to me. We'll see how it goes.
 
Good luck! I've never completely overhauled, but more corrected a few fundamental flaws that I'd been doing for years. It took a while to groove those corrections and they felt awkward at first, but ended up being great in the long term. I imagine with your handicap you have the ability to overhaul, so I'm sure it'll turn out great.
 
I think it would be better for you in the long run. Just stick with it and it will produce more repetitive and reliable swing.


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Good luck and keep up the hard work. After todays round I believe I need to start the same thing right after christmas. Keep us informed of the progress.
 
Tried maybe 10,12 years ago. Played like I was utterly lost for a year and, for lack of a better term, gave up. Couldn't retain the changes within 5 mins of leaving the range, and couldn't fix them on the fly.
It was too much. Grip, stance, swing path...and I'd just started again after blowing out a knee 4 or 5 years before that.

I make the best of what I have now. Pro - I'm certainly comfy with it, and I know how to manage it (I'll shoot a handful of rounds in the 70s per year, wander between 11-13 handicap).
Con - Ain't never gonna get better. A draw off the tee is a random event, I spray irons, and the least offensive thing I've heard about my swing lately was "it's like Furyk...but his works".

I suspect you can play / practice year round. That will probably help. We're pretty much of an age, so I'd say the hardest part is overcoming the muscle memory and grooving the new swing. I never did.
I do think a few weeks is overly ambitious. If you're practicing well, then maybe. I really think I was looking at a year of crap golf, and 2 years of frustration before I'd get back to where I was before and even potentially see improvement. Again, short seasons here. I can forget a lot over the winter. I'm also not particularly gifted physically (code for clumsy fat guy).

I wish I'd stuck with it. Hell, I wish I'd do it starting NOW. But I play because I love to play, I'm never going to be on the Tour (Senior or otherwise) and I'm probably just too lazy in the end to make it work. I wish you the best with it, but this is worse than quitting smoking. You REALLY have to want to change. It sounds like you're putting a ton of effort into it, but I'd suggest if you're having a bad, bad patch, pack it up for a day or 2 and come back fresh to it. Frustration does not help master swing changes at ALL.
 
I was on the verge of giving up. There's been many days when I'll joke and say I'm going to quit playing this game, but there were actually a few when I actually sat and thought about putting it up. I'm not the kind of guy that can just play the same crappy golf and be content with it. I'm way too competitive for that.

The good thing is I can play and practice year round. We may have a few weeks of winter, but it won't be anything that is going to keep me off the course for an extended period of time. We also have a driving range with lights that I can go to after work and get a couple of hours of hitting balls in during the week. I don't expect to completely have the swing down in a few weeks, but I would like to be able to practice enough where I don't have to keep running the same 2 or 3 thoughts through my head before every swing. I'm hoping by then, I'll just do that automatically and then I'll just have to fine tune the swing.
 
I do it every winter
 
I am into year 2 of changing, and, I am finally getting closer. It takes a long time to get rid of your old swing. It is important to fight through those periods, when, it goes bad, and, you don't have clue how to hit the ball. You will need to learn to trust your new swing.

good luck
 
I don't know if I'm going to call it a total swing change because I don't know yet. Starting in March I'm going to start meeting with my pro at my club at least every other week. I would like to see if I could do it weekly with him but I don't if it's in the budget yet. I know there are going to need to be some swing changes but I just don't know how many yet. Our goal is to get me back to at least a scratch golfer and compete for my club championship in June. My club has a lot of great players, at least 20 that are scratch or better, but it is my goal next year to try to be back to the golfer I was when I was in college. I'll hope to start a thread on here and update it as I go through the process but I'll wait until I start my journey
 
Chunkylover77 said:
I do it every winter
Click to expand...



I did last winter ... It was hell, but it sunk in eventually after 20 rounds or so, and by the end of the year I was down in my cap ... a lot.

Now I'm doing it again, it's frustrating ... but I know what I'm doing is correct and the best hits are better than ever. The duffs and the ball position are tough to wrap my head around, and it's a new grip which is challenging. Hopefully I can piece it all together by the spring.
 
I'm going through it now and can't for the life of me get pushing the club out on the back swing. It's tough, humiliating, and frustrating, but needed to get to the goal which is to go low regularly instead of sporatically. I'm pretty frustrated though.
 
Chunkylover77 said:
I do it every winter
Click to expand...

This.

But to say "I've had the same swing for years" is not really accurate. It may feel like it, but everything changes over time. You might just not notice it.
 
No.
Unless you have an extremely horrible swing.
just work on the minor parts and try to fix what is killing you. If the base of your swing is fine, dont change.
 
I plan on trying somewhat of an overhaul this summer. I'm not happy with my swing and I think I can get way more out of my body. Hopefully it will pay off, and I know it will take a lot of practice.
 
I tried several years ago. In fact you can read about it here several posts down called "Ready to Quit". Took about 4 yrs. to finally get over it and start enjoying the game again. I think my main issue was over-thinking what I was doing. Now that I'm getting my confidence back, I was considering lessons again but I'm terrified of going back where I was. If you can go work on your game everyday, I think you can make it work. Someone mentioned that Tiger did it and it worked for him. Let's not forget that golf is Tiger's job and he probably works harder at it then anyone else. And then think about how long it's taken for his changes to take effect. In fact he's still struggling with some of the changes from his last swing change. He plays more in a week then I get to in a whole season. If you have the time and dedication, go for it. I think I'll be better served maybe getting some short game and putting lessons and leave my full swing alone. If nothing else, I'm going to commit to taking two days a week that I would normally go play and go to the chipping a putting green instead. Good luck and keep us posted.
 
bhilton said:
I had my third lesson with him today. I could see progress after the first two lessons, but I was still having a few problems. After today's lesson, I finally see it all coming together. I thought just learning the game was hard, but after having the same swing for 12 or 13 years and all of a sudden change the whole thing, I can say this is much harder than just learning the game. Trying to get my body to do things completely different than how I've done them for years is a heck of a challenge.

I played golf this morning and then had the lesson. As soon as the lesson was over I hit balls for about another 2 - 2.5 hours. My body is is pain right now. I've never hit that many balls in one day. I'm hoping to go out tomorrow afternoon and hit about another 2-3 hours of balls. I'm hoping if I can keep this practice routine going for a few weeks it won't take me long to get this swing down and it will come 'natural' to me. We'll see how it goes.
Click to expand...

If after just three lessons, you're making progress & happy with the changes, stick with it!

And I'm jealous - if you played, took a lesson, then beat balls for 2+ hours & are just in "pain", consider yourself lucky. I'd be on a flatboard on the way to the hospital to have my back surgically replaced.
 
I did in 2008 when I started playing again after taking a few years off. Taking semi private lessons with my wife worked wonders. I'm still not fantastic, but much improved over what I was before.
 
Boy did I have a frustrating day with this today. The change from hook to fade became a weak weak fade/slice that was just useless. Made me want to go back to a draw ...
 
Oregon Jack said:
No.
Unless you have an extremely horrible swing.
just work on the minor parts and try to fix what is killing you. If the base of your swing is fine, dont change.
Click to expand...

That is the problem. Mine was really bad. I just did a really good job of making it work for a long time though. When I first saw my swing on video, I wanted to go hide in a hole somewhere. I knew it was bad, but I didn't know it was that bad.
 
p3ga said:
If after just three lessons, you're making progress & happy with the changes, stick with it!

And I'm jealous - if you played, took a lesson, then beat balls for 2+ hours & are just in "pain", consider yourself lucky. I'd be on a flatboard on the way to the hospital to have my back surgically replaced.
Click to expand...

I actually went out the next day and played nine more holes and hit a couple more hours of range balls. My hands were really in pain after that. They are fine now so I'm planning on doing the same thing this weekend.
 
I have tried a complete over haul and struggled through some painful times with my golf swing. About a month ago we joined a new club and the Head Pro recently gave me a lesson. The one thing I am working one now, is going to change my game. It's not a complete over haul but ONE move that I am working on, to get to where I want to go. It's coming around and I can sense this is what I have been looking for all these years. It's a simple take away thought that has my swing plane, clubface line, and all I need to strike the ball solid. It's a work in progress but I am truly excited for the 2013 golf season!
 
Damaikis said:
I plan on trying somewhat of an overhaul this summer. I'm not happy with my swing and I think I can get way more out of my body. Hopefully it will pay off, and I know it will take a lot of practice.
Click to expand...

I used to have a chronic overswing, i was erratic as anything h'cap 21 and going out as i just hit the wall. Not sure what caused it but my game was getting worse by the week to the point i questioned whether to continue. I loved my club so decided to have a go at overhauling my swing, has taken 15 months, im now down to 15.5 with a goal to be under 12 by end of year. Takes alot of perseverance and practise
 
It's still coming along. It's not going as fast as I wanted it to, but still feel like I'm getting better the more I work with it. I'm hoping to get out this weekend and get a lot more work in. Now that hunting season is over for me, I can get out more often and work to get more comfortable with it. I'm shooting consistently mid 80s with the swing right now, but can't wait to get back to the mid 70s again. Hopefully it won't be long.
 
I've been playing for 20 years and visited Geoff Jones last month. I'm all in on his philosophy and methods. So far, I've been very focused on the basics and I'm already seeing progress.

As corny as it sounds, I believe I was lost, now I've been found.

I say: Go for it. Nothing to lose!
 
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