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Playing a round mid swing changes.

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garethw

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I had a trackman session this afternoon with my usual instructor and a locally based touring pro. We only concentrated on my driver swing, my main problems are hitting down to much and not using my hips to start the downswing. A couple of minor changes in my set up (felt like massive changes), and a new "thought" to start my downswing made some positive changes, a shallower AoA, and more club head speed.

I obviously need a lot more range time practising the changes and trying to be more consistent with my set up and swing. However I have been starting to put better rounds together lately mostly from my iron play and short game, and I really do not want to start seeing my scores going up as a result of my driver swing changes. Do I try and use the changes when I play a round, or use my usual swing on the course and just keep practising what I learnt today on the range until I am confident to take it onto the course?

How do you deal with swing changes and playing at the same time?
 
garethw said:
I had a trackman session this afternoon with my usual instructor and a locally based touring pro. We only concentrated on my driver swing, my main problems are hitting down to much and not using my hips to start the downswing. A couple of minor changes in my set up (felt like massive changes), and a new "thought" to start my downswing made some positive changes, a shallower AoA, and more club head speed.

I obviously need a lot more range time practising the changes and trying to be more consistent with my set up and swing. However I have been starting to put better rounds together lately mostly from my iron play and short game, and I really do not want to start seeing my scores going up as a result of my driver swing changes. Do I try and use the changes when I play a round, or use my usual swing on the course and just keep practising what I learnt today on the range until I am confident to take it onto the course?

How do you deal with swing changes and playing at the same time?
Click to expand...

I would play rounds with the change. Only playing and the range will make it work. If your committed to it, stick with it 100%.
 
Play with a 3w or hybrid off the tee til you've practiced at the to range and are comfortable
With the change on the driver


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My view is this your either 100% in or none at all with swing changes. You can not flip back and forth between a range swing and course swing as you will have zero consistency if you try

Take the change to the course if it doesn't work after a couple tee boxes drop back to a long iron off the tee.
 
I had a lesson yesterday and went straight to the course with it. I did struggle a bit, but I could see the results when everything clicked.

No sense in regressing. Commit to it regardless of the outcome and long term it will pay off.
 
I would stick with the changes all the time, it is painful for a while but once it clicks you will be much more confident in your swing. I also am making some changes and after 4 weeks it is starting to show up in better scores, now I know right away when I regressed into the old swing with loss of distance and accuracy. I try to just relax and let the swing happen, most of the time the next shot is much better.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I went to the range this morning for a practice again. Tomorrow we are playing 18 so will see what happens and continue to try and carry out the changes. Mentally tell myself it will work and not be annoyed when it all goes pear shaped.
 
Good topic imo and something I been struggling with lately and specifically with the driver too. I went through a change last year (via lessons) and for the most part my driving has been good. Somedays very good while others so,so and on ocassion it could still tank too for a given round but over all pretty consistent on the good side of things most of the time. This year (with continued lessons) my swing has further adjusted and my driver has again been pretty consistent and i again been happy with it.

However, last 3 to 4 rounds I been struggling with it. Now I am finding myself switching back and forth and even trying a combo of the two adjustments in order to find my groove again. I am pretty tossed up about it and find m,yself switching swings in the midst of playing. I am having little fairways and the distance is not my norm and the ocassional errant shot which has been just about gone has now returned a little bit too. Even a real good drive is leaving me confused with how i did it and how it felt. Something is off fo certain. I was at the range the other day and trying to figure it out again and just missed my instructer. To be honest another lesson is not money I want to spend but if I cant get this figured out I think I'm going to have to.
 
I've found that taking a change directly to the course has negative effects, for me at least. I will spend a good bit of time practicing, trying to ingrain that change before I go to the course. I think I get less frustrated that way and will have less of a tendency to let older bad habits creep back in.
 
I say dive right in. You'll autocorrect, and that's fine, as you can always continue the rebuild on the range after the round. It's all about getting comfortable with your new swing without reverting, and that's something you'll need to do on the course anyways.
 
You have to play with the swing changes, even if they're not automatic. Your score(s) maybe higher, but so what? Build up a handicap. Take the help as you are learning. An even better idea, go to the forward tips, bring a 6i on down. Don't put so much pressure on yourself to have the new swing mastered in a short amount of time.

Look at how long it takes some of the best players in the world to groove a new swing.
 
Gets worse before it gets better. You'll have to learn to take it to the course eventually, so go for it. A few higher scores is no big deal if you're looking at long term improvement.
 
Made some adjustments to my pitches and short game. Didn't take hold at the OC invitational and I wasn't comfortable, but kept trying. Played this weekend and I was seeing better results. I would say battle through and you'll be happy.
 
I think you have to put in play whatever you've learned in your lessons. Only by reinforcement and repetition, will the changes stick.
 
For me, focusing on and implementing swing changes specific to my driver usually has a negative impact on my iron game, initially. (also happens in reverse if I'm making changes to my iron game). Again with me, I'd expect to hit my irons less crisp tomorrow but it wouldn't bother me as I'd know that ultimately my entire game should be improving soon due to the changes. As Hawk stated, you'll need to take the change to the course eventually, so why not tomorrow. GL!
 
I am in the middle of swing change ... with a lower AoA ... moving hips, etc ... I have gone from average 100'ish to low 90's the last month ... it was a trust issue for me ... I would get nervous that I would hit a bad shot, and revert back almost without thinking about it ...

But I am committed to it now ...occasional I still come from the outside ... but I instantly know it ...
 
Well I took it to the course and it wasn't pretty to say the least. Only hit 5 fairways off the tee, the rest were a combination of these, low left, low right, a sky rocket up in the air landing 150 yards in a fairway bunker, couple of very very bad slices and a lot of frustration. Irons were not to bad and short game + putting kept me down to a 101, 55 out 46 in. More practice and perseverance required.....................
 
Stick with the swing change, and play the miss it sometimes generates. One thing is that, sometimes, your old swing is going to bubble to the surface and you'll hit a shot that's some combination of your new swing and your old swing. Learning how to deal with that and continue to swing confidently is going to be very helpful later on down the road.
 
Adjustments and don't over think it. I work on swings at the range. On the course, I try to up the ball in the hole
 
I am definitely sticking with them. The results when I get it correct are very good. I just need to get it correct more times than I am at the moment. The biggest fault I have at the moment is instead of turning (or feeling like) my left hip is turning to start the downswing Im sliding it forward and losing my spine angle which ends up with me leaning towards the target and not away from it resulting in hitting down on the ball. Somedays I really regret being an engineer and having a brain that has to understand how everything works instead of just accepting things work.
 
Stick with it and be patient. Improvement is a process. Changes take time and practice and effort. You may be a little inconsistent and feel like you are struggling for a bit but consistency will come and when it clicks, lookout for dropping scores.


garethw said:
Somedays I really regret being an engineer and having a brain that has to understand how everything works instead of just accepting things work.
Click to expand...

The golf swing is about creating and then using up leverage. It is that simple.
 
Have been trying to have a more 1 piece take away and keep down though the ball. My ball striking from practicing this at home pre shot routine seems to be helping. I can see my scores dropping if I keep this up.
 
Tedfroop said:
Stick with it and be patient. Improvement is a process. Changes take time and practice and effort. You may be a little inconsistent and feel like you are struggling for a bit but consistency will come and when it clicks, lookout for dropping scores.




The golf swing is about creating and then using up leverage. It is that simple.
Click to expand...

I hit 4 of my longest straightest drives so far this morning (they also happened to be the last 4 drives of the round), so the changes when I get them right are working. On Sunday we only worked on my driver but this seems to have sub-consciously moved over into my irons as well. This is good and bad, where as I knew roughly my yardages and was seeing some consistency, they now seem to be moving up and getting longer. I usually play with my wife and even she is commenting on the extra distance and nicer ball flight, things must be slowly moving in the right direction.
 
Just like a new pair of shoes you have to wear them in, and the sooner the better. I've changed many pairs in my journey.


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