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Perfect Swing or Perfect Your Swing?

Perfect your swing. All that matters is the impact of club face to ball, right? How it gets there is unique to each individual. When I went about rebuilding my swing, I started with what amounts to punch shots. I figured out what felt natural to me for doing that, and elongated my swing from there. I swing (in my head) about a 3/4 swing and get the distance I used to get by overswinging. It got me hitting down on the ball much better, and I have been the best I have ever been with full swings. I also gained a punch shot, something I never had before and can be quite useful to have.
 
There are certain things that need to happen in every swing for it to work correctly. I try to find an instructor who will focus on these things and not all the other personal things. For instance, tempo is very personal - some are very quick, others are slow. Some swings are very fluid, and others are quite violent. But regardless of the style points, every successful swing gets the club into the right positions to compress the ball and hit it with control. Just look at Jim Furyk's swing!
 
If you are able to know where your ball is going when things go right you are on your way.

There are no perfect swings but there are perfect shots And that's why we play the game.
 
Otis32 said:
Azinger has been on a "fingerprint" vs. "fundamentals" rant since he was calling the British open a few weeks back. As I hear it his basic premise has been that every golfer has a swing "fingerprint" that they develop very early on in the game and is almost like a genetic code for that individual golfer. Azinger feels that people would improve much more if they just concentrated on tweaking that basic swing "fingerprint" with a focus on getting some simple things lined out like better shaft lean, better face alignment and proper lower body movement. A few things that he says that all great golfers possess.
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I heard those comments during The Open telecast too and I think Azinger is dead on. It's the same idea as conveyed in Bagger Vance "“Inside each and every one of us is one true authentic swing." We're all different and consequently no two swings will be the same. The number one fundamental is to get the club where you need it at impact to hit the ball where you want it to go, all the other stuff depends on the individual. Unfortunately, Kong and Azinger are right in the fact that most instructors want you to do things their way instead of working with you to find your true swing and then improve it.

I am definitely in the perfect MY swing camp. I had been languishing in swing fix mode for the previous few years after taking a year off from golf (trying everything under the sun and a few instructors who were no help at all). Last September a good friend got me back to swinging like I used to in high school and now that I have found my true swing again I've just been steadily working to make it better and tightening up everything. In the past 6 months I've gone from a 7.4 to a 3.8 and it's really because I'm finally swinging like me again.
 
I never had a lesson, preferring to figure it out on my own. Lots of wasted time getting to where I am now, no doubt. But my swing is my swing. Although influenced by others throughout the years, on TV or in person, I take a degree of pride in knowing that my swing is all me, free of any hands-on direction. Still, I recommend to any and all that they seek lessons and not take the route of this stubborn mule.

So where I once wanted to swing like a tour pro, now I just wanna be me. Good enough, enough of the time. :)
 
I see this in golfers that used to be longtime baseball/softball players.

When they start playing golf, they put their bb/sb swing on it, and typically, that results in a higher trajectory fade, with the weight ending up on the back foot. Then, when these guys start taking lessons, they are told about loading the back foot (or whatever term that instructor uses), weight transfer and finishin on their front foot, but staying in balance.

But, for the bb/sb guys/gals, when they work on the above, all kinds of crazy stuff can happen. And, I cannot fathom how frustrating that would be. But, if they incorporate their old bb/sb swing into their golf swing, I have seen much more consistent results.
 
staticline said:
I see this in golfers that used to be longtime baseball/softball players.

When they start playing golf, they put their bb/sb swing on it, and typically, that results in a higher trajectory fade, with the weight ending up on the back foot. Then, when these guys start taking lessons, they are told about loading the back foot (or whatever term that instructor uses), weight transfer and finishin on their front foot, but staying in balance.

But, for the bb/sb guys/gals, when they work on the above, all kinds of crazy stuff can happen. And, I cannot fathom how frustrating that would be. But, if they incorporate their old bb/sb swing into their golf swing, I have seen much more consistent results.
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This would be me. I have a lot of my old baseball swing in there, specifically at impact.
 
The swing I have the swing that will work. I will continue to take lessons to make this swing the perfect swing for me.
 
Getting there with mine after my first ever lesson (in 10 years of casual playing) in which my instructor recommended I change my grip, backswing, aiming method and ball position. A good instructor will explain why this helps in a way you understand, drawing on various analogies and will give you drills to do this. I've seen a huge improvement, even if the grip and backswing aren't quite there yet!
 
In my opinion, the perfect swing is the one that maximizes your physical make-up, athletic ability, and hand/eye coordination. So I guess there is a perfect swing for everyone, each one different. I'm content with my swing, and it is far from perfect. But I don't have the motivation to invest the time and money it would take to make it "perfect." I'd rather play golf with the game I have, than spend countless hours on the practice range pounding golf balls hoping to improve by a couple of strokes.
 
I really wish in retrospect that I had never tried for the "Big" change. I went back to my old swing on the back nine today and hit some pretty niffy shots. The problem is it's really hard for me to trust my old swing. I had a pretty draw back in the day that only turned ugly when I had a bad hole and tried to muscle up on the next shot. Draw turned to ugly hook however after all is said and done, I would have never changed my basic natural tendency. Like Arnold said, play your game. I wish I would have listened to that wisdom now.
 
Ole Gray said:
I really wish in retrospect that I had never tried for the "Big" change. I went back to my old swing on the back nine today and hit some pretty niffy shots. The problem is it's really hard for me to trust my old swing. I had a pretty draw back in the day that only turned ugly when I had a bad hole and tried to muscle up on the next shot. Draw turned to ugly hook however after all is said and done, I would have never changed my basic natural tendency. Like Arnold said, play your game. I wish I would have listened to that wisdom now.
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I had missed this until today, I agree buddy, you did hit the ball much better on the back 9 today. It looked like the Ole Gray that I knew a couple of years ago. I remember while you were still at Jonesco and you deciding that you wanted to hit a fade instead of a draw. It has been very hit or miss since. We are getting older and we need to just do what we can do, not try to revamp our swings now. Too much work involved and we really are just looking to have fun and hit a few good shots, not play on tour.
 
I've been thinking a little about this lately as I try to get my extension looking like I want it to. Extending the arms is not a rebuild type change, of course, but it had me thinking in looking at my video that I have some little tics that look funky. I have to remind myself not to nitpick this little stuff, and focus on the downswing through impact - which my pro is fairly good about reminding me about.

That being said, I'm hitting the ball too far out on the toe lately and that doesn't work lol
 
SkiBumGolfer said:
I've been thinking a little about this lately as I try to get my extension looking like I want it to. Extending the arms is not a rebuild type change, of course, but it had me thinking in looking at my video that I have some little tics that look funky. I have to remind myself not to nitpick this little stuff, and focus on the downswing through impact - which my pro is fairly good about reminding me about.

That being said, I'm hitting the ball too far out on the toe lately and that doesn't work lol
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Toe hits are my miss as well. We are coming over and swinging to far to the inside. It leads to dead pulls for me
 
I tinker a lot and chase many things. These days it is about making a backswing that feels natural, ends up in a nice position at top with a good hip turn, full shoulder turn with a left wrist not too bowed or cupped. From there it is all about starting with the bump, right elbow in and swing hard but in balance with a touch of secondary tilt. If I did all that right I end up with about 105-110 clubhead speed, coming a bit from the inside maybe 2-4 degrees with about 1 degree open clubface. When I don't do that my miss is usually an over the top pull or a very low ball flight with no +AOA. For the most part I would say I am not chasing a perfect swing but I am chasing a perfect ball flight for my swing speed.
 
I gave up trying to have a perfect swing and just work on trying to improve what I have. I actually went back and forth a lot over the years with trying to build a model swing, but I completely gave that up a few years ago and have had much more success just improving my swing.

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Awkward silence said:
Toe hits are my miss as well. We are coming over and swinging to far to the inside. It leads to dead pulls for me
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Yup, leads to dead pulls and worse, pull hooks for me. It's a combination of swinging too inside and not extending enough I think, but I'm setting up a lesson to verify and hopefully fix.
 
I am focused on owning my swing and just fine tuning a couple things so it's as repeatable as possible.
 
I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle for me. By no means am I ever going to have a perfect swing but it's a lot better than it was a couple years ago. The main thing is that I always want to hit the ball better than the day before.
 
I want to perfect my swing ,not copy a perfect swing. We have to work with what we got. Do the best we can to work on the fundamentals of the swing. There is no way to copy a swing or we would all be the same.
 
Perfect is a difficult adjective, both in describing what is perceived as the perfect swing and for use in my own swing.

I overhauled my swing 3 years ago on my own and I'm happy where it's at. Since then I've made a few tweaks to it. I just need more practice, stamina and confidence.
 
Thread is timely for me. I had my first lesson yesterday and my pro had me work on hinging my wrist and keeping my left arm straight. It feels very unnatural and I can't get a clean strike on the ball so I'm not entirely bought in to what he is teaching. I have to remind myself that he's been teaching a long time and I may have to get worse before I get better.

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Philadelphia said:
Thread is timely for me. I had my first lesson yesterday and my pro had me work on hinging my wrist and keeping my left arm straight. It feels very unnatural and I can't get a clean strike on the ball so I'm not entirely bought in to what he is teaching. I have to remind myself that he's been teaching a long time and I may have to get worse before I get better.

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Also keep in mind that it might feel wrong, only because it is new
 
blugold said:
Also keep in mind that it might feel wrong, only because it is new
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Yup, I'm sure there will be much more "new" that'll make me uncomfortable, too. I'm trying to keep an open mind!

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Most of us have repeatable swings. They're just not very good. It's the good shot where we put everything together that's the anomaly. Those of us who started golf later in life are trying to buy a swing. It's not possible. It takes a lot of time, proper instruction, ability to deal with the frustration of not hitting good shots and keep working at it until you start hitting good shots repeatedly.

Most of us don't have the 10,000 hours of practice that it takes to become highly proficient at this game. We worry about the money it takes to do that too. Taking lessons multiple times a week, hitting 1000 balls a day while working a day job and keeping a family just don't balance out. This is why we struggle and don't develop the perfect swing.

Kids starting at age 8 can go for it. They can learn how to hit a ball. They keep going at it. They can take lessons weekly. They can go to the range daily. All they need is mom or dad to take them. They're not worried about how much money it costs. That's your problem. By the time they're 15 if they've stuck with it, they'll have a solid foundation and in some cases could be on the verge of turning professional straight out of high school.

I started at 60, three years ago. Because of what is happening at the driving range this winter regarding memberships, this summer is going to have to be my summer of improvement if there's going to be any. So it's off to the range. I have to work on timing.
 
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