Help getting new swing to settle...

I had a lesson on Tuesday with a new pro(my regular one has left. He was doing half price lessons as well, Do'h). I have been hitting it a bit fat and have lost heaps of distance lately My draw becomes a hook easily. I wanted more consistency, one week I will have 80, the next 90 or worse.

Well, This new guy said that it is amazing that I play as well as I do with such a bad swing! (I am a natural ball hitter with great hand eye co-ordination) He apologised for not sugar coating it...he said it looked awful!

I was too hunched and crouched in my stance, poor grip and my backswing was so far inside that the clubhead wasn't even reaching shoulder height and my hands halfway up my torso!

So...my grip: both hands rotated inwards further so that the v's between my thumb and first finger point towards right shoulder(you could see almost all my fingernails at address previously). Stance: Closer to the ball with my stance more upright, straighter in the back and less knee bend.
Backswing: start by turning the shoulders/upper body and club as one, then continue to turn as the club comes almost straight up (He said to practice the backswing slowly with my butt against a wall, the club shouldn't hit the wall at all) then start the downswing with my legs/hips so belt buckle pointing almost at the target at impact.

This has been a lot to take in at once, and a bit scary that the old pro had let it slip. It feels so uncomfortable standing over the ball now!

Results so far. After the lesson, could barely hit a ball. Now after two days of walking around the house with my new grip on a club, and practicing my swing against the fence: did my usual chipping practice today, it could be a coincidence but I felt my chips were going straighter with the new grip. Hit two buckets at the range tonight and am starting to get my head around it all. When I hit it well, I am getting a towering ball flight, straight or slight draw and a club or two in extra distance. So it is looking promising. Really struggling with the driver though.

Hopefully this will help me get some consistency when the swing gets settled, only problem is the Club Champs are in 2 1/2 weeks. I am planning to hit another bucket tomorrow, play on Saturday, two or three range sessions next week, play that weekend, one more range session before the match that Sunday, along with my usual shortgame practice.

Any other tips for helping a swing settle down and become natural again? Last time my swing changed it was a disaster area for at least a month!

I learned a different game as a youngster.
Courses, by and large, didn't have watered fairways.
We were taught to grip it strong, right elbow close to ribs, swing it back on the inside and make everything right to left.
Running it on was a safe bet most of the time.

Well, that got way too exaggerated.
Almost 20 years ago I went through changes that felt like what you describe.
I felt like I was crowding the ball and feared a slice from what felt like an absolutely vertical swing.

Luckily, I trusted and still trust the teacher.
I practiced like a fiend in between lessons.

The transformation took a season - about ten lessons over 5 months.
The improvement started before the second lesson.
I still work on the fundamentals I learned from Paul Ellington, Jr. (he should be searchable - now he is).

I can't swing it inside a phone booth anymore but this is much better.

It will take probably a year or so of hard work and gaining some confidence for you to get a more natural feel. Maybe longer. I went through the same thing. At first I was completely natural with no thought but to hit the ball. Then I took lessons, studied the swing and had all these mechanical swing thoughts in my brain. I too had very good hand-eye coordination and especially good hands. But you are already a better scorer than I was when I took lessons so maybe it will go faster for you. Work on the mechanics, the mechanics become habit, feel returns.

A year? Don't think so... I think if you practice in slow motion you can get it down in a week or two. Use a shorter club and give it 20 minutes a day while limiting the amount of balls you hit as much as possible. The emphasis should be on slow motion.

I honestly believe that a complete beginner.... someone who has never touched a golf club before.. can learn to break 80 consistently in three months of hard work that involves a lot of slow motion practice.

It depends on how long he has been swinging the club before these radical changes, how old he is and how much he practices. I too think you can learn a lot with slow motion practice. I have a cut off 4 iron I use in the house all the time. But two weeks is awful optimistic. I hope that is the case for him. In my case I never practiced much before I started getting lessons and learning about swing fundamentals. Practice was boring because you weren't working on anything because you new nothing about swing mechanics. You just hit balls and tried to will them to go straight.

You clearly have some natural ability to hit the ball. Also you mentioned that the pro's advice was able to get you some of those long high and straight iron shots. Since that's the case, just stick with it really. Changing grip is a very difficult thing to get accustomed to. Youre body has likely ingrained many bad habits, and since you are naturally athletic, you'll be able to bounce back and get those good habits ingrained. Before you know it, that grip will feel completely natural, and you'll wonder how you were able ot use the old one. Just stick with it. Your pro will guide you through any changes that you may need to make. One session he may advise something and then adjust it later. Just follow his advice and practice what he said, it'll get natural soon enough.

I hope this is the way!

I have been constantly holding a grip at home, while watching tv etc and the new grio is starting to feel nicer. I have good a perfect fence by my deck which is good for practicing my backswing against. As Mikelz said, it feels like an almost vertical swing, but it doesn't slice as long as I make a good turn on the backswing and start the path slightly in side. Key points seem to be: Good turn, make sure the backswing doesn't get too fast and short (tempo) and then get the body going before the club on the downswing. Then fully commit to the shot and follow through(been a problem for me for ages, especially with driver) This swing is already showing signs of promise. I can't believe how high the ball flight is... I think I need to hit balls though. I believe in sound theory but also need to be comfortable with what it feels like when you hit it! I will hit 50 today and then play tomorrow. Hopefully it will pay dividends straight away....Have to rethink all my distances again as well! Ahhh... the joys of trying to better yourself!

Its going to take time, but your new swing will feel natural eventually. It may take a month, it may take 6 months, it may even take you a year.
Its all a matter of how much you practice and how hard you work at it.
Just try not to get discouraged and keep in mind that its a neverend process of fine tuning your swing.
In golf, there is no such thing as, "perfect".
Ive recently started studying the mechanics of the golf swing. I used to just hack away and hope that the push would work its way out of my swing, but now when that happens, I understand much better why it happens and what I need to do in order to fix it.
Some days its a great feeling when Im hitting shots straight and pure, other days when Im just not on, its frustrating.
The key is to not let it get you down and to know that some days you wont be hitting the ball very well and you need to stay positive, put the club down and give it a rest until tomorrow.

I am having the same problems, I went to the Nick Faldo Golf Institute in Orlando last month and basically my game has now gone to pieces.
They said that I was over rotating my shoulders bringing the club too far inside, my grip and set up was prety muck OK apart from my shaft was leaning forward down target line.
So, have been working on not over rotating my shoulders and keeping the shaft upright at address and now I can't break 90 (was shooting mid to low 80's before) I was playing to a steady 16.4 handicap.
I live on a golf course, so every evening (weather permitting) I go out and practice but I just don't seem to be able to nail it down
They video your lessons and send them to you as a WMV video file for future referance, If I can work out how to post the WMV video file I will put the on for you all to see, maybe some of you can take on board some of the info and maybe give some more tips for me.

Mike

Well... There is good news and bad. The best thing is that I have drawn a bye in the first round of the club champs so I get an extra fortnight to get sorted...

Played 12 holes on Saturday afternoon. Hit plenty of thin and fat shots, and lots of other rubbish... Also hit a lot of good ones, we were the only ones on the course (the beauty of being in NZ) so often teed up 2 or 3 and dropped and hit again if it was a bad shot.

Hit a career winter drive, 245 metres (265ish yards, I think) all carry. was stoked with that, even though it was a second tee ball tee off, shows that my length is back to where it should be and more.

Just need to get a reliable connection on my irons and I will be away. Its so funny playing with a new swing, feels like I have just started playing again!

So happy about the extra fortnight to get used to it!