Slow Motion Practice - Does it Work?

[JetFan1983]

 

Here's me doing some super slow practice back in January. It's interesting to me what pieces don't show up even when I slow down this much. 

But I love slowing down. It's very meditative and much more low stress, both physically and emotionally. This game can be rough, and slowing down not only helps me improve, it helps me stay clear minded during a session.

It also helps me dial in feel better, which is ultimately what I'm trying to do. I'm exaggerating some feels to get my swing to look this way in these swings. 

I sort of feel like slowing down and hyper focusing on the piece you're trying to change will increase the probability that you will actually change it one day. Slowing down I think increases one's ability to feel (IMO anyway).

At some point you do have to speed up obviously. You do have to practice at speed, and we know too that you have to practice going faster than you normal would swing as well (I love speed training). But I think there's a place for slowing down a ton to really isolate a change.

Slowing down probably isn't for everyone, but I'm sure there are some struggling golfers out there who could benefit from adding some super slowed down swings to their practice. It might be interesting what slowing down reveals to you about your swing and your feel. 

[klineka]

10 hours ago, arturo28mx said:

My opinion: not too slow, maybe half speed.

What if half speed isn't slow enough for someone to perform their new desired movement correctly? 

I disagree with a blanket statement like that. The golf swing and peoples swing changes are far too complicated and variable for you to say that everyone can make all the swing changes necessary by going half speed and never slower.

 

10 hours ago, arturo28mx said:

A good alternative to practicing at half speed is practicing with half swings, where the left arm stops at parallel. 

And what if the priority piece involves something at the top of the backswing? Like wrist bowing/cupping, body rotation, hip turn, hand depth, etc. 

[ChetlovesMer]

9 minutes ago, klineka said:

What if half speed isn't slow enough for someone to perform their new desired movement correctly? 

I disagree with a blanket statement like that. The golf swing and peoples swing changes are far too complicated and variable for you to say that everyone can make all the swing changes necessary by going half speed and never slower.

I agree with you on this.

I'm not a kinematics expert or a swing coach. BUT I am a slow learner, not particularly coordinated, and I have absolutely zero rhythm. My experience tells me that I need to go slow enough that I can get it right. What ever that speed is, has the most benefit. Why go faster if it isn't correct? Why practice the wrong thing? Some changes are pretty easy and I can go about 80% speed. Some I have to go much ... much slower. 

I remember an interview with Tiger Woods when he was making his first big swing change. This was late 90's. I remember him saying he was practicing in such slow motion it didn't hardly look like he was moving. He claimed he was doing it over and over again just to get this one little tiny subtle piece of his new swing just right. The reason I remember it is that at the time people were saying "Why's he changing his swing? He's already awesome." Shortly after the swing change he'd win six consecutive tournaments. So ... There's that. 

[iacas]

11 hours ago, klineka said:

I disagree with a blanket statement like that.

I mean… the guy said "MAYBE half speed." I don't take it as a definitive or blanket statement.

[Vinsk]

22 hours ago, JetFan1983 said:

It might be interesting what slowing down reveals to you about your swing and your feel. 

1.  I’m inflexible.
2.  I’m in horrible positions
3. Slow feels have zero translation to any added speed.😃 
    

 

 

[JetFan1983]

  

2 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

1.  I’m inflexible.
2.  I’m in horrible positions
3. Slow feels have zero translation to any added speed.😃 

22 hours ago, JetFan1983 said:

Slowing down probably isn't for everyone 

I remembered to add this bit at the end of my post specifically for you, @Vinsk 😄

 

 

[pganapathy]

14 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

at the time people were saying "Why's he changing his swing? He's already awesome." Shortly after the swing change he'd win six consecutive tournaments. So ... There's that. 

This is one of those WHAT IF questions that can never be answered properly.  If he hadn't changed his swing he may well have won the same six consecutive tournament and possibly more since he didn't need to go through a few months of swing change and no tournament wins.  On the other hand, maybe the change made him better and led to the six wins

[ChetlovesMer]

7 hours ago, pganapathy said:

This is one of those WHAT IF questions that can never be answered properly.  If he hadn't changed his swing he may well have won the same six consecutive tournament and possibly more since he didn't need to go through a few months of swing change and no tournament wins.  On the other hand, maybe the change made him better and led to the six wins

[boogielicious]

9 hours ago, Vinsk said:

1.  I’m inflexible.
2.  I’m in horrible positions
3. Slow feels have zero translation to any added speed.😃 
    

 

 

4. The HAMMER doesn’t do slow Baby!

[Vinsk]

3 hours ago, boogielicious said:

4. The HAMMER doesn’t do slow Baby!

That’s right!!! If ya gonna be a bear….be a grizzly!!!

[GolfLug]

On 2/15/2023 at 10:52 PM, JetFan1983 said:

Slowing down probably isn't for everyone, but I'm sure there are some struggling golfers out there who could benefit from adding some super slowed down swings to their practice. It might be interesting what slowing down reveals to you about your swing and your feel. 

I don't know about the swing and the feel, but I am learning a few things about myself as a person. Heh. 

I have found that I have grossly underestimated the amount of discipline and intent it takes me to ingrain a move by slowing down so that it actually manifests in a full speed swing eventually. You really also have actively to counter away any conflicting moves and instincts.  

The pre-requites seem to be : 

1) You really, really, really have to buy in to the change you are desiring. You have to want it 10X more than even your instructor (Counter excuse:  most people don't - coz let's face it, it's not sexy enough, it's dumb looking). There is also an inherent addiction to hitting a ball hard. 

2) You have to absolutely hate your current picture. (Counter excuse: Hey it works 2/5 times.. what else do you want from a weekend hack??) 

3) Be disciplined enough to delay gratification. Ya' know it takes time and reps. People embark on an improvement journey with slow movements but routinely fall off the wagon with one shitty swing on course. And then, in support of their inner child, they make a list of why slowing down is not for them... 😁    

This is all from personal (cough.. failure.. cough) experience. 😉

Edited February 17, 2023 by GolfLug

[JetFan1983]

2 hours ago, GolfLug said:

I don't know about the swing and the feel, but I am learning a few things about myself as a person. Heh. 

I have found that I have grossly underestimated the amount of discipline and intent it takes me to ingrain a move by slowing down so that it actually manifests in a full speed swing eventually. You really also have actively to counter away any conflicting moves and instincts.  

The pre-requites seem to be : 

1) You really, really, really have to buy in to the change you are desiring. You have to want it 10X more than even your instructor (Counter excuse:  most people don't - coz let's face it, it's not sexy enough, it's dumb looking). There is also an inherent addiction to hitting a ball hard. 

2) You have to absolutely hate your current picture. (Counter excuse: Hey it works 2/5 times.. what else do you want from a weekend hack??) 

3) Be disciplined enough to delay gratification. Ya' know it takes time and reps. People embark on an improvement journey with slow movements but routinely fall off the wagon with one shitty swing on course. And then, in support of their inner child, they make a list of why slowing down is not for them... 😁    

This is all from personal (cough.. failure.. cough) experience. 😉

Interesting! In regards to point #3, I find it gratifying to see a change though, even if it's at this smaller scale! And I hit it more solid going slower, and that's still really gratifying to me. You did use the word "delayed" though so maybe you accounted for this point! 

Agreed though that things go awry when the on-course speed ramps back up... which is why you do still have to practice with your regular play speed as well... and then that's when the frustrations tend to come back. I think this is where volume is probably going to be your only friend. The right intent + volume probably is what yields the highest rate of lasting change unfortunately. Everyone's different, so I could be wrong on this, but that seems to be the case generally. 

 

One thing I want to add is that slowing down gives you more time. That's probably the simplest, most obvious thing that it provides you, which could theoretically be used to one's advantage. 

[iacas]

5 hours ago, GolfLug said:

I don't know about the swing and the feel, but I am learning a few things about myself as a person. Heh. 

I have found that I have grossly underestimated the amount of discipline and intent it takes me to ingrain a move by slowing down so that it actually manifests in a full speed swing eventually. You really also have actively to counter away any conflicting moves and instincts.  

The pre-requites seem to be : 

1) You really, really, really have to buy in to the change you are desiring. You have to want it 10X more than even your instructor (Counter excuse:  most people don't - coz let's face it, it's not sexy enough, it's dumb looking). There is also an inherent addiction to hitting a ball hard. 

2) You have to absolutely hate your current picture. (Counter excuse: Hey it works 2/5 times.. what else do you want from a weekend hack??) 

3) Be disciplined enough to delay gratification. Ya' know it takes time and reps. People embark on an improvement journey with slow movements but routinely fall off the wagon with one shitty swing on course. And then, in support of their inner child, they make a list of why slowing down is not for them... 😁    

This is all from personal (cough.. failure.. cough) experience. 😉

I think that's a really good post.

[boogielicious]

Excellent post @GolfLug. It takes a lot of discipline to learn to slow the swing down the way @JetFan1983 showed. I’m not a very patient person and at times I speed up  in practice and that just sets me back. We just have to stick with it and work the speed up gradually.

[GolfLug]

6 hours ago, JetFan1983 said:

Interesting! In regards to point #3, I find it gratifying to see a change though, even if it's at this smaller scale! And I hit it more solid going slower, and that's still really gratifying to me. You did use the word "delayed" though so maybe you accounted for this point! 

Yeah, this makes you a high nineties percentile learner. Learning efficiently is a talent in its own right.

 

4 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Excellent post @GolfLug. It takes a lot of discipline to learn to slow the swing down the way @JetFan1983 showed. I’m not a very patient person and at times I speed up  in practice and that just sets me back. We just have to stick with it and work the speed up gradually.

Agreed.. gotta keep at it. Honestly the support here helps massively in getting back on track.

4 hours ago, iacas said:

I think that's a really good post.

Thanks.

Edited February 18, 2023 by GolfLug