Managing your game during a swing overhaul

[sonicblue]

I've recently started working on a pretty severe swing overhaul. Despite getting my handicap down to 8 last year, it really wasn't a good year. I was very inconsistent (anti-handicap a 14+). This year, only my short game touch is saving me from really blowing up. I've been all over the place off the tee and my irons are simply nonexistent. I took a video of my swing and easily found the issues:

* Swing plane is way too steep
* Backswing is too long, and breaks down at the top
* Swing in general uses way too much arms
* Setting up too far from the ball and reaching

When I just rehearse the new movements, they feel good, I'm just not consistent with them yet. I've not been playing much, just my weekly 9-hole league, and when I go, I try to avoid thinking all those technical steps. I try to focus only on a shorter swing and my tempo and, while I do feel like I'm on the road to a brighter future, the present is still a mess. I'm rarely in fairways, and my irons are not getting me to greens. Once I'm greenside, I'm still able to hit good shots and feel very good with my putter, but I'm just an array of scramble-for-par, if-you-miss-it's-bogey. Of course, if either of my first two shots actually gets me in trouble, I'm bringing big numbers in.

The question is, I know why things are a mess, and I feel good about the changes I'm making and that I'll eventually come out better on the 'other side,' but what can you do to make the rounds you play in the meantime less frustrating? Focus points? Or games to play? Just something to take away more concrete, after you just shot 10 strokes over your handicap *again*, than 'boy, those swing changes will kick in any day now.....'???

[Dent]

After getting my Driver swing reviewed on here, its now due for a swing overhaul. Because its only my driver, it's alot simpler for me because I can just leave it in the bag and not hit it at all.

Shooting bad scores is a part of overhauling, get to the range asap and fix that problem, for now, play like you usually do and just wait until you completely fix it. Maybe on the course try little things that may improve your swing. Do not completely change your swing right on the course, because you'll end up even worse.

For my driver I left it in the bag until the 16th last round where I tried a completely different swing. It was the most amazing swing i've ever had. I don't know exactly what I did, but I now know that I can fix it and I did do something right. I knew it was a minor adjustment, and even though I hit one good drive I kept it in the bag until I hit the range.

[sonicblue]

That's my real issue, I don't really have time to practice. I do drills at home when I can, but can't really get any extended hitting-balls practice time (which, I know, will make this take much longer).

[Dent]

The I guess the course will be your range in this case. Get out for a practise round when there aren't any people around hit ball after ball from places you have troubles with, freeze your swing at points you feel are unstable.

Playing well and shooting a good score should be the least of your worries at this point.

[sonicblue]

Agreed, score is not my concern, really. I guess my question, rephrased better is, "since you better accept you're going to score poorly during an overhaul like this, what other kinds of ways can you either quantify improvement, or just entertain yourself?"

I'm re-reading my Golf54 book, and that talks a lot about setting very specific controllable goals and grading yourself on those. I tried to do that last night in my league. My goal was to consciously relax on each shot, set a very simple plan and to not try to change that plan during the swing. Along that line, I took away a good feeling, but it's just not quite as quantifiable or fulfilling as good score, so I'm looking for other ideas.

[CoolBreeze20]

Have you considered, since you are straped for time, just skipping your league for a couple weeks, and using that time to go to the range and hit a huge bucket of balls? This could help you get your swing in working order much faster. Lessons arent a bad idea to help overhaul a swing as well, but I am sure you already knew that. Good luck!

[JimmyDoesGolf]

I would say from only playing a short time, don't try to work with your faults. Eg. if you keep pushing it, dont start aiming left, as it will probably make it worse.

Whatever you do, keep using one swing. Don't change between your new swing and your old swing depending on if you're on the range, or you'll just get confused.

[sonicblue]

Have you considered, since you are straped for time, just skipping your league for a couple weeks, and using that time to go to the range and hit a huge bucket of balls? This could help you get your swing in working order much faster. Lessons arent a bad idea to help overhaul a swing as well, but I am sure you already knew that. Good luck!

Unfortunately, I'm a bad range guy. I get frustrated easily and end up scraping-and-hitting like a madman. Honestly, my biggest periods of improvement tend to come when I completely abandon the range.

I'm not really looking for ways to speed up my overhaul, per se (although, that would be awesome). I guess I'm not real sure what I'm looking for here. I just know that, with the limited time I can devote right now, my enjoyment is faltering just a little during this 'hiccup,' and I was hoping for some advice to keep my morale up.

[lolzzlolzz]

Just try work on your game on the course. When you have a simple, correct, repeating swing you will be able to think strategy. Until then, you can't because you will never be able to execute any strategy.

since you don't have a lot of time to go to the range, you should practice in slow motion at home.

[Bo the Golfer]

I worked on a swing change all winter without hitting a single ball and it's worked out well so far. I used a weighted club and swung in slow motion doing both just backswings and fullswings. This seemed to help me a ton so hope it works for you!

[Avid Golfer]

S

I've recently started working on a pretty severe swing overhaul. I took a video of my swing and easily found the issues:

My question for you is: What are your swing thoughts? I'm a person that believes if you're making the right changes (and have sound swing concepts) then you should see improvement after a very short amount of time (if not immediately). If your swing results are getting worse I would think one (or more) of your swing concepts may be flawed, and not causing the action(s) you think it does.

My recommendation is to play a round only focusing on setup changes (and not swing motions) if possible. See if your results improve. Then progress to focusing on the setup, and your takeaway (but no downswing thoughts). See if your results improve (if your swing regresses again then your takeaway motion or concept may be flawed). Like a previous poster stated take the changes one step at a time, and if possible check yourself in video to see if the changes you are making have actually changed anything, and if so if they have changed things for the better (since you could just be creating a new flaw). If you're going to have more than one swing thought during your swing I recommend you condense it down to one backswing and one downswing thought (like Nick Faldo does in his Swing for Life book). A good swing takes under 2 seconds to happen, so if you have a long list of positions to move through it is unlikely that you are going to have time to execute them successfully.

[sonicblue]

S

I agree, as I said, I've been trying to avoid excessive mechanical thoughts. That is, I'm taking my new setup (slightly closer to the ball, standing a bit more upright, arms hanging), but I don't consider that a swing thought. Once I get into that position, that part's over.

My only swing thoughts are focusing on a short backswing and good tempo/not rushing my downswing, which I guess qualifies as your "only one thought per direction." Really, that constitutes all of the changes I'm trying to make. The only other one is a flatter swing plane itself, but I can honestly say I don't get hung up on that while playing. The issue that's in the way right now is, my old swing used a lot of hands. It made me inconsistent, but at least I knew that feel. Now that I'm trying to minimize my hands, using the bigger shoulder muscles in conjuction with better connectedness and better action with my lower body, I'm having trouble figuring out the new feel - or lack of feel - with my hands at impact. The other changes actually feel really good (you're right, I should verify them on video). I feel more balanced, stronger, I feel like I'm hitting a lot more fundamentals. I just can't quite return the club to the impact area with a firm, square position.

[sonicblue]

Well, against my instinct, I went to the range at lunch today, as it was unusually cool (among other reasons, I generally avoid so I don't return to work sweaty). It was a good session. I set the goal to do ZERO scrape-and-hits, which I achieved. I tried to use as few focus points as possible:

* good setup: every time, balanced, arms hanging naturally, ball position consistent

* backswing: I generally just thought to myself to stay short, compact and overall just feel "strong" and balanced at the top, so I wouldn't be inclined to muscle the downswing

*downswing: no thought, really, again, just "don't muscle it"

* impact: this is what I really tried to work on the most. As I said, I just don't have the feeling for what to do with my hands at impact. As much as I don't want to be handsy, I still believe I should be able to "feel" the clubface, be comfortable with what it feels like to be square (which, I'm hoping, down the road leads to being able to shape shots). I think I stumbled onto my issue....

I've been doing a "rolling" or "twisting" motion with my hands through the impact zone. Feeling like there was only a split second that the club would be square (which is probably true, if it ever got to square!), it was leading to a lot of hesitation/upset rhythm in my swing, which is why I couldn't really focus on the bigger changes. Today, I achieved a feeling like, when my wrists released, my hands simply went more down to the ball, and "to square", not "through square," and stayed there. My shoulder turn is what then kept them moving through the ball let it release to a "toe up" position out in front of me.

I had realized a while ago - when I posted my video - that I was definitely slinging my hands through and around my body after impact. I was working on not flipping them after impact, but until now, hadn't quite figured out the mistakes I was making leading up to/at impact. Hopefully, this will immediately get rid of some of those really bad strikes, so I can relax a little more while the bigger changes are taking hold.