Do you have trouble keeping consistent swing thoughts?

[HR Golf]

This question occurred to me today while I was walking 9 at the local muni course. I'm by no means a great golfer but I'm improving quickly and finally broke the 90's last week. I notice when I play I'll concentrate too much on one aspect of my swing, such as swinging under the ball on the downswing; but then I'll forgot about other important aspects of swinging.

For example today I had all my thoughts on choking up on the driver, shifting my weight forward on the downswing and getting under the ball, all of this but I kept whiffing. Why? I forgot to drop my right shoulder and was really tensed up. After 2 or 3 holes of whiffs I realized my problem and dropped the shoulder and my swing was back to normal.

I sometimes can just block out all my thoughts, clear my head, swing, and be in the clear; however, I feel as if I don't constantly think about how to swing I'll mess up.

Does anyone else ever have too many swing thoughts at once? What do you do to make your swing easier and more natural?

[flopdarock]

my swing thoughts are of how much my girl will be pissed off if i dont finish 9 in time to pick her up... other than that... all the practice and the constant shadow swinging i do pretty much has my swing engrained in my muscle memory... the only time i really think of my swing mechanics is after a terribly errant shot... is it really my mechanics or is it my poor strategy that got me into the water/woods/sand?

[GolferDot]

I pretty much use one swing thought, I say back in my mind when I think the club has reached the top and hit when I think the club strikes the ball. Helps with feel and a natural flowing swing.

[mirv]

i do my best to completely blank myself out when i'm standing over a ball. before walking up to the ball, i might think to myself "be sure to line your shoulders up with the target" or "be sure to use a strong grip," but once i'm standing over that ball, it's a total blank. if i start thinking about anything - swing mechanics or otherwise - i almost always mess up the shot somehow.

[1dayIllBaPro]

I make sure I have right grip, setup, stance, ball position, and balance. After everything is right, I concentrate only my balance, and tempo (while keeping my eyes on the back of the ball the whole time).

and for me to be more consistent, I use my timing stead of feeling. For example, many golfers might feel their hands reach the ball then release the club. Not for me. I use my timing to release the club. But in order to do this properly, I have to make sure my tempo is the same everytime. If my tempo is off, for example, I swing too slow.... then I would release the club too fast. In the other hand, if I swing too fast, then I wouldn't have enough time too release the club.

Start from the backswing. Find out how fast you push the club back to make a good contact. Remember the speed, and use it everytime, for every shot (of course, except chipping, putting)

Downswing, find out how fast you turn your left hip out of the way. Play with the speed until you get them right. Don't copy anyone's speed. Find your own speed, and tempo.

My timing is the same from backswing to finish. Try this, it helped me improve my consistency, and it should help you too.

[MiniMoe]

I have only one thought when I'm playing. "Target". Everything about me and my swing are target oriented. If I'm not swinging well one day I might remind myself before I step up to the ball to stay balanced, or slow down, or swing down the line... but it's always a simple thought and not mechanical. And if that does not work, I just go with the flow and do the best I can with what I have that day.

[PiKapp23]

Once you've played for a while and have reached a certain level, most of swing and mechanics become second nature - you don't have to think so much about them. However, it is good to have a swing thought or two for most rounds. The bad thing is, the same swing thought doesn't always work. 1 thing my PGA Professional father always believed in was write swing thoughts that work for you on an index card (or something of the sort) and save that in your bag. The purpose for this is to use as a reference for those days when you're having a particular swing problem or the swing thought you're using isn't working. I have a couple index cards with about 10 swing thoughts and I'll refer to them on days where game is not going well. Each thought usually results in some sort of change in my play that day (some good/some not good), but as you become comfortable with those thoughts you learn which swing thoughts seem to work for which faults/problems. The biggest thing to remember with swing thoughts is to keep them at a minimum and keep them simple.