What to do? Play with new swing thought or "revert"?

[No Mulligans]

I've been fighting starting my downswing with a shoulder turn and coming over the top.  I really have to focus in practice to do this which results in a draw.  Back on the course, slice city.

I've decided I need to take my practice swing/thoughts to the course to fix this problem.

[TheDIYGolfer]

On 2/25/2016 at 8:31 AM, djfajt71 said:

I recently started with Evolvr and am very eager to finally fix my all of my flaws!  I recently completed my first submission and was given a new swing thought and a slightly narrower stance to begin working on.  I am stopping by the range today to begin my work on it. Here is my dilemma.  I am playing in a scramble this Saturday.  Do I try to incorporate the new swing thought and stance so soon?  Or, for that day, do I go with what I know and go back to the training after the scramble?  If it helps, the specific swing thought is to relax my arms more on my downswing.  My arms are initiating my downswing, instead of letting my hips do so. 

I know this is a bit late of a response, but thought it might help for the future.

Whenever I am trying to incorporate a new swing thought and still have to play an important round of golf, here is my process (hope it helps!): 

1.  During the practice swings (2-3), I focus hard on the swing thoughts that I am wanting to change.  

2.  I will always focus while setting up (so yes, incorporate that narrow stance)

3.  When it comes time to swing, I simply count in my head "1, 2, 3", and focus on making a rhythmic swing, free of those swing thoughts.  The key is to TRUST that your practice and pre-shot routine have ingrained the movements well enough for your swing to produce a good result.  

This method won't have you hitting 14/14 fairways, but I think it will help you incorporate new swing thoughts a lot quicker than before!

Let me know what you think :)

[Mike Boatright]

Iv'e been around golf a long time sir and from Iv'e seen at the range in general people are always trying a new swing or something in general before a tourney and they totally screw it up. Your new head doctor or swing thought could help but in general golf is cause and effect with reaction and timing! Go out there and try this mental approach because everyone is different and it's ok to find what works in your head however if this closed stance isn't working then revert back to what works physically. The two are never really related your head can get in the way for sure but if your fundamentally doing something wrong them even a zen clarity won't help much with full shots but it could maybe help with putting ?

Edited March 7, 2016 by Mike Boatright

[gregsandiego]

I'm revisiting this topic because I find myself in this same situation: lesson on Saturday golf on Sunday.

The instructor made substantial changes in my swing, The biggest thing is I tend to dip my left shoulder instead of a pure rotation.

I intend to try the new swing on the course today - a purely friendly game with friends. I'll just warn them I'm "in training".

I am a bit nervous about it though. Some of my shots with the "new" swing were pretty terrible.

 

[Rainmaker]

I struggle with this constantly.  I am usually either not thinking about or playing golf at all . .or practicing intensely and making a lot of changes.  So I always feel like . .I can't go out and play because I'm in the middle of swing changes. 

But I figured out a way to beat it.  Obviously, my name in real life is not Rainmaker.  When I practice, I'm myself.  When I take lessons, I'm myself.  When I hit the course, I try to be Rainmaker.    

Rainmaker is a confident but kind of ignorant character.  He does not practice.  He does not think about his swing.  If he hits a bad shot he barely notices - he definitely does not try to correct for it.  He just lines up to the ball, thinks of where he wants to hit it and then hits it.  If he's hitting some bad shots, he'll work around them.  He's good at getting the ball in the hole, that's it. 

I have gone from a practice session where I could not even make contact with the ball to playing 2 hours later and hitting pretty much like normal.  Because it was actually me that was shanking them 2 hours ago, not Rainmaker . .that guy doesn't even practice. 

I know it's a little "out there" and probably wouldn't work for everybody . .but I'm very much an "in my head" kind of person and it seems to work really well for me.  It really helps to lesson the anxiety, make better mental pictures on the course . .basically to play as well as I can (however bad that may be, lol). 

 

 

[gregsandiego]

27 minutes ago, Rainmaker said:

I struggle with this constantly.  I am usually either not thinking about or playing golf at all . .or practicing intensely and making a lot of changes.  So I always feel like . .I can't go out and play because I'm in the middle of swing changes. 

But I figured out a way to beat it.  Obviously, my name in real life is not Rainmaker.  When I practice, I'm myself.  When I take lessons, I'm myself.  When I hit the course, I try to be Rainmaker.    

Rainmaker is a confident but kind of ignorant character.  He does not practice.  He does not think about his swing.  If he hits a bad shot he barely notices - he definitely does not try to correct for it.  He just lines up to the ball, thinks of where he wants to hit it and then hits it.  If he's hitting some bad shots, he'll work around them.  He's good at getting the ball in the hole, that's it. 

I have gone from a practice session where I could not even make contact with the ball to playing 2 hours later and hitting pretty much like normal.  Because it was actually me that was shanking them 2 hours ago, not Rainmaker . .that guy doesn't even practice. 

I know it's a little "out there" and probably wouldn't work for everybody . .but I'm very much an "in my head" kind of person and it seems to work really well for me.  It really helps to lesson the anxiety, make better mental pictures on the course . .basically to play as well as I can (however bad that may be, lol). 

 

 

Well it's worth a try. It is kind out there - creating a 2nd personality on the course. Maybe you have something there...

 

[Rainmaker]

2 minutes ago, gregsandiego said:

Well it's worth a try. It is kind out there - creating a 2nd personality on the course. Maybe you have something there...

 

Give it a shot - what can it hurt?  I don't actually try to be "in character" the whole round or anything...it's hard to explain.  People I am playing with would not know I'm doing it.  But it's my turn to hit - I'm Rainmaker, lol. 

[gregsandiego]

7 hours ago, Rainmaker said:

Give it a shot - what can it hurt?  I don't actually try to be "in character" the whole round or anything...it's hard to explain.  People I am playing with would not know I'm doing it.  But it's my turn to hit - I'm Rainmaker, lol. 

I get your wacky sense of humor/reality. I'm in San Antonio fairly often.  We should play a round sometime.

[RandallT]

8 hours ago, Rainmaker said:

I struggle with this constantly.  I am usually either not thinking about or playing golf at all . .or practicing intensely and making a lot of changes.  So I always feel like . .I can't go out and play because I'm in the middle of swing changes. 

But I figured out a way to beat it.  Obviously, my name in real life is not Rainmaker.  When I practice, I'm myself.  When I take lessons, I'm myself.  When I hit the course, I try to be Rainmaker.    

Rainmaker is a confident but kind of ignorant character.  He does not practice.  He does not think about his swing.  If he hits a bad shot he barely notices - he definitely does not try to correct for it.  He just lines up to the ball, thinks of where he wants to hit it and then hits it.  If he's hitting some bad shots, he'll work around them.  He's good at getting the ball in the hole, that's it. 

I have gone from a practice session where I could not even make contact with the ball to playing 2 hours later and hitting pretty much like normal.  Because it was actually me that was shanking them 2 hours ago, not Rainmaker . .that guy doesn't even practice. 

I know it's a little "out there" and probably wouldn't work for everybody . .but I'm very much an "in my head" kind of person and it seems to work really well for me.  It really helps to lesson the anxiety, make better mental pictures on the course . .basically to play as well as I can (however bad that may be, lol). 

 

 

Love this post.

My approach lately is to fully commit to taking the range swing to the course. I don't worry about score yet though so I'm not recommending anyone do what I do.  But my goal now is a better swing on the course. So I'm using my latest development from lessons, somewhat consciously to make sure I can use it with real targets.

When I tackle the big flaw I'm working on and get that piece ingrained, I'll go back to blanking out during a round, and just get the ball in the hole. Like RainMaker. 

[Rainmaker]

59 minutes ago, gregsandiego said:

I get your wacky sense of humor/reality. I'm in San Antonio fairly often.  We should play a round sometime.

That would be really fun - just send me a pm whenever you're going to be in town. 

[gregsandiego]

1 hour ago, Rainmaker said:

That would be really fun - just send me a pm whenever you're going to be in town. 

what industry are you in? (So I can expense it as "client entertainment")

[Buckeyebowman]

I've always been against swing thoughts while playing, and nothing has changed my mind yet. When playing, I prefer what I call "shot thoughts". Swing thoughts are confined to the practice tee, but that's just my way of going about it. When on the course, you're trying to play golf, not golf swing!

I believe it was none other than Jack Nicklaus who said, something like, "If you have only one swing thought in your mind while playing, that's still one too many!"

[Rainmaker]

I did it again today . .it kinda works for me, lol.  I just got back from playing 9 holes.  I played as a single, paired up with a twosome and another single.  About 4 hours before my round, I decided to have a practice session.  I hit a bunch of 8 irons and hit every single one of them thin.  I stopped myself short of tinkering since I had a tee-time and just told myself I wouldn't have any of those practice thoughts while I played and, to the extent possible, no thoughts at all.  I would be in playing mode . .or "Rainmaker mode", lol.   

Here's the part where I tell you I shot 2 under.  No, I shot 9 over . .but that's pretty normal for me except 1 blow-up hole which is actually not that normal for me . . .  I hit some thin shots which is pretty normal for me, too.  I did not hit every shot thin - nothing close to it.  I only skulled one . .totally normal.  A couple of times I felt the mechanical thoughts start creeping and and that's when I would say to myself - Rainmaker doesn't think such thoughts, lol. 

 

[Buckeyebowman]

On 2/24/2016 at 8:31 AM, djfajt71 said:

I recently started with Evolvr and am very eager to finally fix my all of my flaws!  I recently completed my first submission and was given a new swing thought and a slightly narrower stance to begin working on.  I am stopping by the range today to begin my work on it. Here is my dilemma.  I am playing in a scramble this Saturday.  Do I try to incorporate the new swing thought and stance so soon?  Or, for that day, do I go with what I know and go back to the training after the scramble?  If it helps, the specific swing thought is to relax my arms more on my downswing.  My arms are initiating my downswing, instead of letting my hips do so. 

To get back to your original thought, and for those who might have the same idea, I'd relate an experience I had in a local golf shop. I'm walking around browsing, and there's a gang of older guys at the simulator, making a big fuss over the guy who was on the tee. Curious, I wandered over there and watched for a while.

The guy on the tee had such a strong right hand grip it was UNDER the grip! His buddies were trying to straighten him out because they had a scramble THE NEXT MORNING! After a while I couldn't stand it any more and asked if I could chime in. I told the guy his buddies were right, he needed to weaken his right hand grip, but he'd better go with the game he had for tomorrow morning. There was no way he was going to incorporate this change and play even piss poor!

The guy started asking me a bunch of questions about how to make the change, and I asked his permission to join him on the tee. He said OK, and the first thing I did was take the ball away from him. Showed him how to take a "neutral" grip, and had him start making little mini swings. I told him to do that until he felt comfortable with it, then start hitting balls.

Edited May 21, 2016 by Buckeyebowman