At what point does it become essential to lower scores via changes in swing mechanics?

[woodzie264]

So I realize the correct answer is "all of the above," but here's the premise for my question:

I have had 1 lesson in my entire life....years ago. Since then, I've simply gotten better at making solid contact and more accurate through repetition. Years ago, when reading Harvey Pennick's "Little Red Book," he said that the ones you need to worry about are the guys with the ugly swings that have learned to score. Since that time, I've taken his unintended point that even folks with ugly swings can score well. 

Just recently after reading LSW, @iacas sort of reiterated that with emphasizing that out of the entire swing, there are only a few key features (see 5SK) consistent with great players and so I have put time into those items and seen success...

However, now that I've started to see improvements with scores, I expect that it will be significantly harder to improve without seeking the help of a PGA Professional...or else I will plateau.  So it seems to me that it's more critical to get help now as a lower HCP. I realize this logic may be flawed in that now I will have ingrained bad habits that will be even more difficult to correct. Thoughts?

[CarlSpackler]

I haven't looked to see if you have a My Swing thread, but that might be a good place to start if you haven't already. There is a correlation between number of keys mastered and HCI. I would suggest doing a 5SK analysis of your swing. I am starting to track my game stats a little more to see where I'm losing strokes (see yesterdays blog).

[iacas]

Where's the poll option (you can probably still edit it) for "all of the above"?

[CarlSpackler]

  On 11/2/2016 at 2:25 AM, iacas said:

Where's the poll option (you can probably still edit it) for "all of the above"?

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I was kinda thinking that too. It might be better to say "When should I not make a swing change?" with a Never option. It's usually a swing limitation keeping you where you are. 

[woodzie264]

  On 11/2/2016 at 2:25 AM, iacas said:

Where's the poll option (you can probably still edit it) for "all of the above"?

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I intentionally didn't put that as an option because I wanted people think about it. If I included "all of the above" it would be a knee-jerk response. If you are able to add it in, feel free to...but that was why I didn't have it up there. 

[iacas]

  On 11/2/2016 at 2:40 AM, woodzie264 said:

I intentionally didn't put that as an option because I wanted people think about it. If I included "all of the above" it would be a knee-jerk response. If you are able to add it in, feel free to...but that was why I didn't have it up there. 

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I won't add it since you don't want it added… but it may limit your votes.

[woodzie264]

  On 11/2/2016 at 2:43 AM, iacas said:

I won't add it since you don't want it added… but it may limit your votes.

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Yeah...perhaps it wasn't the best question....but I hope my question made sense nonetheless.

[mchepp]

I said right away, only because the more you ingrain a bad habit the harder it is to fix it. 

[boogielicious]

Interesting post @woodzie264. I think you should always be looking to improve. But the swing changes are different between starting out, mid and low handicap. For low HC, the changes are minor tweaks or improvement to keys 4 and 5. For mid, it is about improving contact and making the first three keys as solid as possible. For folks starting out, key 1 and 2 proficiency and making good contact at the important parts.

I voted for starting out for the reasons @mchepp stated.

[woodzie264]

  On 11/2/2016 at 10:29 AM, boogielicious said:

Interesting post @woodzie264. I think you should always be looking to improve. But the swing changes are different between starting out, mid and low handicap. For low HC, the changes are minor tweaks or improvement to keys 4 and 5. For mid, it is about improving contact and making the first three keys as solid as possible. For folks starting out, key 1 and 2 proficiency and making good contact at the important parts.

I voted for starting out for the reasons @mchepp stated.

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That's exactly what my experience suggests. As in my OP, I was able to work on Keys #1-3 on my own and they have brought me to my current level, but now I will need help with #4-5...only I will have to undo some bad habits.

[boogielicious]

  On 11/2/2016 at 10:34 AM, woodzie264 said:

That's exactly what my experience suggests. As in my OP, I was able to work on Keys #1-3 on my own and they have brought me to my current level, but now I will need help with #4-5...only I will have to undo some bad habits.

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You also now have a better understanding of what is important. So you can focus better and practice smarter now. Eliminating bad habits will take time, but you also can score with what you have. For the mid and high HC, we are still trying to get consistent keys 1-3.

[DeadMan]

My view is that you should always be making tweaks to your swing to improve it, unless you've reached a point where you're satisfied with your golf game. I think if you really want to get good at golf, you should be trying to work towards a good swing, not just a functional one. I think some people will go off on their own, get an okay swing with some bad habits, and then top off at some level. To get past that level, they'll end up having to make a major change to their swing. That will frequently result in worse scores in the short term, which sucks.

In other words, I don't think people should be trying to get as good as possible with their swing. I think they should be trying to get as good as possible at golf. You can make a bad swing work to a certain point, but you'd be better off trying to make your swing a good swing.

I'm not sure that makes sense, but the bottom line is that I wouldn't advise people to try to make their bad swing work.

[Lefty-Golfer]

I feel that you can go from high HC (18-22 range) to mid (8-12) just by course management and removing the terrible shot. To go from an 8 or 10 to 2,3,4 takes much much more detail and improvement IMO.

I was an 18 the first time I got official HC when I joined my club, with in 4 years I was down to a 10, 2 more years I got an 8...and that was as low as I have been. I bought a new business, stopped practicing very often, my game has slowly slid back to a 10 or 11...the last 2 years it has been stuck there.

I never go higher because typically I don't make the big mistake, I learned how to work my way around the course without having the game I need, it seems I can post an 84 or 85 at will but to get back to an 81 or 80 just doesn't happen very often. I do miss those occasional 77 or so rounds when I was playing better! they were fun.

[Mop Bucket]

  On 11/2/2016 at 2:33 AM, CarlSpackler said:

I was kinda thinking that too. It might be better to say "When should I not make a swing change?" with a Never option. It's usually a swing limitation keeping you where you are. 

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I would argue its mental/shot planning 50% of the time.

[saevel25]

  On 11/2/2016 at 2:40 AM, woodzie264 said:

I intentionally didn't put that as an option because I wanted people think about it. If I included "all of the above" it would be a knee-jerk response. If you are able to add it in, feel free to...but that was why I didn't have it up there. 

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I would have went all the above. 

[Hardspoon]

Like most posters, I would have voted for "all of the above".  Improvements to swing mechanics are the most efficient method for long-term, sustainable improvement at any level.

*PEDANTIC DEVIL'S ADVOCATE ALERT*

But, since that isn't an option, I started to think about it more literally. When are swing changes essential to improvement score-wise? I'd argue that most players could improve their scores when just starting out - or as a mid-cap - by improving their putting or short game.

Not recommended, of course, but still...changes to swing mechanics aren't essential to better scoring until handicap is pretty low.

[woodzie264]

  On 11/2/2016 at 11:37 PM, Hardspoon said:

Like most posters, I would have voted for "all of the above".  Improvements to swing mechanics are the most efficient method for long-term, sustainable improvement at any level.

*PEDANTIC DEVIL'S ADVOCATE ALERT*

But, since that isn't an option, I started to think about it more literally. When are swing changes essential to improvement score-wise? I'd argue that most players could improve their scores when just starting out - or as a mid-cap - by improving their putting or short game.

Not recommended, of course, but still...changes to swing mechanics aren't essential to better scoring until handicap is pretty low.

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thanks for playing along; I realize that the correct answer is "at all stages," but i wanted to hear people's thoughts about the question as worded ("essential").

[JetFan1983]

At what point? For me it's pretty simple: when you plateau. For most people, that happens pretty darn quickly. There are a lucky, talented few though that can get pretty low without any lessons. A lot of guys on the PGA tour never had a formal coach who helped them get on the tour. They are of course, mega-outliers, but still. 

No one here has that kind of talent though, and chances are, if you're reading this, you've plateaued so... yea. Start doing your homework and find an instructor who doesn't suck... because a bad instructor is worse than no instructor. 

 

PS- I didn't vote in your poll. My answer doesn't fit into that paradigm.