Do you still remember the feels of your old (presumably bad) swing?

[RandallT]

As I make progress in getting ready to get back into a practice routine (summer injury), I've been reviewing old lessons and doing a fair amount of slow motion work at home in a mirror. It has taken time, but some things are slowly and finally sinking in- and perhaps the injury was helpful to process it all.

I went to the range last week and confirmed I can hit the ball with some of the newer ideas in mind. In my case: hands moving more toward the ball from the top of the swing, the club laying off at the top of the downswing, hips more open and more side tilt at impact. It was exciting to actually be able to hit balls with this feeling comfortable, even if only at partial speeds. In the past, I've sorta kinda been able to do at slow speeds, but it was not solidifying into any sort of comfortable swing, except in fleeting moments.

So at the same time that I feel this "new" swing, I can still clearly recall the pattern of my old swing and reproduce that if I wanted to. That's more upright, steeper downswing, less opening of hips, more armsy, etc.

Curious if others can bring to mind an older (presumably) worse swing and swing with it. Or perhaps change is more gradual for you, such that "swings" from the past just blend into each other?  Or maybe you don't even want to try or the golf gods may punish you?

Disclaimer: Next week will truly tell me if there's any difference on video between the two "feels," but based on the range session last week, I expect there will be. I've just been fooled in the past that I was making changes before, but it turned out to be temporary. For that, I'll post in my swing thread, as it's not really the point of this thread/poll. I'm mainly curious if others can distinctly remember how they used to swing. I actually hope my old swing just vanishes, as I'm ready for some new assignments from my instructor!

[David in FL]

Well, it's only been a few days since my last round, so no, I haven't forgotten it yet...  

[Lihu]

I haven't forgotten it, but don't do it any more.

It felt like an unfinished slice of pizza or that best saved for last bite of a juicy steak that falls on the floor :-P

I can reproduce it simply by casting.

Merged:

Just tried it, I can't do it easily any more :-D

 

[Lihu]

@RandallT, my realization was overnight. I was down to about a 13 HC with my old swing because I played every day and practiced every day. If I took a break my game woud fall apart like a house of cards. Then one round I committed myself to some "unfinished business" I told myself that no matter what I would make a relaxed swing that put pressure in my lead armpit. The ball flew farther than I've ever hit before. For the next several months attempted to reproduce this feeling. I posted every step of my progress here on this site. There were numerous setbacks, but I knew what I was going for.

Finally, about 3 to 4 years ago, I could do that feel consistently. So, it was "only" a matter of making the right swing motion with that feeling.  Thank God for this site, 5SK and my range buddies. With all this information I was able to develop a semblance of a swing that could hit pretty far injury free. That's my current swing. A semblance of something of a long hitting bogey golfer swing. I'm fine tuning it with very helpful information on this site, well timed blogs from Erik, lessons and my range buddies.

[dennyjones]

I still have video and pictures with each lesson's analysis.   I go back to review it occasionally where it's kept in a notebook.  

[Lihu]

14 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

I still have video and pictures with each lesson's analysis.   I go back to review it occasionally where it's kept in a notebook.  

Pretty cool that's you are this organized.

Love your paw-finger tapping cat avatar

 

[Hacker James]

not exactly the same thing, but when I first took up golf some forty years ago, I recall having an upright, flying elbow, type of swing. The feeling I recall is reaching for the stars, holding it, and sort of pulling hard down into the ball. My typical ball flight was unsurprisingly a high fade (or slice), but pretty good distance. I really did not know any better. Somewhere along the way, I picked up on a more rotational, flatter swing, with arms close to the body. I had a lot more distance back then, but also was a heck of a lot younger 30ish.   A lot of other things crept into my swing as I read, watched, all sorts of tips, drills. Hence, as I often quote (probably too often) "I wish I did not know now, what I didn't know then".  I can still replicate that high swing, but it just feels weird, but sometimes I get pretty good results.

 

Edited September 23, 2017 by Hacker James

[nevets88]

My hands get loosey goosey at the top, extra hinge and steepening, have been working on getting rid of that for over a year, still comes up not infrequently and when I'm concentrating on working on something else, so still haven baked it out but can fix it right away. I used to suck the club head way inside, that's pretty much gone.

[billchao]

2 hours ago, RandallT said:

Curious if others can bring to mind an older (presumably) worse swing and swing with it.

Not for me. The old swings, once I've fully ingrained whatever piece I was working on, are gone. The current swing is "natural" feeling to me and anything else is not, even if it is something I used to do hundreds of times. Even with something as basic as posture, it feels weird to stand the way I used to stand.

I can force myself to hit a fade and sometimes I'm successful at it, but it's a completely different feeling and doesn't feel the same as how I used to swing.

2 hours ago, RandallT said:

Or perhaps change is more gradual for you, such that "swings" from the past just blend into each other?

The changes for me have been gradual and I don't even notice when I get them down. That's the toughest part, I think. There's no flicking of the switch that tells you, "ok, you've got this now." It just happens and one day you might realize you're hitting the ball consistently better or your not having the same misses you used to.

During the transition period, the old tendencies definitely creep in. I'm in that in-between stage now. But I assumed you were talking about old swings like swings from several changes ago, so I'm going with no.

[Buckeyebowman]

Hell! I wish I could remember my old swing! I used to shoot around par with it!

It drifted away somewhere in my late 20's, and I've never been able to get it back! I wasn't able to play or practice golf much in those days, and that's why it went away!