That was humbling, redoing my swing.

[Crossfire]

Well i was golfing with my two uncles, and my great uncle, and we talked to the club pro, as both of my uncles always go back and forth for the club championship and are well known and respected at this exclusive club. I went up and introduced my self to the pro, and he watched me practice swing and take my first tee shot of the day, which was a nice drive around 290, pretty much center of the fairway. He walks up, i was expecting a nice shot, or something of that nature, and he stunned me with a "Your swing is all compensations and last second fixes." I politely asked what i should do, hoping he might drop me a quick hint/lesson, and he said forget everything you know about swinging a golf club, and learn new. This caught me way off gaurd, we finished our round, and after 4 hours of being troubled by what he said, I quickly found him for a chat. He was very blunt, your as good as your going to get with your swing, and if you want to get any better you need to get a much smoother fundementally sound swing. We talked about my scores and my highschool golf and he told me i may average 38 for 9, which he said is repectable, he perplexed me with a "Imagine what you could shoot if you had a great swing." So here it is, im pulling a tigeresque move, and completely relearning my swing. I would like to have a swing that i can generate enough power with good body mechanics and have the great accuracy and hardon giving swing look. After my first day of being at the range, trying my new "swing" if you can even call it that, im ready to quit golf, duck hooks, duffs, banana shaped shots every which way, but i know it will be for the best.

[obagain]

It will not get better fast.
If you are starting over you are at a huge disadvantage. You have muscle memory that will take a while to over come.
If you are starting over you need to have a lot of patience.
If the pro is going to take on the task of building you a new swing you need to make sure and ask every question you could imagine.
If you stick with it the payoff will be huge, with work, in a couple of months you will be amazed at your swing.

[Crossfire]

You see, thats where i may have a slight advantage, i just took up golf around april of this year, so it hasn'nt been long, but ive golfed i think every day but 2 or 3 since then. Now, im not even sure if i will be getting help from him, my uncle is trying to get him to help me for a small or no charge. I can't afford his fee's of 75 an hour, expessially when rebuilding a swing will probably take 100's. I would have to sell my car, kill my parents, sell their house, and work 3 jobs.

[HighTopFade]

Your scores look pretty good from some who just started playing in April. Yep, go take the lessons. I hear nothing but positive things about lessons.

[nsherman2006]

I say that guy is full of shit.

Seriously.

Look at Jim Furyk. Lots of loopy action. You need two things to play good golf. A repeatable swing and a solid short game. First off, anybody with a good enough short game can be a single digit handicapper. Second, you can have a bad swing and still be a good ball-striker. I have a bad grip and a far from fundamentally sound swing, and i hold a low single digit handicap. If i can do it, you can too. And how nice would it be to go back after a year of practice and show that guy he's full of it by shooting like a 75 with a funky swing. I say keep what you have unless you can fix it yourself.

JMO

[Crossfire]

Thats the thing, i don't want to be content with relying on making my sub par swing work, i want to make my great swing do all the work. I can already carry a good handicap, and have played in the 70's for the majority of my rounds. But, i am not happy with that. What's the fun in a game if you have no desire to get better? If TW can chock a swing that any of us would KILL for, just to get a swing hes happier with, why shouldn't i try to change my poor swing? I'm not going to say i want to be on the PGA tour or anything like that, but i know from experiance with every other sport ive played i will NOT be happy with any kind of handicap. I understand it comes down to talent, but with enough hard work, and a sound swing, in my opinion, anybody can be a scratch golfer.

[bames]

Crossfire - I say go for it. If nothing else, everytime I've made swing adjustments I've learned a tremendous amount from doing so and that has made me a better student of the game - given me one more morsole of knowledge that somewhere down the road has paid dividends. It might be my "type A" personality, but I am the consumate tinkerer when it comes to golf - and for better or for worse - I love that part of the game. You're never worse off when you have learned something.

[JEFF4i]

Originally Posted by nsherman2006

I say that guy is full of shit.

Seriously.


JMO

I agree. I've lost to people with some pretty bad swings, but golf isn't solely your swing, it is so much more.

That said, if you want to change your swing, do it, but do it because you want to, not because some pro said you should. I am constantly changing and working my swing to make it better, but I do it because I want to.

[warbirdlover]

I agree on that pro being full of shit. He probably needs some money from a new student...

[Crossfire]

He may have been trying to coax me into paying him thousands of dollars to improve my game slightly, but i really am taking this swing change to heart. I will most likely do it on my own, with help via videocamera and books, it may take longer, but im sure anyone can benefit from a more consistant reliable swing.

[BigJim13]

I would tend to agree with others that the pro is full of shit. This is coming from someone who shoots in the 90's and am happy, i just dont have the time to invest in my swing. That being said, if you want to really lower your scores there are 2 things you need to do before you revamp your swing. The first is to learn every possible shot from 100yds and in, the second is to practice putting until you feel confident you can make a putt from ANYWHERE on the green....just my .02 though

[warbirdlover]

You're hitting the driver 290 down the middle and shooting 38 for 9 holes? Do ME a favor. Teach me your swing before you re-learn a new one.

[Crossfire]

Well, its not like my short game is bad, anyone posting scores in the 70's usually has a pretty decent short game, but i hate relying on one aspect of my game to make up for others. I want to be 100% confident in every shot i make. Im at the point where im confident in my drives, but i do not hit them as straight as i want, I was talking to my uncle today after my visit to the range and he took me out to see the pro, and he had me tee up 10 times on the first hole(it was late and the last group already went off) and I put 7 in the fairway, 2 in the rough and one in a fairway bunker. He tees up 10, puts all 10 within a 10 yard circle, that he told me beforehand he would do, now this was the key to making me a believer that i am nowhere near my potential.
The only free lesson i got was he pointed out how much tension i have, and i really do, nothing is really relaxed as much as it could be. I am accually really excited about the prospect of being horrible for the next couple months, because i know if i learn it right, i could be a golfer, not the bomb and gouge hacker i am now. I am thinking of shortening all my distances by a full clublength, as my 9i now i play from around 150-155, and would like to play it 140-145 at the most. I am realizing accuraccy trumps all, and it doesnt matter if i use my 9 iron or my 8iron, if one i put within one putt distance and one i duff because i have to swing over 90% of my maximum, which one should i play?

[nsherman2006]

I'm a firm believer that everybody has a swing that works best for them. Some guys are just blessed with better mechanics. But for now, lets forget about Tiger and the tour guys. Work on maximizing your potential. What you need to do is figure out a way to become confident in your ability. Go to the range and spend time on your driver if you have to. Work on your irons if they arent coming close enough. But i think the best practice comes from playing a course and if you have a little extra time, throw some balls around the green(especially in nasty spots), and learn how to hit all the shots.

My keys to scoring well are:

Keeping the ball in play off the tee(if its in the rough, or a bunker, or in some nasty stuff, its fine as long as i can play it without a penalty)

Getting the ball as close to the pin as possible on my second shots. Laying up to a certain yardage is bunk. The closer you are to the pin, the better chance you have of getting the ball up and down

Putting with the correct speed. Your line can be off a little bit, but if you got the speed right, you're not gonna 3-putt.

No penalties off the tee, up and downs, and nothing worse than 2-putts will help your score a lot more than a picture perfect swing. BTW, the only person to ever have a perfect swing was Ben Hogan. Tiger's isnt even close to as good(it was closer in 2000). But it works. The other advantage is mental. He believes in himself. That makes you hit better shots

[BigJim13]

Originally Posted by Crossfire

Well, its not like my short game is bad, anyone posting scores in the 70's usually has a pretty decent short game, but i hate relying on one aspect of my game to make up for others. I want to be 100% confident in every shot i make. Im at the point where im confident in my drives, but i do not hit them as straight as i want, I was talking to my uncle today after my visit to the range and he took me out to see the pro, and he had me tee up 10 times on the first hole(it was late and the last group already went off) and I put 7 in the fairway, 2 in the rough and one in a fairway bunker. He tees up 10, puts all 10 within a 10 yard circle, that he told me beforehand he would do, now this was the key to making me a believer that i am nowhere near my potential.
The only free lesson i got was he pointed out how much tension i have, and i really do, nothing is really relaxed as much as it could be. I am accually really excited about the prospect of being horrible for the next couple months, because i know if i learn it right, i could be a golfer, not the bomb and gouge hacker i am now. I am thinking of shortening all my distances by a full clublength, as my 9i now i play from around 150-155, and would like to play it 140-145 at the most. I am realizing accuraccy trumps all, and it doesnt matter if i use my 9 iron or my 8iron, if one i put within one putt distance and one i duff because i have to swing over 90% of my maximum, which one should i play?

I can see your point on distances. This year I have taken a new approach to my iron play. I shortened the shafts a bit and am now taking 3/4 swings on all shots with my irons. I have lost a few yards but have gained much more accuracy. I started to play the game better when i stopped trying to hit every 7i 195 like tiger...funny game i guess.