Swing Changes Take Some Patience

Any golfer that is struggling or wanting to improve his/her game expects changes to take place immediately. Changes take time. A wise golfer wanting to make changes will seek out a PGA Golf Professional who is knowledgeable and is a good communicator and schedule an hour lesson. During the hour the talented instructor will impart his/her wisdom to help improve the student’s game. Many students go into the lesson with the expectation that the Pro will impart his wisdom and the student will immediately hit the ball better. A few students do have such luck, but most do not. Despite the fact that student listens intently, understands the change and actually makes the change that is prescribed, he or she may not improve at all right away. Quite often, the change that is prescribed is the catalyst for the improvement.

Here is an example of what I am talking about. A student comes to me with concerns with hooking the ball wide of the target. After watching one or two swings, it is apparent that alignment in the golfer's set-up is an issue. The player is lined up right of the target. Consciously the player does not realize the alignment is to the right, but the golfer’s subconscious knows it is necessary to pull the club across the body to give the ball a chance to get to the target. The shot results in a hook. By hitting shots repeatedly from this set-up, the pulling motion becomes a habit. The solution is to line up square. In an ideal world, the student then sets up with proper alignment and everything is perfect. In the real world, it usually doesn’t happen that way. In the best case scenario, I’ll expect to see the student hit hooks for 5 or 6 shots and then hit some straight shots. In the worst case, it may take several buckets of balls before the student hits the ball on line. Remember, the player’s subconscious has worked really hard to hit the ball straight with that bad alignment. That pulling motion has become a habit. That habit now has to change also and sometimes it takes a little while for the subconscious figures it out. Our subconscious plays this game pretty well. It is constantly trying to produce good results despite some of the awkward things we consciously try to do. There is axiom in golf, “For every zig, there needs to be a zag.” The “zig” usually happens because of something we consciously try to do because of a misconception. The zag happens unconsciously because the subconscious knows of the screw up and wants to make it right. The subconsciously created “zag” becomes a habit and will not change until the subconscious figures out that a change needs to be made. Sometimes the change is immediately correct, but quite often it takes time. When making changes in your golf swing let your subconscious have a chance to catch up to the swing change you are working towards. Show some patience.

Tip: Soft Touch Around the Green
If you grabbed a hold of a ball and wanted to roll it softly onto a green, you would use your dominant hand and make a soft underhand motion. To develop a soft touch around the green, treat your chip shots like they are underhand tosses with your dominant hand. You will be amazed at how much touch you possess.