Fixing My Golf Swing By Going Backwards

/ The Grateful Golfer
Whats in your golf bag?

What’s in your golf bag?

Fixing any golf swing is difficult. Fixing your own swing without professional help is insanely challenging. Unfortunately, this is the path I chose to take this year because I did not want to take the time to practice something new given my life changes of retiring and moving. Well, unfortunately my decision caused frustration and disappointment in my game.

As many of you know I was fitted for Titleist AP2, 915 driver, 3-wood and 3-hybrid in June 2015. Since that time, I have struggled with my new driver to a point that I was ready to relegate this club to the no use again bag. So, I had to do something and surprisingly, the new path I choose worked!

The 2016 golf season was a make or break year for my driver. I decided to try all the tips and fixes I knew to hit my driver like I should. Nothing worked….I mean nothing at all. Here is what I tried:

  • Widening my stance – I thought this would help generate more swing speed by creating torque between my hips and shoulders. As it turns out, I widened my stance too much and actually lost distance.
  • I adjusted my grip – I tried a weak and strong grip. Both create challenges of control. I worked this fix on the range, but to no avail. So I decided to stick with my normal, neutral grip. This decision was a smart one as it helped restore the equilibrium in other aspects of my game.
  • I adjusted my tempo – this was just bad all around. I tried speeding up, slowing down, and everything in between. I am back to my regular tempo and all is right in my golfing world.
  • I tried teeing the ball higher and lower. As it turned out….this did not work either.

5 woodAs you can see, I had to make the madness stop! I changed so many things, I was not sure if I was coming or going. Finally, I decided to try something new. I pulled out my old Callaway Razor Fit driver.

I have always hit this club very well and consistently averaged more distance than my current Titleist driver. When I picked up my old driver, it was like being re-acquainted with an old friend. My first swing brought back many muscle memory movements I thought I had lost.

I hit my Callaway driver repeatedly with increasingly better results. I used this club for about 3 weeks and at the end of this trial period, it was time to bring back my new driver. Surprisingly, it worked. I was hitting my Titleist 915 D2 driver like I expected…long and straight.

It is still very early to tell if I have conquered my driving woes, but more importantly, my mental block of hitting my new driver is gone. Now it is time to move forward and start playing better and that is always the goal.

It appears that I have fixed my golf swing by going backwards. I grooved my new swing by using an old club. It was something I never tried before and now that I have, it is a new tool in my toolbox.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!

10 thoughts on “Fixing My Golf Swing By Going Backwards”

  1. Muscle memory is very important to a golf swing. I found that the best way to cue my brain to use my subconscious is a pre-swing routine. As you said, learning and repairing your swing on your own can be a challenge.

    Luckily there are YouTube videos, of course, that can provide advice. There are also some great golf books that will help you analyze your swing. Here is one that helped me: The ESPY Golf Swing Coach

    Dave @ The QATSPY Golf Approach

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  2. golf swing tip to share with you that can instantly add 40 to 70 laser-accurate yards of distance to your drives.

    It doesn’t matter if you’re out of shape (or even overweight) …
    It doesn’t matter if you’ve been slapped with every nasty ailment there is (like arthritis, bursitis, tendinitis and the vision of a gopher) … And…
    It doesn’t matter if you’re a newbie beginner, or have been struggling at golf for decades…

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    • Brian

      It was mental mostly. When hitting the old driver, I did not think and my body took over. I did the same with my new driver and had great results. The swing was always there, unfortunately the 6 inches of real estate between my ears got in the way. Hopefully, all is good now. How is your game?

      Cheers
      Jim

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      • Jim I’m in a pretty good place now. Took a lesson on July 2 and have only played three rounds since, as life has gotten in the way. As you can imagine, those three have been spaced out but each was a handicap round and I hit double digit GIR in each. The change my instructor made has really paid off in that I don’t feel like these protracted layoffs require me to relearn the lesson. It’s definitely sunk in and improved my ball striking. I’ll try to keep it going through the Fall as long as time permits.

        Thanks,

        Brian

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