The golf swing is best described as a 1000 minor movements flawlessly combined to create a smooth, rhythmic, effortless motion that transfers energy from the club to the ball. Of course many of us who try to accomplish this feat realize that the task of creating a golf swing is far more complicated that than. And any minor variance in those 1000 minor movements can cause disaster time and time again. Because of our different physical attributes, the each golf swing in unique to each player and the cookie cutter approach to improvement, in my opinion, causes more harm than good. Let me explain!
A few years back I attended the Golf Show in Toronto with my friend Blair. I decided to take a 15 minute less to discuss my options to increase my distance off the tee. The image on the left was the results of our discussion.
This was great advice, however it touched on many different aspects of my golf swing that was difficult to manage. Fortunately, I was able to use some of the PGA Professional’s advice, but was not able to fully incorporate the lesson.
Additionally, by making some ‘slight’ changes, I impacted other aspects of my golf swing like tempo, balance, stance, grip, and alignment. Yup, I was a wobbly weeble that was all over the place. I had change the symmetrical balance of my unique golf swing and could not hit a ball straight to matter how often I tried. However, this does not mean that the advice was not valid to improve my game.
What this advice did reinforce is that any change to my golf swing takes time and effort. There is no such thing as changing one thing to your unique swing. As changes are made, an new normal must be found. You will find a new unique swing and then press forward with success. It is very frustrating process, but one of great value for players trying to improve their game. If you want a perfect example of what I mean, read All About Golf’s golf blogger Brian Penn’s process to improve his putting; it is worth the read.
The golf swing is unique. It is ours alone and should be nurtured to fit our abilities. It is a challenge sometimes to make changes, however every time I do, there is a great feeling of satisfaction that I am a better golfer. It takes time and effort to create a new unique golf swing and I am always willing to take the challenge; are you?
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
Getting good advice seldom helps initially and often can plague our game for quite a while. Even when we can incorporate the change well it can lead to problems. For instance if you always bottomed out your swing behind the ball an inch or so and suddenly start hitting the ball first, you will find a number of problems for yourself that the change creates. Chips will have more spin so they will stop faster instead of rolling out, your confidence will suffer with club choices on full swings because you will get more distance than you’re used to. There are so many things about the game that require very finely tuned control that our game can actually suffer a while even though we are hitting the ball much better. Those things take time to work out and it can be just as frustrating as the problem we solved to work through all the changes one simple fix can bring. But it’s worth the effort in my book.
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Kevin
Well stated. You are right about the impact of minor changes. And that they can be very good for our game. I would suggest that it is harder to make changes the lower the handicap. It seems that it would be intuitive that it would be easier, but in the long run I think it is harder to make the change and stick too it.
Cheers Jim
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Jim, you nailed it. No matter how well meaning a 15 minute pointer session at the trade show was, making a correct swing change and allowing it to stick takes much more. I’m glad you were able to recognize and adjust accordingly.
My home backs to the 3rd tee at Lakewood Country Club in Rockville, MD. I see dozens of swings daily and in my own mind am critiquing each one 🙂 Imagine if I offered each player swing advice as they made their way past my house. I’d certainly screw up a lot of rounds in short order – LOL! Oh and thanks for the mention.
Brian
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Brian,
I can imagine you would not make too many friends if you were “helping” players off the tee. Last thing we all like is unsolicited advice. You are welcome for the mention.
Cheers Jim
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