What's wrong with your golf swing?

Do you really think your swing's good enough?

Why on earth would you? Look at all the bad shots you've hit, those tops, slices and duck hooks you can't seem to eradicate? The times the divot flew further than your ball?

OK, so there's one or two good shots there from time to time. But that doesn't mean you can play; the ball rarely flies exactly as you envision. Doesn't that define a bad shot, even if you manage to scramble some kind of result?

Do you believe your poor shots result from your poor swing which in turn means you're a poor golfer?

Your shots are bad which means your swing's bad which means you're bad.

No wonder you're frustrated. 

You need a nice big dollop of swing change, a slice of mechanical practice washed down with  video analysis. 

Don't you?

I look at things a little differently. 

I think we've got this back to front.

After all, there are occasions where you've hit the ball beautifully.

You've experienced that odd little frisson when you return to your senses after an effortless swing to see the ball fly as you intended.

You've hit chips and pitches that have left your fellow competitors slack-jawed with astonishment.

You've done this with your current swing. 

So why change? What will you gain from a painful and difficult overhaul of  your swing? Do you really think that swing change will lead to you playing better shots than the ones I've described?

Why then do you feel a need to "fix" your swing? Could a "broken" swing really have given you the moments of pleasure described above?

I think not. Here, instead, is Dr Geek's Swing Critique.

• Are you frustrated because your best swings aren't good enough? 

• Or does your frustration arise because your best swings happen so infrequently?

• Do you really need to fix your swing?

• Or should you be focusing on making your best swings more often?

Starting in competitive golf as a 28 handicapper, I was astonished to find little difference between my best swings and those of 10-15 handicappers. 

The difference in our skill level was obvious from our poor swings, rather than our good ones.

There were obvious differences in both skills and scores. The lower the handicap, the fewer the mistakes. Their misses were less severe and less often and even when then found themselves in real trouble they extricated themselves with minimal damage to their scorecard.

Crucially, their misses were much more predictable. This allowed them to plan their shots taking into account the likely reward and risk scenarios.

Most of us are time-poor. We have jobs, families and commitments which mean we don't have as much time as we would like to devote to our obsession. 

As I've stated above, major swing changes can take a lot of time and dedication to complete. Very few of us have that time to spare. Although we try to convince ourselves otherwise, it's quite  likely life will prevent us following through with it. 

So what happens if we fall off the "Swing Change wagon" ?

Let's see if you recognise this scenario...

Disillusioned and desperate, you head to see a new Pro. He might video your swing; he'll certainly point out all you're doing wrong before starting to set it right. By the end of the session your weak slice has become a draw and you're excited. You make time for the range every night for the next week; although work's busy you're fired up with enthusiasm.

You've got another lesson 2 weeks later. You're at the range twice a week by this stage, which you tell yourself is a manageable minimum...and then life gets in the way. Work's busy; family and friends need your time. You're out of the habit; you spend your spare time  resting and suddenly it's three weeks since you've been to the range...

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not calling your commitment into question.

It's just what happens to us all. Even golf has to take a back seat sometimes. But what happens to our swings?

If we're lucky...nothing. We regress back to our standard swing and forget what we've been taught...if we're lucky.

What's more likely is that we remember bits and pieces of the information we've been given, but we've lost the teacher's framework, the context. We remember our description of the how the swing felt, not realising we may well have distorted this over time. Effect is mistaken for cause. 


In short, we're a mess.

Time lost and financial cost with significant risk of getting worse. Surely there's a better way?

Perhaps we should concentrate on the swings we have rather than the swings we want? 

Maybe we should work towards making our best swings...more often?

If I were to play my best shots 10% more often I'd be delighted.

That figure might seem terribly low to you. But 10% more perfect shots means 10% fewer imperfect ones. And that's not even the main benefit. It'd be impossible to hit the ball beautifully 10% more often without significantly improving control of the club face through impact. This  means  misses would become less severe and more predictable.

You might not need to fix your swing. Scrape away all of the things you've added over the years in an attempt to "improve"  and you might just find it's a whole lot better than you realised. It's all too easy to  focus solely on your  swing and neglect everything else.

Before embarking on a major swing change ask yourself this:

"am I squeezing every last drop of performance from my current ability?"

If the answer's yes, then by all means go ahead and overhaul your swing. But if not, please consider correcting this before taking on a major change.

But you don't have to take my word for it. If you're at all unsure, please feel free to make that change. Particularly if you'll be playing in my club championship. I quite fancy a run at the matchplay stages and would be delighted to see my competition tie themselves in knots.

Seriously though, if you do go ahead and make that change, stay in touch. Drop by halfway through the season and let us know how it's working out for you. I'm always happy to re-examine my ideas in the light of new evidence.

But until then, I know what I'll be doing. I'll be here,working to make what I already have the very best it can be.


Shall we see who gets the most from their efforts?

As ever, I'd be delighted to hear your thoughts should you agree or disagree. Leave a comment down below and  let's start a conversation. 

Tweet me up @The_Golf_Geek at any time for golf related chat. 

First Medal Score: 104

You might think I'd be disappointed with that score, and you would be right. But not in fact that disappointed. Yes, it's at the upper end of my usual range; yes, I want to do better. But frankly I was just too happy to be out to be upset, and I'm finally getting to play with (and watch) battle hardened golfers. And I like what I see.

There was also an awful lot to be happy with. I was pretty nervous about the first drive, particularly as there was a bantering group behind us on the tee. Fortunately Laurence and Charlie noticed this and asked if I wanted to go first- the first of many things for which I'm grateful to this pair. I hit a reasonable shot- a little shorter than usual, a little right of where aimed but this wasn't due to an open club-face as it would usually be. We were playing into a strong headwind. It's not unusual to have wind on the course- after all, it's a links course in the North East of Scotland- but it was in the opposite direction to the prevailing wind. Second shot fell short, third was indifferent, then a chip and one putt for a respectable 5. A good start.

Things went wrong on the second. A drive shorter than my usual, again into the wind. I was about 190-200 out, and therefore decided to play 2 iron shots into the green, in accordance with my pre-round plan. Given the wind and playing from an sharply uphill lie I hit a three quarter 8 iron, and then went to hit a similar 9 iron. I wasn't happy over the ball...but still hit the shot; what Dr Joe Parent describes as an "anyway". As usual, the result wasn't good. I hit a dribbly little top into a bunker, short siding myself. First shot left the ball in the sand, second took way too much sand and only just popped out with a chip and a putt for a 7. I started to get a bit down on myself- we were finishing a hole just before the group ahead tee'd off, so time was not an issue.

Crucially, I didn't see this and didn't realise my focus had gone from the shot and 'feeling' the club-face onto the ball onto not embarrassing myself and not holding things up. From a positive to negative focus, with predictable result. I shanked the next tee shot, a 4H(24 deg) to a par three, into tall grass, put recovery into a deep bunker, hit w-a-y too hard off the back of the green, onto a downslope then hit without deciding between a pitch or a chip, fluffed it, hit a chip with my lob wedge rather than go back to get a more appropriate club before hitting first putt way past and four feet wide, then getting down in tow more.

If that last paragraph seems breathless and rushed, that's because it was. I wasn't stopping and taking my time to focus and think, just wanted it to be over to get finished. But even with getting an 8 with all the time these shots took we still had to wait on the next tee. I deviated from my plan as I'd decided I was going to come out of that particular bunker sideways; whilst it may be OK to deviate from a plan it should only happen after some thought something that was definitely lacking.

Fortunately, I caught myself on my way to the next tee. I realised I was scurrying, hunched over, the body language and gait of a man who wanted it to be over. That's not the way to be on the 17th tee, let alone the 4th. I stood tall, put my shoulders back and loped my customary lope with a smile on my face.

I'd love to say that magically sorted everything out, but of course it didn't. The wind was still blowing, the course was substantially longer from the Medal tees and I was regretting leaving my 6 iron out for a 9 wood. But it made all the difference to my attitude and perception, and I started hitting shots that got genuine approval from my playing partners. It was really interesting to see them. My game is improving, but often they weren't hitting shots that were much better than mine, but they were making better decisions on shot and club selection. It feels a bit like learning to drive a car - once you pass your test you start learning how to drive. I feel like I can really move forward from here, that it might not take too long before scores start improving.

I was out in 57, and came back in 47. I focused much better on shots, and hit some lovely shots into the greens. Despite taking my putter too far back and decelerating (the thing I'm working on this next week!) giving me some difficulty controlling my putts, I putted reasonably well. I did have a few misses from short range, but a shorter stroke will sort that. I largely stuck to my plan, played lots of 3/4 and full 9 irons into the greens with good success, largely held onto my focus apart from the odd shot here and there and it never even occurred to me to think of mechanics between shots. Of the things I've started working on after the Instinctive Golf day, I seem to have adopted the baseball grip without too much distress, my club was almost always square and I seem to be starting to be a bit less rigid at address. The last of these is what's giving me the most difficulty, but it's coming into line. It's important to remember I've only been working on these for a fortnight and I've not been at the range once (although I have hit a few balls in the playing fields near home), so this is really very promising.

What will I change next week? Well, I'll be trying to get to the range to try out my 9 degree driver. The 12 degree is too high for a windy links course, really. The 9 wood will come out of my bag, as it's probably too high to consider, and I'll leave the 24 degree hybrid in. I will try to get out to the 6 hole course with my 4 & 5 irons, as if I can start to hit these reliably, the lower flight they offer means that they should probably be considered for the bag, although I suspect next week will be too early for that. And I do love my 6 wood. I'll be working hard on maintaining focus, and not being quite so rushed onto the first tee. I'm going stretch every day this week, and before the round too. I'll add a bit more variety and fruit to my on course snacks, and drink water more frequently. I'm going to change my plan so that I'll be hitting more full/three-quarter 9 irons into the green. But not that much, really.

At home, it'll be putting, putting, putting, with me trying to explore making a shorter, more positive stroke. If anyone reading has any suggestions on how to accomplish this, I would really appreciate it if you'd leave a comment.

I'd like to finish by thanking my playing partners, Laurence and Charlie, once again for taking me out and offering advice and tolerance. Cheers boys, same time next week?