If It's Been Working Now, Should I Change It??

I'll sometimes have students come in for a lesson where they are striking it better after listening to a friend or an instructional video whereby they will ask if they can keep this certain swing tip in their swing. This could be a set-up change or a technique change during the swing. My response depends on whether this is just a temporary band-aid solution or if it is actually going to help them for the longer term.

Once such example is if a player is wanting to stop the slice and they start to move their right foot back in an attempt to swing more in-out. Now for the short term this could definitely help if the player started to indeed swing more in-out reducing the slice. I will though caution though that most of us start to overdo a certain move which can create another problem. The problem with having the right foot back for too long can cause over hooking and slicing. This reason why you could slice is that with the right foot back, the path can start to get too inside on the backswing which may lead to swinging over the top on the downswing.

What I would say if you really are striking it better, is that we can just monitor it over time. Such that if we notice the path starting to get negatively affected, we can go back to neutral alignment. It is always recommended though that you persist with neutral alignment because you will instill good habits early on so that your body won't start compensating. If you have neutral alignment, you will turn better, move your weight more efficiently and be able to move the path in the right position.

Now when it becomes a technical change that you're trying to do again it depends on whether this change is advancing your swing forward. Sometimes a student will come in after hearing from a friend that they should keep their left arm straight. Now in the short term it might have enabled them to strike the ball better as possibly they were collapsing their arms too early on the backswing. It is then very important though that yes the left arm can stay reasonably straight but there needs to be wrist hinge as well so at the top of the swing you create a 90 degree angle between the left arm and the shaft. If the arm stays stays too straight over a period of time, you will start to get pulled off the ball as well limiting your power as most likely you won't be engaging the wrists effectively.

If you'd like to learn how to establish a consistent swing just contact myself at David Waters Golf.