How Long Does a Swing Change Take?
Most golfers at some point in their life will try to make a swing change. However, many give up too soon and revert to their old swing. They underestimate how long it takes to change.
The offseason for golf is here for many of us. Now is the time to look back and reflect on how well you played. Did you play as well as you wanted? Did you strike the ball as well as you wanted?
The likely answer for most people is, no. And that is not because they are unhappy with the state of the game. It’s because they want to play better. We all want to play better.
What do golfers - who are serious about getting better - do when they want to play better? They work on their swing.
Most golfers at some point in their life will try to make a swing change. However, many give up too soon and revert to their old swing. They underestimate how long it takes to change.
The time it takes to make a swing change will depend on a couple of things including time dedicated to change and severity of change. Something relatively simple like a grip change will not take as long as the pivot or getting more shaft lean at impact. But don’t take that to mean you will get something simple down quickly.
A simple grip change could take weeks of practice to start to feel comfortable. Then another couple of weeks before you start hitting the ball better than before. However, it will take months of intentional practice before your new grip becomes a habit.
If a simple grip change could take months to become permanent, how long do you think more intense changes like pivot will take? Probably 3x longer.
Work With a Qualified Coach
I cannot stress how important it is to work with a qualified coach when working on a swing correction. The reason for this is that what you think you need to work on might not be the thing that is causing the problem. Trust me. I know from experience.
Recently, I posted my swing in the comments of a coach’s post on Twitter. He gave me some feedback that I did not think about.
Here is what I thought I needed to work on to correct my big miss (pull hooks):
Coming across the line at the top of the swing.
The club face is too closed at the takeaway and at the top of the swing.
The downswing was too steep and need to shallow it.
He instantly recognized that my pivot (the way I turn my body in the takeaway) needed to be corrected and was the root cause of all the things I listed. Additionally, my grip was too weak and he asked me to strengthen it.
I hired him immediately.
If I didn’t hire him or show him my swing, I would have been making corrections that might have benefited me but would still be suffering from the same inconsistency in how I strike the ball.
Now, it has been all of a few days but I am already seeing some improvement. But I do not have any expectations of this being a quick fix. The goal is to be improved by the time the 2024 season starts.
That’s between 4 and 5 months from now.
Now, the part that you need to remember after working with a coach is that you need to do the work. You need to be drilling what they tell you more than what you think. And you need to do it well after you think you have fixed the problem.
Why do you need to continue drilling after you fix the problem? Because once things go wrong on the course (they will) your body will revert to the old habits. To combat this, you need to do the drill properly continuously.
Change Takes Time, Be Patient
Rickie Fowler is a great example of an elite player who recently went through a swing change. He fell off his peak performance and struggled from 2019 to 2022. His resurgence on tour didn’t really take off until he went back to Butch Harman as his swing coach.
It took him, an elite player, months of work to start being competitive on tour and finally made it back to the winner’s circle in 2023. If it takes one of the best players in the world more than 6 months to get back into form, how long do you think it will take you?
This is why you need to temper your expectations and be patient. Any swing change is not a quick fix. It is a long, slow, tedious process that requires consistent effort for months on end.
The last thing you want to do is try a quick fix, give it a run for a couple of weeks, then go back to your original swing. You are not giving yourself enough time to hone in the new movements.
Wrapping It Up
The offseason is the perfect time to make swing corrections, especially for those of us in the northern US where courses are closed. You might have a few months of no golf to be played which means you have plenty of time to make swing corrections.
Here are the core takeaways from this article:
Change is uncomfortable. Embrace the process. You are teaching your body how to move differently and the body will resist this. Push through the uncomfortable.
Change takes time. Be patient. Remember to think in timelines of months not weeks or days. Change, even small changes, takes more time and effort than you think.
Be diligent and record yourself. Whenever you are making a change with the golf swing you need to be diligent and record yourself. How do you know you are doing it right if you can’t see it? Don’t rely on “feel”.
Work with a qualified coach. Working with a coach is the most important part. A good coach will be able to dissect the root cause of the problems, provide drills, and give detailed practice guides for you.