Changing your golf swing is like changing the path you take to a particular room in your house. Your current golf swing has a routine that starts in room 1, goes to room 2, then 3 and finally in room 4 you take your swing. When you follow this routine or path, you are in your comfort zone and have the best chance for consistency.
Now, if you take a different route, through different rooms, your mind will be apprehensive, and you’ll not be sure of yourself, until you trust the new path, it becomes familiar and replaces the old path. This takes time and many repetitions sticking with the new routine. This is very doable as long as you stay focused and have discipline.
The golf swing I teach is simple, athletic and repeatable. What is different with my method is the setup, which prepares you for your new swing. If you don’t follow the setup, or add to the setup or leave something out, you’ll struggle. My method does not have many setup pieces once learned and will give you confidence that you are ready to take your golf swing.
One last thing. If you want to make changes in your swing, you must start from a new room and take a new path, and you will become successful. (Hint) if you lose focus and start in your old room 1, you’ll just get your old golf swing or a hybrid of old and new (not good).
12 Comments
Wow, great putting and thanks for the nice comments. It is funny how more and more “traditional” instruction has been changing (finally for the better)… I’ve been waiting hahaha.
Several months ago I started using your method and was hitting well almost immediately. Now here’s the but, as most golfers, I couldn’t leave well enough alone. I decided that I needed to hit a draw on every shot. Many miss hits and a flippy swing. Went to GolfT for lessons and after a couple, it dawned on me that they were teaching your takeaway exactly. And also no weight shift, but for some reason, they danced around the keeping 60 percent of weight on front foot. They said; don’t slide back. Your instructions are 100 times clearer. Are pros afraid to say keep your weight forward?
Well now Im back on board and hitting as well as ever. It’s taken my flipping wrist out of every shot. I’m putting so well now that I only had 10 putts on the entire back 9 yesterday!
Thank you so much!
The one consistent in my golf game has been my chipping, 50 yards and less. Isn’t it interesting that almost all instructors agree that the way to chip is to keep your weight left, move the handle forward, and turn to the target?
Once I started playing more instead of mostly just practicing, I was on the path to becoming increasingly frustrated with inconsistency, which never really goes away, but there seemed no rhyme or reason to my good vs. bad shots, and worse, I could play 9+ holes and only hit a handful of decent longer shots. I finally got so frustrated, I literally said to myself (insert profanity here), “darn it! I’m just going to hit EVERY shot like it’s a chip shot, it can’t get any worse”. I shortened my backswing to where I felt I could still return to the ball safely, pushed the handle forward, and “out of nowhere” I was hitting straight long shots.
Wow Rob. Yes that thumb has to be on top (if you’re right handed) to support and the back pad (under the baby finger) of that hand, must be on top too. Thanks for sharing Rob.
I played my fourth round of the season this past Saturday, Full swings with driver, hybrids and irons were OK to very good the first three rounds but last Saturday everything fell apart and I couldn’t hit irons to save my soul on the practice range and on the course even with my best Ross Swings. I was losing my grip on almost every shot at impact and follow through. So I went to a grassy rec field near home Saturday and Easter afternoon and discovered that I had somehow allowed my left thumb to creep over to the right side of the shaft instead of resting on the top. The first shot I hit with the left thumb back on top of the shaft was dead solid perfect and most of the shots I hit afterwards. I have not noticed Ross addressing the grip on this site and thought I would share this to see if anyone else had the same problem. Thanks for listening.
Amen to that. I fell off the wagon as described above, meaning my old swing habits crept back, which for me meant hooks and sky’ed shots. A trip to the driving range to explore the “path of least resistance” principle on the backswing got me back on track. I’ve suffered from a lack of shoulder turn from the beginning, even though I’m pretty limber ( not my words, but my old PGA pro’s). After the range, my right side was SO sore I couldn’t swing a club for 3 days. My lack of a full backswing was painfully evident (literally, obviously lol). In compensation, my old swing was a combination of too much lower body and my elbows drifting away from my chest in order to get width/power, which resulted in a hook or a push. IE my natural swing is an arms only mess.
My downswing never had a chance unless I had perfect timing with a strong move to clear my hips, which I am sadly incapable of 90% of the time.
THIS Is what is amazing to me: I have had many lessons from 3 (THREE!) PGA pros, and done Golftec, and none of them identified those swing flaws. They either missed it or told me I just needed to swing harder to clear my hips or…whatever. I am extremely detail focused, and I know immediately when I’m In a bad position at the top, so this was very little help to me except for the brief period of temporary confidence that comes from a new club or lesson.
But there’s more, it is golf after all, it’s embarrassing to admit after all the time I’ve put in, but my natural wrist hinge is a wrist “bend” or “bow” taking the club inside which for me always means a heel strike or a hozel rocket. Argh! The good news, today I focused on a full chest turn, keeping my weight left, no hand manipulation, and a full turn through the ball (vs my usual reverse C or pivot). I hit a great shot on the hardest hole on the course, which has been killing me for months, and one of the guys took a photo of my finish position (didn’t know he was:) and it wasn’t perfect, but awesome as far as I’m concerned). PROGRESS!!!
No one can master a weight shift and wrist hinge… NO ONE! It will always be unreliable under different anxiety moments for ALL levels of golf. That is what goes on each Sunday on tour. I believe the Large Muscles (not hands) are at least more reliable… takes practice.
Prior to this, if I can say this, I bought into “The perfect connection” golf swing. It does share similarities to the S2S swing, but after 2 years it just wasn’t happening for me. Like many amateurs, I just can’t master the weight shift in tandem with the vagaries of the wrist hinge.
AWESOME! … thank you Dave
Right on Ross! My golf partners are often frustrated with me since I changed my swing in July (7 months ago), because I now out drive them with my 3 WOOD (insert grin here:)…. A good driver distance for me was 210yds, now I avg. 220 with my 3 wood in cold sea level conditions(with wind;), and bust one out to 250 with regularity in warmer/calm conditions. I finally have a swing I can trust, which is simple & repeatable. My mind is my only obstacle now, as I become more disciplined and focused. I have always had the best short game of my friends and family, and so have been extremely frustrated that I could never get a GIR on a par 4/5 due to lack of distance. Now I am vying to hit raised greens on par 5’s in 2, with my 3 wood :). Like Greg commented on the main page, I’ve tried many swings, and took over a 100 lessons, over 10+ years. I broke 80 for the first time a month into the new swing. Granted that a good short game is necessary, but you have to GET to the green first. Thanks man.
Good question Harry. Yes you use this swing on every shot. This makes your game consistent. Power is easy. This swing is more powerful (than hinging) once learned. We don’t flip through impact so our radius is twice as long and adds to the body mass rotation for effortless power. Hinging has no benefit and only creates problems. A solid golf shot has the shaft in line with the front arm at impact and hinging on the backswing makes us flip the club head at the moment we want that straight line for a solid shot. My method rotates through impact so hinging/unhinging has no use. Also, the faster you unwind the farther the ball goes… Ross
I understand what you’re saying and like the idea-but are you saying to use this swing on every shot but putting? what about power? will it be lacking from not using a big wrist cock or the arms?