Golf Is a Game of Adjustments — But Are You Making the Right Ones?
As you improve, you embrace the truth that golf is a game that requires making adjustments. But the real key is learning to make helpful adjustments at the right time — ones that actually lead to your desired outcomes. This is true when it comes to both playing golf, as well as making changes to your golf swing.
When Adjustments Go Wrong
Too often, golfers make unhelpful adjustments simply because they don’t fully understand what they’re doing wrong or what they’re doing to try to make things work. The result? It may help them temporarily, but eventually confusion and frustration often follow. Experimentation has its place, but it can be a slippery slope, perhaps moreso for the novice golfer with a weak foundation of skills and understanding. That said, even the world’s best players have fallen into the trap of over-tinkering — chasing “perfect” numbers or video positions at the expense of accuracy, consistency, feel, and what truly works for them in the pressure of competition. Some of the best Tour pros in history struggled terribly after making swing changes while chasing after e.g., more distance off the tee or a different shot shape than what came naturally, as PGA noted in this article.
The Subconscious Side of Adjustments
Sometimes adjustments happen without us even realizing it. Old habits and tendencies can resurface mid-season, mid-round, and even mid-swing. Our subconscious plays a major role here — your intuition, athletic ability, your self-beliefs or concepts of how the golf swing works as well as your perception of what needs to happen often take over. But because you don’t consciously register these things, you can easily misinterpret what’s actually happening — and become even more confused. This is one contributing factor to why feel is not real (see article below).
Understanding the Root Causes of Your Golf Swing and Your Desired Adjustments
Making effective swing changes starts with understanding the root cause behind your golf swing problems and therefore, the purpose of your golf swing adjustments. If you want to make the right adjustments and improve your golf swing for better performance, start by understanding:
- What you’re doing well,
- What you’re not doing well,
- And most importantly, what’s causing your current movements, performance patterns, or misses.
When you truly identify the root cause, you can make meaningful, lasting changes. The best instructors in the world know how to uncover that. Many others don’t. And most novice golfers never even realize how crucial this step is. (And if you’ve ever wondered why you stripe it on the range but struggle on the course, stay tuned for a future blog post that explains why.)
Defining What’s Best for You
This leads to an important question: What is best for you?
The answer depends on many factors, such as: the journey from where you started, your objectives, tendencies, body, flexibility, mobility, what feels natural, and what ball flight you prefer. Many of these evolve over time, which means your golf swing should evolve too. When change becomes necessary, embrace it. Just make sure those adjustments are the right ones.
The Easy Swing Philosophy: Build Before You Fix
Since golf is a game of adjustments, it’s crucial to realize that progress often happens in stages. You might need to reach point A before point B, and point B before point C. Trying to skip ahead often leads to quick fixes that don’t stick.
In the Easy Swing philosophy and developmental approach, certain foundational skills and correct concepts come first. Without them, mechanical changes won’t have staying power. You can’t out-fix a bad concept — true improvement comes from understanding why something works.
(For a deeper understanding explore Will’s Masterclasses which are available by premium subscription.
Beware of the “Perfect Swing” Trap
Be cautious of instructors who push “Tour averages” or “ideal positions” just for the sake of appearances. Ask yourself — and them — “Ideal according to whom?” and “Ideal for whom? The best golf coaches are able to defend their philosophy with reasoning that ties directly to function — accuracy, consistency, longevity, contact, speed, flight — just to name several.
If the explanation is simply “because that’s the Tour average” or “it looks better,” that’s a red flag. Be polite — and consider finding someone who tailors instruction to you as a unique person. Let’s be real here: we’re no PGA Tour pros. What works best for you potentially may have very little to do with what the Tour pros do, and even less so, their “average” swing or positional metrics. Those are data points, not necessarily blueprints for the recreational golfer.
Final Thought
Golf is a game of continuous adaptation and adjustments. That’s part of the beauty and the challenge of golf. And that’s also what makes over tinkering or over experimentation difficult to avoid.
Remember, every golfer’s situation and path are unique. Take time to reflect after each round — note what changed, what stayed consistent, what worked, and what didn’t work for you. Allow those observations to shape your next steps. Small, mindful adjustments will compound over time and make you a better golfer.
Keep in mind that the goal isn’t perfection — rather, it’s more enjoyment, lower scores, and more wisdom and understanding. Therefore, make adjustments that are informed, intentional, and rooted in function and fundamentals. That’s how you build and evolve a golf swing that lasts.
To find out more about embarkeing upon your journey to better golf, contact us here.
External Links
- Article on why “Feel is not real.”
- Golf WRX article on the impact of technology on golf
- Martin Kaymer admits mistake on swing changes PGA article
