Recapture Your Swing

By ,

Use these strategies to get back to your best tempo

At some point during the course of 18 holes, you’re very likely to lose your good swing. It happens to even the best players. You miss a few fairways, and before you know it, that smooth, rhythmic swing you brought to the first six holes is suddenly gone. Here’s the good news: no one ever loses their swing. It’s still there, you just have to learn how to recognise when it goes bad and get out of your own way. Try our three strategies to help you find it again as fast as possible.  

1. Ride your go-to shot for as long as necessary
Obsessing about your swing when it goes awry is only going to make things worse. If you know you’re going to lose it, have a strategy or plan B for getting it back. For example: what is a shot you know you can hit in the fairway or onto the green? Maybe it’s a knockdown shot, as Pia is demonstrating above. Lean on your go-to shot until you get your feel back and leave the detailed swing analysis for after the round.

2. Swing at 40 to 60 percent of your maximum speed 
Many golfers get very quick when they lose their swing, so it’s good to slow everything down, especially your tempo. When you get over the ball, take a few deep breaths and long exhales and relax your upper body. Then, have the feeling that you’re swinging at 40 to 60 percent of your maximum speed. This calmer tempo will help sync up your arms and body and get you swinging normal again.

3. Play with your feet together for better balance, control 
Some of our students have discovered that the easiest way to regain their feel is to play a hole with their feet close together [above]. This simplifies your motion and gets you more centred and in balance. It also helps you feel more present in your body, so you don’t start overthinking. After playing a hole with your feet together, try narrowing your normal stance, and if that feels good, then go back to standing wider. 

Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson,
Both Golf Digest 50 Best Teachers, are co-founders of VISION54 in Arizona.

 Photos by J.D. Cuban