Golf Swing - better to tweak or rebuild . . .

[rsully]

I am a middling golfer with an average game, decent swing but nothing great. I break 90 about 50% of the time, broken 80 a few times in my life. From time to time, I also break the bad side of 100.

Most of my instruction has come from this site and Brian's video's. I know my short game needs work, but my question is about the swing from the box and fairway:

Is it better to tweak what you have or scrap it altogether and build a swing to look exactly like Hunter Mahan's? Does one's build, age, etc determine they approach to the swing?

I bring this up because I note that Brian has often stated that he wants player to be immediatly better after a lesson, but a buddy of mine just signed up for lessons (he is similar in skill to me) and the instructor has bull dozed his old swing and stared over, and he is a mess . . .

But in the long run, maybe he will be a better player for it. Or give up golf.

Thoughts?

 

[SteveT]

Leadbetter took a whole 2 years to rebuild Faldo's golfswing, and even admitted it was an "experiment"...!!!

Even Tiger admits openly, that his swing a "work under construction", and he acknowledges he will be worse off initially, but feels he is going in the right direction with Foley.

I think an important question for you and your buddy is: "How old are each of you?".... because age is a factor when rebuilding or even patching your homemade golfswings. Your brain and body on a neuro-muscular level will ferociously resist change, and your emotions will ruthlessly attack your commitment to change as well.

While thinking it over, don't golf for a couple of weeks, and then (a) sell your golf clubs, or, (b) hit the gym to condition your body for change, or (c) dribble along and try to patch a fundamentally flawed golfswing.

It's your call.... good luck.....

 

[Kevin Shields]

Even if you define it as a rebuild, if you pick the one correct area to start at, you can change 5 things without knowing it. In other words don't be afraid to "start over" but make certain you don't do a connect the dots. Fix the one thing that will have a ripple effect.

 

[ZAP]

Make small changes like Kevin suggested. No such thing as really starting over unless you decide to start over lefty.

Not that I am suggesting it.

 

[Vortex]

Even if you define it as a rebuild, if you pick the one correct area to start at, you can change 5 things without knowing it. In other words don't be afraid to "start over" but make certain you don't do a connect the dots. Fix the one thing that will have a ripple effect.

I think this is spot one.

To me, it seems a fallacy to think it is possible to make just one change.

Change one element and a whole host of things are affected in a chain of consequence. So, picking the right thing to change helps a whole lot.

However, if the foundation itself is flawed (the setup, the pivot, etc), then the necessary change will be more like an overhaul, without which the swing will be a perpetual pyramid of compensations, hard to time repeatedly and consistently, and often injury-prone.