After taking up golf during lockdown and going all in on my goal of getting to single figures in a year, I picked up a few bad swing habits that have been hard to shake. Of those tendencies, the toughest to change has been my takeaway.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop my wrists from rolling away from me and whipping the club inside – getting flat behind me and setting me up for a swing full of compensations. All making up for that initial wristy move.
And although my inside takeaway didn’t stop me from hitting my goal of getting to single figures, I knew it would eventually put a ceiling on my progress. Leaving me forever fighting for consistency of strike.
That’s why, this winter, I set myself a challenge to fix my rolly wrists, so that come spring, I’ll be ready to take my game to the next level.
Here are 5 tips that have helped me make a swing change that’s finally stuck.
Think Like A Puzzle – Going Deep On One Thing At A Time
When I look back on why past attempts to fix my takeaway didn’t stick, I realise I was working on too many things at once. I would see my big ol’ overswing and over-the-top downswing and get sucked into working on a bit of all of it, rather than focusing on the root move first.
So this time around, I’ve been working on my swing like it’s a puzzle. When you complete a puzzle, you don’t place individual pieces – a bit here, a bit there – and hope they eventually match up. You focus on one section at a time, like completing the edges before starting on the most obvious part of the picture.
And by working your way through the sections, the puzzle comes together because you’ve gone deep on one thing at a time, rather than trying to do a little of everything.
(Image credit: Jess Ratcliffe)
Start With Wedges – Making Small Swings But Big Moves
This is something I did differently before and it’s a step I would now never skip when I’m working on a swing change.
Looking back on my past attempts, I would have run to the range and blasted through bucket after bucket, typically hitting my 7-iron or even reaching for my driver. And then feel disappointed when that bad habit didn’t shift.
But this time around, for the first few weeks of winter, I only hit my 58 degree wedge – focusing on small swings but big,…
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