I’ve conducted 5 swing changes in the last 10 years because I’ve been on a mission to understand the swings of my idols and create a swing concept that allows injury-free, powerful, and easy-to-achieve golf. If I take one thing from this, and only one, to describe the most important part of swing change, it is: Swing thoughts need to be easily achievable. Simple swing feels are one of the main keys to development.

Or let me flip it: you cannot perform a swing change that involves swing thoughts so complex that they’re hard to even think about. In fact, I’ve abandoned several protocol changes because the system demanded something from me that I could only perform in a ridiculously tranquil state after hours of practice.

For reader context: this article is a part of the Forgotten Master Moves Swing Page (my system for teaching the great’s core movements). I recommend that you start here instead.

The Inner Image, Drills and Swing Thoughts

I’m a huge fan of drills, but at the same time, I know that your inner image of your golf swing (the way you subconsciously perceive your movement) needs to be addressed for any change to happen. As an example: Most severe over-the-top players have some kind of perception that they should hit a golf ball with a short swing journey. If you don’t address this thought pattern, change will never happen. In this case it doesn’t matter how much you drill. Your own perception needs to change first.

When it comes to very technical and difficult thoughts I actually welcome them in the beginning of a swing change if they quickly become easier to deal with. If they’re remaining awkwardly hard to perform it’s a non driving thought and then I’m no fan any longer.

It’s important to understand one thing. If you are about to make a change it WILL feel awkward in the beginning but it shouldn’t continue forever.

Swing Stages & Thinking Abilities – Matching is key

“You cannot think the golf swing” is a pretty common statement. I agree with this when I’m out of the swing change. But during the change process, I actually WANT to think about my swing. The goal is to constantly simplify and make the thoughts as accessible and relevant as possible, and over time, make them into feels.

With that said, let’s talk about thinking abilities and chronological availability:

• In the backswing, it’s quite easy to think.
• In the transition, it starts to get hard to think.
• In the downswing before the ball, it’s close to impossible to think.
• At impact, you have basically no chance to think.
• Post-impact, space opens up to think again.

In other words, you cannot have advanced thought patterns in difficult areas of the swing. They need to be abstract, feel-oriented, and deeply connected to the inner drivers of your golf swing. I know this through loads of experience, and I have made it one of my biggest requirements for the swing change.

Driving Abstract Thoughts = Potential for Swing Feels

Most instruction focuses on the exterior of your swing—”Get into this or that position.” However, the thoughts required to achieve those observational positions are often quite technical and difficult to perform, especially when you consider the chronological description of brain availability mentioned earlier.

Fundamentally, these thoughts are difficult because they aren’t about the key driving components. If you focus your thought efforts more abstractly on the inner drivers of your motion, it becomes a lot easier. I’d even go as far as to say it’s the only way to change.

My favorite thoughts to use are directly related to the forces in the golf club. Being connected to what happens in the tool that is completely responsible for the outcome of your swinging motion makes sense, right? Tiger Woods talks about feeling everything in his hands. I agree with this but would stretch it further, saying that my abstract thoughts are aimed at the dynamic power within the package of the club, hands, and arms. Read more about the “engine” of the golf swing here.

Abstract Thoughts locks up Relaxed Potential and Swing Feels

If you’ve read about grip pressure in this article, you’ll see that I’m big on releasing grip pressure to let the power unleash naturally, allowing the body to move automatically. Making the body move also has a direct correlation to abstract thoughts.

When you’re abstract, you can be relaxed. But if you’re technical and focused on the exterior of your swing, you’ll become rigid.

Knowledge opens for Swing Feels

If you don’t fully understand what you are supposed to do your body will, however awesome of an attitude that you have, subconsciously work against you. 

I have zero scientific evidence for what I’m saying here so I’ll just put it like this: If you don’t intellectually understand what you do it’s like your body is putting the hand brake on. Knowledge removes the brakes and let’s your body act in accordance to abstract driving thoughts. You can start swinging with a feel because you fundamentally know what’s going on.

The Road to Swing Feels

1. Once you have gathered the sufficient knowledge (why I built my FMM swing system) you can start adressing your Inner Image issue (if you had one).
2. You then drill the swing with core driving abstract swing thoughts and make many swing thoughts into 2-3 simple ones. This take 5-10 hours
3. Over enough training your swing thoughts will be reduced down to 1-2 feels. This takes another 5-10 hours
4. Once you’ve built enough muscle memory and your inner image is what you are intending then slowly thoughtless shots appear. This take 10-20 hours of practice
5. With enough training you can go out and just play completely feel based golf.
6. I usually play with 1 simple feel anyway because that fits me as a person.

I wrote another closely related article about swing intentions here. It’s worth a read.

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