Changing a swing pattern

Does anyone have metrics on the number on reps and number of days it takes to change a swing pattern. I remember speaking to Jim Waldron about this years ago and I thought he had a formula to reset the neural pathways to direct the muscles differently (hope I stated that correctly). I thought it was something like ‘X’ number of reps for ‘X’ number of days minimum required to relearn. Anyone?

There is not a fixed number.

First you have to do the new move correct for the first time. A lot of people never gets there...

And often there are more than one little thing that needs to be changed.

The more reps you do it the wrong way, the more reps you need to do it the right way before it sticks.

... and that’s slow motion, video, mirror work - and eventually hitting balls on the range with good results.

And if that took a long time, it will take a long time to take the new swing to the course. Old habits and feels will kick in and blend with the new stuff. And some of those transitional shots may be the worst you’ve been hitting in years.

If the first steps are hard you’re in for a long journey.

That’s my experience, anyway. But it was worth it.

Only takes one rep to change a pattern. Just takes a few thousand(or ten) to ingrain the new pattern.

Does anyone have metrics on the number on reps and number of days it takes to change a swing pattern. I remember speaking to Jim Waldron about this years ago and I thought he had a formula to reset the neural pathways to direct the muscles differently (hope I stated that correctly). I thought it was something like ‘X’ number of reps for ‘X’ number of days minimum required to relearn. Anyone?

Hey M, good to hear from you!

I remember our many conversations about this topic (20-24 years ago!) well.

At that time, there was just starting to be some pretty good research on Motor Learning, creating new pathways from brain to body, etc.

I will just summarize what I have discovered from my looking at the research along with my pragmatic experience on the lesson tee.

There is no fixed number of reps that will guarantee a new movement pattern will become a dominant habit, but rather some basic guidelines that have proven to be work well.

Obviously more reps is better than the opposite, and the opposite tends to be the norm, ie golfers give up when they are half way there.

First step is a light bulb moment that "enlightens" both the intuitive deeper layers of the mind/Swing Map and the intellectual mind as well. When both "minds" are congruent - then the reps, mainly slow mo in the early stages, will result in the creation of the new pathway. If your intuitive mind especially fails to "buy in" to the swing change, then doing a lot of reps will not help that much, if at all. Reason for that is that all of us have an internal "watchdog" that guards the entry to our subconscious mind: if there is a new belief, concept or behavior that does not pass the "smell test" by the watchdog, ie that he perceives as potentially toxic, then he fails to open the door. And the open door is clearly a requirement for real change to happen.

In psychotherapy, getting past the "watchdog" is called "gaining permission". A practical example is stage hypnosis: a skilled hypnotist knows how to screen out folks in the audience who have volunteered but who will not in fact allow themselves to be hypotized,, ie she is good at reading mostly non-verbal signals that tells her this person will never actually go into trance and accept the suggestion.

The folks who have no worries will let themselves go under, and will "cluck like a chicken" when they hear the word "perfect" ( a trigger).

There is a "tipping point" where you have done enough reps and suddenly you find your body is able to do the change much easier, what I call the "51%" point.

In general, 20-30 minutes per day, 6 days per week of slow mo mirror work will get you to that point for most swing issues in about 3-5 weeks.

Hope that helps....

And M, maybe call me and we will catch up...

Haha. Who are the "cluckers" in the golf world?

My point about "gaining permission" is simply this. You really have to believe that the swing change you are about to commit to is 100% right for you to play better golf. If you harbour any doubts, that doubt will impede the learning process. It has to be crystal clear to your intellectual mind that this change makes total sense and that you will hit the ball better once you are done mastering it to the level of habit.