Should You Play Golf While Learning Your New Swing?

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The greatest question in golf - should I play golf while working on my swing? This video answers this age old question!


The number one question that I get more often than anything else isn't about the grip or the swing, plane or setup, or impact.

It is, do I have to stop playing while I'm working on my golf swing?

That is a great question and that is exactly what we're going to answer today.

Here are the 10 things that you need to think about and understand as you're working on your swing.

So in order, number one, the first is that it takes three to 5,000 repetitions to master any motor movement.

I've talked about this in great detail in other videos, so I won't talk about it in depth here, but the key is understanding that that three to 5,000 reps is going to take time.

Now that's to master a movement and this is key.

When we talk about mastering a movement, When we're talking about you being very proficient at it and being able to do that same movement over and over again without screwing it up.

And more importantly, reverting back to your old movement pattern.

So if you've got an inside takeaway and you're working on taking the club back on plane instead of going inside, for you to master that new movement that you're learning, it will take three to 5,000 reps before your brain's going to want to always default to that new movement pattern.

In between that time, you're going to find yourself willing to rip the club inside still, and that's normal for everyone.

This is the golden rule of learning.

It doesn't mean that this just applies to your golf swing.

This applies to everything in life that you're doing that involves a motor movement, and that could be riding your signature.

That's a motor movement.

That is your brain telling your muscles what to do and what sequence to do and what order to do it in, and that's a movement no different than learning how to play a musical instrument, learning how to drive a manual transmission, learning how to run.

All of these things are motor movements that you took time learning at some point in your life.

If you've mastered those movements, hopefully we can run and ride our signature, feed ourselves without stabbing ourselves in the eye with a fork.

But when we first started doing that as a child, we couldn't.

So that's the first thing you've understand is that this is going to take time.

Even if you did a hundred reps every single day, and more importantly, getting to number two, you did them absolutely perfectly because only correct reps count.

If you're doing the rep exactly right, that's the only rep you get to count.

But if you mess it up, that's not telling your brain the right information.

You're just reinforcing your old stuff.

But even if you did 100 reps every single day perfectly, that's a whole month to master movement.

So now one thing that confuses a lot of people is, well, do I just have to work on just my setup for a month?

No, of course not.

Absolutely not.

We want to group as many things together as we can, as long as we're doing them correctly.

But there's obviously a point where our brain just can't juggle working on setup, takeaway, backswing, downswing, lag, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

We can't juggle that many things.

So we have to work through these things in a specific order, in a specific sequence.

And that's where Rotary Swing takes the thinking process out for you.

We show you the five steps that you've got to master in order.

And doing those reps and grouping these things together.

Because everything with Rotary Swing is stackable and progressive, meaning that we not only can take one drill but combine it with any other drill in the system.

They're all compatible, working together, doing the same thing, getting you moving in the same direction.

That we can also get you to feel the new movements while you're working on the old movements, continuing to reinforce things.

That's how we call being progressive.

We're taking you from one step to the next and so on and so forth.

So then as you're working on this stuff, let's just say you're, We'll go back to the typical old inside takeaway, and you're getting the club to go back out on plane as you go back.

This is a really difficult thing to work on while hitting balls and playing golf, because backswing thoughts take you away from the focus of sending the ball down range.

That's at the end of the day, it's the whole goal, right?

We want to send the ball toward our target.

And so we're thinking about backswing thoughts.

I find it personally, and I found for my students as well, that it's a challenge to think about backswing thoughts while playing golf.

Certainly not impossible.

Everybody's a little bit different, But typically, it's a little bit easier to focus on something that actually involves hitting the ball, the impact positions, the release, downswing, while working on your swing.

But that's again, not a hard and fast rule.

But understand that as you're working on something new, that any distraction is going to add a challenge to your swing.

So a distraction could be your dog barking at you while you're practicing at home in front of the mirror.

It could be just a mental distraction.

Oh gosh, I forgot to pick up the kids at school again, right?

It could be anything that's taking your focus, your intense focus from doing this one new movement, because that is really the keys.

You really got to be super focused on what you're doing to get the most out of it, to make sure you're doing the reps correctly.

And you're catching all these little nuances.

For those of you who've seen the roadshow videos, you've seen many of the same things over and over again that people struggle with.

And it's one little thing that I point out that, oh, well, the setup is making it impossible for you to not reverse pivot or, you know, your grip is making it so of course you're going to take the club inside.

It's all these little details that, if you're not really focused, is going to make golf really challenging.

And learning really challenging.

And going out and playing involves thousands of distractions.

If you're in Florida, you got to worry about hitting your ball into the weeds and getting eaten by an alligator.

You're worried about not hitting it into the bunker, worried about not hitting into the hazard, worried about chunking it, being embarrassed, hitting a bad shot.

All of those things slow down your learning process.

Doesn't mean you can't work through them.

If you have tremendous mental focus and can focus just on the movement pattern that you're doing while being out on the golf course, and you're not concerned about the results, you're concerned about learning and making the new movement pattern, then of course you can do it.

But as number four talks about isolationism speeds up your learning process.

Isolationism is taking out all of those distractions and making it really, really simple.

I'm going to give you one task, one task only.

You had one job to do and you just do that one thing.

You're going to learn much faster than if you're trying to do that one thing and 50 others.

None of us are able to process that many things at tremendous speed as the golf swing happens without typically having something fall apart.

We drop the ball on something.

How many times have you seen in these roadshow lessons that I'm giving somebody something to think about?

And then they forget about the other thing I just told them about, right?

That's normal.

And so you have to take that into account.

And that's why it's really critical to go slow at the beginning, to build that foundation, to get that perfect 100 to 300 reps that it takes to build that movement pattern, and then slowly keep reinforcing it without fail.

Every single golf lesson that I've given, every golf clinic that I've given, without fail, those who improved the fastest were always the ones who went the slowest at the beginning, every single time.

If you take your time in the beginning, And it might just be 15 minutes of taking your time to really make sure that you see what's going on and that new takeaway or whatever it is that you're working on, that you can feel it, that you understand it, that you know everything that's going on that's going to provide the challenges for you.

Then you can slowly start to speed up and ramp up speed, where everybody makes a mistake without fail if they go too fast, too soon.

You've heard my whole car analogy, learning how to drive a manual transmission.

All of us sucked at it when we first started.

Driving a manual transmission seemed like a really big challenge.

You started out in a parking lot.

That's isolationism.

We reduced our distractions to the absolute minimum.

We weren't trying to go fast.

We weren't trying to be in traffic.

We're just trying to learn how to give it gas and slip the clutch just the right amount without stalling and lurching.

Then we slowly start adding more distractions.

The golf swing goes the exact same way.

We want to slowly get out of that parking lot and get onto a backcountry road.

You don't want to go from the parking lot to the Indy 500.

You don't have the movement pattern drilled in your brain enough, mastered enough.

You haven't done enough repetitions for you to be able to do it quickly.

You might totally understand it intellectually, but your body, Your brain hasn't built that physical pathway and reinforced enough in your brain for you to be able to do it at speed.

That's the whole trick.

To do that, you've got to make sure that you go slow at the beginning and chart all your progress.

Make sure that you're paying attention to the little details at the beginning.

The best way to do that is with a mirror and a camera.

Your best two training aids in the world, you already own them.

You have a mirror in your house, I'm certain.

If not, You've got a sliding glass window or some sort of window where you can see your reflection and a camera.

We've all got them on our phones nowadays.

And heck, they actually record at high speed now.

They're amazing.

A little iPhone will get everything you need out of your golf swing to understand what's going on, when you're making mistakes, being able to see it and get feedback instantly.

When you're learning something new, brand new, You should record every five to 10 swings, or one swing, every five to 10 shots or swings that you make.

Because you're going to inevitably start slipping back in your old movement patterns, especially if you're going too fast, which is why I really, Really encourage you to do the nine to three drill until you can do it in your sleep and you're having dreams or nightmares about it, depending on how you think about it.

Because that nine to three drill teaches you 90% of the golf swing without having to go past halfway back.

It's all the critical parts of the swing.

And if you watch yourself in a mirror, it's very, very easy to master that simple nine to three move.

And then we just, if we're going to hit the ball further, we just make a little bigger turn.

We just continue that nine o'clock swing to 10 o'clock swing.

And voila, all of a sudden we've mastered the entire golf swing, but you have to do it with a mirror and camera.

Now, at first you may not recognize all the little things that can go wrong in your swing.

Totally.

Okay.

Use your instructor.

That's what they're there for.

The Rotary Swing Tour certified instructors on the site will point out exactly what you need to work on, help you understand why you're struggling with this, put your swing up next to somebody else to show you the visual of what it needs to look like.

Use your instructor.

It is a godsend to have these guys out there to be able to help you very, very quickly and very, very affordably.

One other key that I want to talk about as you're working on these drills, you're using the mirror, using your video cameras, you're using your instructor.

The next step, once you've got this platform of learning, this platform of building for success, using the mirrors and cameras, using isolationism, working on your repetitions, using your instructor, you need to start putting the drills in context.

And what I mean by that is when you're practicing and going super slow, well, that's not how you actually hit a golf ball.

At some point, you need to go super fast.

And so as we're doing this, we have to understand that at some point, You've got to start challenging yourself to move a little bit quicker and more in the context of a swing.

The swing doesn't happen at one mile an hour.

It's going very, very quickly.

So we have to start challenging ourselves and go as fast as we can doing these drills correctly.

That's the key.

As soon as you make a mistake, you're going too fast.

You need to back it down, take some pieces off of there, Slow down and give yourself a chance for your brain to catch up and do the rep correctly, at whatever speed that may be.

This is not a race.

You're not competing against anybody else to see who gets to the end the fastest.

That's why you need to take pride in the process of learning.

You are going to get better.

In fact, you're going to get very good.

If you follow the rotary swing system, you've seen what it can do in just a super short period of time, How these students in this roadshow, In 30 minutes or 60 minute lessons can go from looking like a complete rank amateur to having the same mechanical movements and positions and movement patterns as a tour pro.

Now they're not mastered yet.

They've got to go through the repetition, the building process, the myelinization process to build those, that pathway in their brain so they can do that movement very, very quickly over time.

But that doesn't take that long.

In just 10 days, seven to 10 days in most people's case, They will take something that they've never done before and are struggling mightily with it in the first few minutes of the lesson.

And in seven to 10 days, they're going to be able to do that movement very, very proficiently and screw it up hardly more than 20% of the time, 10 or 20% of the time, 80% of the time, 90% of the time within getting that first seven to 10 days of reps, that's 700 to a thousand reps on average.

If you're doing a hundred reps a day, which takes about 30 to 45 minutes for most drills on the site in seven to 10 days, you're going to be very good at that movement.

Now, that doesn't mean you're necessarily going to be hitting the ball as well as you're going to two months from now, because as you change one thing in your swing, it's a cause and effect relationship.

You change one thing, you have to understand how it affects the other.

And so it may change something and require another change to get you further down that road.

Or you may find that you instantly go out and play your best golf like this golfer did, because everybody's a little bit different.

But just understand as you're working through this system, this is how you learn everything in life.

And you're right around the corner from making the biggest breakthroughs and being able to play your best golf, no matter how old you are.

I just got an email yesterday from Ernest in Florida.

And I thought it was great to share because here's an example.

Everybody thinks that, oh, they've got to be a certain age or they're too old, or you just can't teach an old dog new tricks, or I'm not flexible enough or whatever it is.

Ernest is 94 years old.

And just like so many of you, he spent the vast majority of his life trying to find this elixir of golf, find the cure, find this, this panacea to get me to where I want to be.

And it doesn't exist.

There's no such thing.

Even Rotary Swing is a fundamentals based improvement program that guarantees results if you follow the system exactly the way it's laid out.

But it doesn't happen with by swallowing the pill.

Now in Ernest's case, he found a couple weeks, he's already hitting the ball much better.

And he feels like he's entering the promised land.

I like that because that's exactly what it is.

If you follow the system, I guarantee you'll get better.

So take pride in the process.

Know that you're going to play the best golf of your life, But you have to work through these keys and understand that if you go out and play all the time while you're working on these drills, you better be really, really focused while you're doing these drills on the golf course, because now you're fighting a lot of distractions.

You're just making it much harder on yourself.

It's like trying to learn how to drive that manual transmission in rush hour traffic in LA.

Not going to be a very fun experience for you, but you might fight through it.

But why make it harder on yourself?

Why not give yourself the chance, the best chance for success?

Take all those distractions away, focus for the first seven to 10 days of what you're doing on, what you're working on, get those movement patterns drilled in, and then slowly start reintroducing more distractions.

Because at some point we have to, we not only need to try and put it in the context of the swing and start to move faster, but we also need to start trying to manage those distractions, The fears and things that we struggle with on the golf course of hitting bad shots or making good contact, or whatever it may be.

But that has to happen over time.

You don't want to just take the whole bottle of aspirin, be patient, take pride in the process, and you will improve.

Must be Premium Member to Comment

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Jens
A question came up when I played golf with my significant other last week. she played with a provisional which went out of bounds and then she played another provisional which she finnished the hole with. Didnt get much wiser from checking the rulebook so thought id ask here. Does this incur two penalty stroke, one for each played provisional, but no added shot for the first played provisional? Lets say it was a par 3. And she shot two provisionals and the 2nd went on green and she two putted. Is her total strokes then 6 for that hole ?
June 18, 2020
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Jens. Par 3 - 1st out of bounds, provisional on the green 1 putt (4). Par 3 - 1st out of bounds, provisional out of bounds, provisional on green 1 putt (6).
June 18, 2020
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Jens
Thank you craig! I had misunderstood it then. Glad you cleared it up
June 19, 2020
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Bernie
Hello again Patrick, I did not receive a notice that my face-on video was not received. In your description of my down the line video, you mentioned that there was another video in your Admin file, or something like that. Thanks again.
September 10, 2019
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Bernie
Hello Patrick. I went ahead and completed another face on video. When I went to post it to the swing review site, I noticed my initial face on video was there with my down the line video that you reviewed. You now have two face on videos and I guess I have used an extra swing review opportunity. I am looking forward to your review as your comments on my down the line video were very helpful.
September 10, 2019
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Patrick (Certified RST Instructor)
Hmm.. Can you submit another video from face on? Thanks
September 10, 2019
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Bernie
Hello Patrick, I submitted two videos: one from down the line which you reviewed, and a second one from a face-on view. Thanks
September 8, 2019
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Patrick (Certified RST Instructor)
Did you ever receive an email notifying you that a review had been "unsubmitted"? I may have combined both of your video submissions (down the line and face on) into one swing review.
September 9, 2019
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Bernie
Question for Patrick....when will I see your review of my second swing video? Thanks , Bernard Chapman
September 6, 2019
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Patrick (Certified RST Instructor)
Hi Bernard, can you clarify? My last review for you was provided Sept. 3. You may have provided a duplicate video, which sometimes happens. Thanks
September 7, 2019
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Charl
Excuse me for hogging this thread, but I think that I may be able to add valuable insights. I start with history to sketch my circumstances. In 2010, at age 60, I retired and, not having played golf in my working life, now had time to learn how to play the game. I went for some instruction, but I quickly realised that it is very difficult to convey the movements through a choice of words and I needed to get instruction from more than one teacher to get new insights. I went to some of the best coaches, Pro's, teachers in South Africa (where I live), traversing the country, but to no avail, I still could not hit the ball straight – I sprayed it everywhere, with shanks, tops and chunks thrown in for extra disillusion. I think personal instruction failed because of one main reason: Being a grey-haired gent, the Pro's assumed that they needed to apply some plaster, whereas I needed radical surgery. I needed a step-by-step recipe. I then started buying video courses, to hear the narratives from many other coaches. Every video recipe was different: Rick Barry – Bump the car door, Paul Wilson – swing machine, Shaun Clements – get the body out of the way, and then Paul Wilson again, BodySwing. All of them claimed to be the best and that I will be swinging better in no time. Meanwhile, I looked at the golf on TV and we have fellow countrymen like Ernie Els, Louis Oosthuizen plus all the LPGA (diminutive) girls barely moving, yet hitting the ball a mile. There had to be a trick! So my search for the "Golden Recipe" continued. I obviously became aware of the RST system in my internet searches for the Holy Grail, but I wanted to buy a course, as our internet speeds in Africa were too low for streaming, and the monthly payments in Dollars too high for a third world country. In December of 2018 I took the plunge and bought a 30-day Premium Subscription at RST. Finally, here was a system, a recipe, which started at the core, at the beginning, and explained in great detail the steps to be taken and the reasons why you need those steps. The moves were totally different to the moves I was making. But, it was the moves that I wished to make – to look more like an Ernie Els golfer. Needless to say, I extended my subscription. Bear in mind that at this time, I was fully schooled on the theory of the golf swing through many narratives so I immediately grasped that the RST wording now gave me the Gospel. Was I immediately successful? Hell no! I analysed that my setup was too low, too much weight on toes. I had no idea of proper shoulder rotation and the "chair drill" fixed that. My weight shift was too little too late, appearing as an after-thought, not as a core movement. I loved the RST 5-step system, yet when I arrived on the course, I still hit the balls on my old, ingrained methods. It became obvious to me that I was suffering from a "hit impulse", and I had to slow down, yet it was almost impossible to change my swing. Then a ski accident in February changed everything – torn upper bicep tendons on my right shoulder. The doctor said "Golf not before October". If you have stayed with me this far, the rest is now the good bits: I kept on doing my reps at home. RST Steps 1 and 2 combined formed the core of my practices. You have to really do them hundreds, even thousands of times. You have to consciously feel the turn of your right shoulder blade, and then initiate the swing with your legs. After a few weeks of this, I added the left arm (Step 3) to the party, but my right side was too sore to continue, so I kept doing the basics, really feeling how my legs drive the swing. By mid-April I went to a driving range on mats, concentrating on a left-arm pull, and turning off my right side. The key here was that I had no intention to hit far – I just wanted to hit some balls due to my golf starvation. Lo and behold, the results were astonishing – all the balls went straight and I produced a nice trajectory as well. The incapacitated right arm was a blessing in disguise. I had no other alternative other than to hit the balls with my leg and core muscles. With no effort, I hit the balls nearly as far as my earlier two-handed swing. The point that I wish to make is that you need to first get this Eureka moment – you have to first get the experience that you can hit the ball far with zero effort, you have to become a believer in the RST system. Only once you have experienced this sweetness can you venture to take the RST swing to the golf course. I have now played two rounds, using a lady 3-wood as my driver. I have no expectation to hit far; I just enjoy being out on a course again. Amazingly, with my mates being a lot longer, but in the bushes, I am dead straight. Whereas I battled to break 100 before, my first round was 46/49 for 95. And that with a lame right shoulder! Taking RST to the course means to consciously go through the reps on the tee box. 1. Get your setup correct – I feel the weight transfer from heel to toe and settle in the centre. 2. Keep the right knee stationary and do a full shoulder turn (RST steps 1 and 2), whilst transferring weight 1 inch to right, and then 3 inches to the left. 3. Add your left arm, do the reps, then add the club. At this stage I barely touch the club with my right hand, concentrating more on supporting the club at the top of the back swing. 4. Feel that you are using your legs and core to swing the club – in short, get rid of the "hit impulse". The moment that I try to swing the club without this rigid, mechanical thinking process, I immediately regress back to hitting again. In summary then, my feeling is that it is useless to take the RST system to the golf course and expect betterment, if you have not yet experienced the sweet taste of success before. I therefore endorse Chuck's mantra: You need a LOT of reps in front of mirrors, and you need to do them CORRECTLY. I still do Steps 1 and 2 as I pass a mirror in the house, or a patio door outside. It never ends! Oh, and, you do not need a shoulder operation, but it helps a hell of a lot if you can keep the right arm and hands from taking over the swing…..
May 2, 2019
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Jeffrey
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience... i too have been trying to do the movements during the week and then play on the weekends... it can be done but old habits creep in all the time.. but my ball striking has never been better... so my thoughts are just keep practicing and playing (. Knowing Rome want built in a day). Great program Chuck
May 3, 2019
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Charl. I appreciate your informative post about your journey with RST. I think it will provide good insight to other members. I completely agree that you have to get the body movements down and have that eureka moment. Players have to come to the realization that they are just working too hard and not striving towards effortless power. Once, you have the keys to the kingdom of not using brute force and constant manipulations to make quality shots happen. Golf and life will definitely improve.
May 3, 2019
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Robert
All good input, for sure. But I need to push back a bit on #5. i've been working on RST for about 4 years and have stalled a variety of times. After a recent unsatisfying golf trip, i looked closely at all of my routines trying to figure where i might be stuck. i tried to challenge everything about my practice routines. one thing that i noticed is most of my drills have been pretty slow as i try to unlearn 40 years of bad habits. i decided to try giving up slow and try learning how to trust the club more and let it speed up, Not trying to swing fast. Just trying to swing more crisply and let the weight of the club head do what it wants to do. I've made major improvements recently. i've stopped trying to actively manage the club into the right positions. or to put it another way, i think i was being too cautious which turned into slow which turned into limited progress. With golf, as with other sports, sometimes you have overcome caution and let momentum do it's thing. so maybe what i'm really suggesting is that slow can be ok but too slow can be counterproductive.
April 30, 2019
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Patrick (Certified RST Instructor)
Hi Robert, you are correct that going too slow can be counterproductive. That's where #9 comes in (challenge constantly). With #5, Chuck is talking about the learning process as a whole, not necessarily about tempo or momentum. Too many golfers are tempted to get ahead of where they should be in the learning process. It's a balance. You don't want to get ahead of where your brain can take you by pounding range balls at full speed, but you also don't play golf with slow drills.
May 1, 2019
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Logan
I made this mistake and it cost me, tried working on the drills during the week and playing on the weekends. With all those mechanical thoughts buzzing in my brain my touch and feel went out the window. One round I could not stop shanking the ball, was never a shanker before trying to change to much at once while on the course
April 30, 2019
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Loagn. We have all made that mistake of jumping into golf too soon.
April 30, 2019
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Jim
I have a more general question. Like so many RST members I'm constantly working in front of the mirror, reviewing video, and on the practice tee. The result is lots of swing thoughts, each associated with a different stage of the RST system. Is it not the "best practice" to clear one's head of these, save may one or two and only try to "visualize the shot" when playing? Easier said than done of course.
May 13, 2019
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Jim. Yes. You need too rep to make the move automatic without needing thought. But, when you play you have to "play golf, not play swing." Having 1 and/or at most 2 thoughts, but with good visualization isn't a bad thing. You can also use Chris's technique in the Trust Line Video.
May 13, 2019

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