When to change?

I've been golfing for about 10 years and really started getting serious about it a couple years ago.

I recently watched my swing on video (can't get it to post here). It looks awful to me. I dip towards the ball, I go past parallel, and it appears that the split second before the transition from back swing to swing I reverse pivot.

Now here's my other problem, when do you decide to change what your doing wrong if it's working for you?

I'm crushing my irons. I hit a 3 iron to 90 out on a 370 yard hole, slight dog leg so it was probably a little less than 280 yards off the tee yesterday. I hit my 5 iron around 200 yards on average. My ball flight is usually pretty straight with my irons. I tend to draw it off the tee, and pretty straight off the turf. I've shot my 2 best scores in the last week.

Now that's the good news with my current swing.

The bad news is I'm hitting several shot thick on any given round. And I usually hit at least one shot really thin. My thin shots tend to slice.

I'm worried about losing distance if I change my swing and really don't know where to start. There isn't any instructors within 100 miles.

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I refer to this as the classic coaches conundrum - as I see it similarily in basketball.

A player with horrible form manages to make every shot s/he puts up - specifically free throws.

Do I, as a coach, get them to relearn proper form, or do I let them be?

My answer is almost always the same: Function follows form. While what they are doing is producing results for them now, I don't believe it will serve them well in the long run.

So I teach them the fundamentals, and try to get them as rooted as possible in good mechanics. From there, natural tendencies allow for creativity.

So, I would say it couldn't hurt to get your swing surveyed and critiqued. It could be something simple like sway.

Besides, you don't have to do anything your instructor tells you to do, and you don't have to agree or believe anything they say, either (and I've had players go that route, too).

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For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

Well said - my advice would be the same. When you are hitting the ball well it is becuase you are making all the required adjustments just prior to impact. This is fine if you can do it over and over agin forever - however, these adjustments are unneccesarry movements in a fundamentally sound swing. It goes like this - you make one fault in your swing, which causes you to have to alter something else. Your original fault has lead to two undesired movements in the swing. Imagine you have three faults - you then have 6 movements.

The more basic your swing the less that can go wrong with it.

When i first started golf i learnt a very basic swing, focused on two key movements - it has stood me in good stead.

You should also note however, that it is a great deal easier to put a new movement into someones swing than it is to remove an ingrained erronious one.

Good luck.

Will