Why Your Swing Changes Never Stick (And How to Finally Fix It for Good)
- bryantmailme
- Nov 20
- 3 min read
If you’re like most golfers we talk to at Fundamental Golfer, you’ve been down this road a hundred times:
You take a lesson, get a great new “feel,” hit it pure for a week or two… and then, poof. The old swing creeps back in, the ball starts going sideways again, and you’re left wondering, “What the hell happened?”
You’re not lazy. You’re not untalented.
You’re just trying to fix the wrong part of the swing.
The Real Reason Most Swing Changes Fade Away
Almost every amateur tries to power the swing with the arms, hands, and shoulders.
It feels powerful in the moment because you can muscle it… but it’s death for consistency.
Why? Because the upper body is a terrible engine. It has too many small moving parts, too
many timing variables, and it fatigues fast. One day your hands are loose, the next day they’re tight from work, and the whole swing collapses.
The lower body is a big, strong, stable motor. When you initiate and sequence the swing from the ground up, everything else—arms, shoulders, clubhead—falls into place almost automatically. The kinematic sequence takes care of itself.
This isn’t theory. It’s biomechanics. Every great ball-striker in history does it, even if their swings look completely different on the surface. Once it’s grooved, it sticks—because it’s not built on perfect hand-eye timing or fleeting “feels” that vanish on the 1st tee.
The Catch: Building Lower-Body Power Isn’t Sexy or Fast
Here’s the part nobody wants to hear:
There is no magic YouTube tip, $400 driver, or one-plane vs. two-plane argument that will ever give you a repeatable swing if your engine is still the arms.
Rewiring to lower-body dominance means doing drills that feel slow, awkward, and borderline embarrassing for the first couple of weeks. Most people quit after three sessions and go right back to smashing balls, hoping to “find it again.”
That’s why the changes never last.
Our 5 Favorite Drills That Actually Turn the Lower Body into the Motor
(These are the exact ones we use with 95% of Fundamental Golfer students)
Split-Hands Pressure Shift Drill (Living-room friendly, no ball) Grip normally but slide your trail hand halfway down the shaft. Make slow swings while aggressively shifting pressure into your lead foot to start the downswing. You’ll instantly feel when the lower body leads instead of the hands.
Feet-Together Drill (Range or backyard) Hit 7- or 8-iron shots with feet 6–8 inches apart. You literally can’t sway or over-use the arms without losing balance. Forces pure lower-body rotation. Expect some shanks at first—that means it’s working.
Half-Swing Consistency Drill (The single best proving ground) Tee up a 7- or 8-iron. Swing only from waist-high to waist-high (9 o’clock to 3 o’clock). Your ONLY goals: crisp contact and starting the ball at your target. Distance will be 80–100 yards—doesn’t matter. When you can hit 10 in a row dead straight with a half swing, your lower body is officially running the show. Full swings immediately become 10× easier.
Step Drill (Most eye-opening drill on video) Start with feet together. Normal backswing, then step your lead foot toward the target as you start down and rip. Exaggerates the exact move amateurs miss. One swing on camera and you’ll see the lightbulb go off.
Pump Drill (Kills early extension forever) Take it to the top, pump twice down to shaft parallel while loading hard into your lead foot, then fire. Builds the squat-to-stack feel every tour player has.
Do any one of these for 10–15 minutes a day—slow, deliberate, perfect reps—and the club will start whipping instead of you muscling it in under a month.
Your Dead-Simple “Make It Stick” Plan
Pick ONE drill from above that you hate the least.
Do 20–30 perfect reps at 30–50% speed every single day (first week no ball required).
Week 2–3: Add a tee/ball (the Half-Swing Consistency Drill is gold here).
Film yourself once a week. When your belt buckle faces the target before the club finishes, you’ve graduated.
Final Thought
Stop chasing temporary arm-and-hand feels. Real, lifelong consistency with swing changes comes from one place: making your lower body the motor and letting the club whip as a result.
It’s not glamorous. It’s not instant.
But it’s the only thing that actually lasts.
Start tonight. Grab a 7-iron, relax and slow everything down, and feel your weight shift into that lead foot before anything else moves.
Do it for 30 days. Then come tell me your swing still falls apart.
I’ll wait. 😏
Keep it fundamental,
Robbie B.
P.S. Want personal help or answers on the five drills plus the exact checkpoints I look for? Drop your email below and we'll be glad to help—no fluff, just what works.
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