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Every golfer will tend to go through a bad period during the round, whether it be a professional making two to four bogeys in a row, to a beginner missing the ball or hitting it out of bounds.

It is important to not make fundamental changes during the round as this will only have an adverse effect on timing and the familiarity of the movements you are making.

There is, however, an exception to this. If the player has good knowledge of the golf swing and in particular his own swing, then a small change should be made. It could be something as small as a swing thought, an alignment adjustment or a takeaway feeling.

Something more complex like a swing path change or shot shape change isnt recommended.

Players that know enough about their swings to make positive changes should do so rather than those golfers with very little knowledge of their game or the golf swing. They may try to make changes to their swing such as:

• Keep the head down
• Stay still
• Move the ball position
• Hands forward at set up
• Swing slower

These changes are highly unlikely to affect the outcome of the shots. For example, “Keep your head down” is a popular phrase from playing partners and it will effectively make a player tuck the chin into the chest, stop rotating altogether and hit the ball with their arms alone, potentially hitting the ball fat or with much less distance than normal.

Many golfers that take lessons often learn about why they were hitting the shots they were hitting and are also involved with understanding an adjustment process to help improve the bad shots. These types of players in particular should have good enough knowledge about their own swing to make a small change.

Players often take out reminder cards in their golf bags to remind them of swing thoughts that work on the driving range or slight swing adaption that can be made if their game is not going according to plan.

Changing the golf swing from bad shot to bad shot will potentially cause a worse day on the course because the swing thoughts will multiply and intensify causing confusion and an array of bad shots. This can then cause future rounds of golf or practise sessions to be impacted negatively due to the constant swing thoughts and changes. This could create bad habits and may lead to a spiralling decline in the quality of your golf.

Many golfers have fantastic perseverance during their rounds and can accept the bad days and enjoy the good days. Sometimes this can be a good thing so the swing thoughts dont multiply, but it is worth knowing about the golf swing so you can make some small improvements as the round progresses.

If a player is missing greens and fairways by a small amount then a slight adjustment in the set up can be useful. For a player who is missing greens and fairways by a long way, adjusting the alignment can prove more detrimental. For example, those that slice the ball will often aim further left and will further slice the ball and lose even more distance, or may hit the occasional straight shot into the trouble on the left.