Stop Trying to “Fix” Your Swing

Why the “Fixing” Mindset Holds You Back from Real Improvement

If you’ve ever said, “I just need to fix my swing,” you’re not alone.

It’s one of the most common things I hear from golfers. A bad round, a missed shot, a tweak in your mechanics—and the instinct is to find what’s wrong and fix it. Fast.

But here’s the thing: your swing isn’t broken. And approaching golf with a “fixing” mindset is one of the biggest obstacles to real, lasting improvement.

Let’s talk about why.

The Problem with the “Fixing” Mentality

“Fixing” sounds productive—but in the context of learning and performance, it actually works against you.

It puts your attention on what’s wrong, encourages conscious control of movement (which kills flow and feel), and sets the expectation that there's a perfect version of your swing out there—one little tweak away.

But golf doesn’t work like that.Your body isn’t a machine. It’s a dynamic, adapting system that gets better through experience, feedback, and exploration—not through mechanical correction.

What the Science of Learning Says

Motor learning research (the science of how we learn and refine movement) has shown that:

• Skill doesn’t come from “fixing errors.” It comes from building adaptable patterns through varied, purposeful reps.

• We learn best when the focus is on external cues (like the ball flight or target), not internal mechanics.

• Mistakes are useful—they’re part of the process, not problems to avoid.

Trying to fix every miss can actually interrupt the process your body needs to go through to learn.

Golf Is a Gross Motor Skill—Not a Technical Formula

Swinging a golf club is a gross motor skill—a full-body movement that’s sensitive to rhythm, tempo, tension, balance, and feel. It’s not a math equation to be solved.

The more you try to “fix” each piece, the harder it is to:

• Feel natural or connected to the shot

• Trust your instincts

• Let your swing adapt to different lies, clubs, or pressure

Skill is built through development over time, not instant corrections. Growth is not linear—it’s filled with breakthroughs, setbacks, plateaus, and progress you sometimes don’t see until it clicks.

How the Fixing Mindset Limits You

Here’s what I see when golfers fall into a “fixing” loop:

• They lose confidence, because every swing becomes a test.

• They get stuck in internal thought, which disrupts timing and tempo.

• They avoid exploring, which is essential for learning what works for them.

• They become dependent on instruction, and never develop ownership of their own process.

And most importantly: they stop enjoying the game.

What to Do Instead: Shift from Fixing to Learning

Let’s change the way we think about practice and progress.

Here’s what a learning mindset looks like:

• Use constraints (like tempo drills or single-leg swings) to shape motion, not force mechanics.

• Focus on attentional cues—like the sound of contact or the feel of the swing—rather than fixing your elbow or takeaway.

• Embrace mistakes as part of the feedback loop.

• Reflect after sessions: What did I feel? What changed the ball flight? What helped me trust the motion?

You’re not trying to perfect your swing—you’re trying to understand it, explore it, and grow it.

Final Thought

The next time you feel the urge to fix something, take a breath.

Ask yourself:

“What can I explore, rather than correct?”

Because your best golf won’t come from fixing flaws—it’ll come from learning how to move, sense, and adapt under pressure. And that’s exactly what we train.