FORT MYERS, Fla. | Swing changes are hard. That’s a universal rule. If you haven’t tried it yourself, just talk to an LPGA teaching professional. Students have natural tendencies, some good and many bad. Those motions must often be changed in order to improve.
A lot of people have likened the swing-change process to razing a house to the foundation and rebuilding it. But it’s much harder than that. It’s more like changing your body at the cellular level, ridding your mind, body and spirit of all things natural, and then training yourself to turn something new into an instinct. So, yeah, it’s a heavy lift.
Caroline Masson understands that. The 32-year-old German native also knows that the changes she has made to her swing are important, even though they will continue to take time.
Minutes after tapping in for par on the final hole of the first round at the LPGA Drive On Championship to shoot 5-under par (67) Masson said, “I think that I'm on a really good track. I feel like I'm improving my golf swing. I wasn't super happy with the way I hit it the last two years, to be honest with you. I had some good weeks where it worked. But overall, the quality was not what I was hoping for.
“So, I made, what were for me, some pretty drastic changes. Now, it's all about getting comfortable out there. That's why a 5-under round in this wind is a really cool accomplishment given where I'm at, just putting new stuff into play and trusting it.”
Trust is the key, and not just in golf. You might cook the perfect soufflé for you and your kids. But do you trust it for a party of discriminating connoisseurs? Your singing might be stunning in the shower. But are you ready to perform on stage in front of a packed house?
No matter how good a swing change feels on the range, taking it to the course requires time and patience. Trusting it at the highest level of competition is another level entirely.
“It's more about the progress and getting better,” Masson said. “I think I'm working on the right things, and eventually I hope that it can be more consistently solid.”
Without getting into a technical dissertation, Masson’s swing changes involve rerouting the club during transition so that the club travels down the target line more consistently.
“My path in my golf swing was always left, which kind of led to a pull and led to me not aiming very well,” she said. “I mean, (I aimed) pretty far right. I felt like there was a little bit of luck involved. I didn't really hit it that solid. So, we totally changed the path of the golf swing, which is a pretty drastic change.
“It feels like a different golf swing, which is fun to work on. I enjoy that kind of stuff. I enjoy putting in the work and seeing improvement. At the same time, I have to realize that out here, not every shot is going to be perfect. There will be some bad ones. But, overall, the improvements that I'm seeing, like ball starting a little bit more out to the right, make that window (where the ball leaves) a little bit better.”
There are numerous ways to change the path of a golf swing, some more complicated than others. For Masson, it’s about the transition at the top.
“It's more about actually letting that club drop a little bit,” she said. “I think I always have the urge to hit it from the top. Obviously, that brings (the club) a little bit outside and steep. And, you know, just to have that patience in my golf swing (to let the club drop onto a different path) and to feel a little bit loopy almost and have that relaxed muscle tone to really be able to do that. That's why it feels so different.
“It's almost like I cannot hit the ball when I always wanted to hit it from the top. It's different, but it's fun.”
If her first round at the Crown Colony Golf & Country Club was any indication, Masson is not only on the right track, she’s close to having the new move grooved to perfection.
She won’t go that far. But she did give a wry smile when asked how to assess her progress.
“So far, so good,” she said.
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