I made the switch from almost hawaiian, to SW.
Took me a year, glad I made the change.
I mostly play hard courts.
Allows me to finish sooner and hit through the court (whereas my extreme Western made me play a game of attrition).
I changed not due to age/injury, but due to getting bumped up to 4.5... where it wasn't enough to hit super spinny balls,.. short - which always got attacked.