Nick Irons - I trust your post was tongue in cheek ! I am completely with the OP on this one and so is the science of reprogramming muscle memory. It is VERY difficult especially when you are 'older' and have been doing what you do for many years. Research shows you typically need to do a new motion correctly 10,000 times before it sticks in the brain. That would be 100 ball machine hoppers worth even if you could do it right every time.
I am working on exactly the same problem of arming forehands. I can to tennis late in life but played a lot of table tennis when I was younger and so I tended to use my table tennis form for tennis which meant arming forehands and a lazy non-hitting arm. I am taking lessons, using a ball machine and wall to try to crack it but it in damn hard to do. Even more so because when you play matches you tend to subconciously revert to your old wrong form and, in my case, I can beat most players at my club despite their years of coaching and correct form, at my club with my wrong form. I think I find it particularly hard to learn correct form on the forehand (I have learnt a decent 1HBH pretty quickly) because I am not he most physically co-ordinated of players and so a simple arm motion to hit the ball is a lot easier rotating hips, shoulder and arm and then firing them all in the right order. My tips would be:
1. Cut right down on or, even better, stop playing matches for at least a month while you practice correct form.
2. During this time take a lesson with a pro once a week to concentrate on getting your form right.
3. In between lessons hit as often as you can with a partner / ball machine /wall at a pace at which you can maintain good form and gradually up the pace over time as you become more proficient.
4. At home shadow hit in front of the mirror or even just swing those hips and shoulders while hugging a beach ball !
5. If you cannot resist playing matches in this time then pick understanding partners / opponents and explain what you are doing (even better get them to tell you if they spot you arming it) and make sure you maintain you correct form even though you will be less consistant etc. initially. Remember you have to go 2 steps back before you can make that big leap forward.
I know exactly what you mean about subconsciously reverting to your old arming shot when under pressure etc. I am trying to counter it my forcing myself to prepare much earlier so that the first thing I do when I know which side the ball is going is to rotate my hips and shoulders. This means really concentrating on the ball as your opponent hits it and reacting before it crosses the net (a good test is to look at your position when your opponents shot lands in the net). I also have to make a big concious effort to make sure I get my non-hitting hand on the throat of the racquet in between shots. Good luck !
You've been arming it for years ? Are you dense ? Stop arming it.
Get a ball machine and hit 400 forehands while NOT ARMING IT.
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I don't get people who say "I know I'm not supposed to be arming it, but I keep doing it anyway." Well maybe tennis aint your sport cowboy.
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Hit hit hit hit. Against a wall. against an opponenet, against a machine. Strap your arm to your torso with some barbed wire.
