The tee shot starts off wonderfully, as the ball sails against the blue sky straight down the fairway.

Then, that snap-slice rears its ugly head, and the ball, once in beautiful flight, starts heading for the rough.

Maybe it's time for a swing change, but how does one go about doing it?

The members of the Penn State women's golf team have years of experience around the golf course changing their swings, and say that altering a swing's mechanics isn't easy.

"It's hard to change your swing during the season, because you don't get to practice the swing so much," freshman Katrin Wolfe said.

However, Wolfe said she may change slight things during the year to help her performance.

To some golfers, the importance of a swing change is like a visit to the doctor; you'd rather not have a reason to do either in the first place.

"Hopefully you don't have to make swing adjustments during the season," senior Meghan Mull said.

"If it's a major swing adjustment, it may take a couple of weeks."

While there are players for whom swing adjustments are a big part of the game, there are other golfers, like senior Keri Dugan, who play more on feel than on specific rules.

"I'm not very technical," Dugan said. "[My swing] has always been more on feel."

Dugan said that her father taught her how to play, and that his instruction focused on feeling inconsistencies in her swing.

Another problem facing golfers is knowing when a swing change is necessary.

On one hand, no one wants to be too hasty. The converse of the problem is that no one wants to wait too long either.

"Like everything else, you can have a bad day," Wolfe said.

"Your timing may be off, but if [the problem lasts] over two weeks, it may be time for a change."

For Mull, it's time to change things when the problems start creeping into a player's mind before the shot.

"If you're standing over the ball thinking, 'How am I going to keep this from going right?' it's probably time for a change," Mull said.

However, it's not just a matter of simply deciding to alter the mechanics of the swing.

The process can be long, and the timing is not always opportune.

Dugan talked about a swing change that she had to make over the winter one year, which didn't allow for actual time on the golf course.

"It was hard because we were just hitting inside," Dugan said.

"Then it came time for the first tournament, and [Penn State women's golf coach Denise St. Pierre] didn't want to take me because I hadn't had any practice on the course."

Mull also had similar comments about the first time a player tries a new swing.

"It can be a little shaky to start out," Mull said. "But if you start off hitting the ball well, your confidence grows from there."

With all the difficulties surrounding a change, who decides when it's time to make alterations?

Many players agreed that it's both the player's and the coach's decision, but that it's important to understand there is a consistent problem.

"It would have to be a combination of both [the player's and coach's idea]," Wolfe said.

"If [St. Pierre] sees something wrong, or if I have a question about something, I'll go to her."