Well James, it's just the nature of beast then. This is the major flaw with the game. Most people are able to get some relief from a poor swing meter by performing the above enhancements. Does your machine meet the system requirements? If so, that's all the help I can offer. I'm sorry I wasn't able to be more help.
Until WGT takes the game out of Adobe flash, this is what we get for a meter.
You can try moving the meter back and forth before hitting the ball, and if the meter stutters, let it glide through the hitting zone and you won't be penalized for a swing.
Good luck and play well.