Pre shot routine

[Basher]

Folowing from a previous post where I mentioned swing thoughts and pre shot routine, I thought it may be worthwhile sharing the differing routines around and the routine you guys use.

For the record here is mine which I am using to try and cut down on cluttering my mind with too many swing thoughts:

Stand behind the ball, visualise the shot and line up with a marker.
Take my grip and practice swing with my feet together (still behind the ball)
Take up my address, flex the knees and quick alignment check.
A couple of club waggles. Settle, then swing.

Doesn't always result in a sweetly driven shot but works quite a lot of the time.

 

[Alex1975]

Great post and one I have been meaning to make. I have a problem with the fact that I am making better shots than much lower handicap golfers but making mad calls or letting my mind wander.

at the moment, and I wrote it down about 30 mins before your post is:

1/ Visualise the shot & get in the zone.(blank out everything)

2/ Make a swing until I have a good tempo, RELAX!!

3/ Proximity - to the ball and from one foot to the other.

4/ Alignment

5/ grip and arms

6/ Head up, look at the ball and TEMPO!!!

 

[Alex1975]

This is what Bob had to say about my pre shot.

From: bobmac

Hi
A pre-shot routine is very important but you can get it wrong.
Here's yours.
1 Visualise the shot
2 Practice swing thinking tempo
3 shake shoulders
4 Distance from the ball
5 distance between feet
6 Grip
7 arms
8 head up
9 look at the back of the ball
10 Tempo again

no
11 Posture?
12 aim?
13 ball position?

During the swing
14 left arm straight
15 weight shift

That's an awful lot to think about on every swing.
No wonder you're tired at the end.

Here's what I suggest.
1 When you have your practice swing, concentrate on your left arm going back and shifting your weight going through.

2 Then step up to th ball, check your aim and hit it while your practice swing is still fresh in your mind.

I believe you have too much to think about before you actually swing it ends up being too mechanical and by the numbers.
Let it flow.
The longer you stand over the ball the more your mind will wander

 

[forefortheday]

For the first time this weekend I started to use a pre shot routine.

All I did was have 1 practice swing, check my aim, waggle the hands a bit and hit the ball.

Helped too couldn't tell you my score as we played matchplay aginst the course so all I wrote down was my +/- score but I hit more decent shots than I have hit in a while.

 

[Smiffy]

All I did was have 1 practice swing, check my aim, waggle the hands a bit and hit the ball.

Really, really glad to hear that the fourth part is starting to happen for you Geezer

 

[richart]

Tee it up, quick look to see where the trouble is, and hit it straight into it. When playing home course don't even need to look for trouble, as have perfect picture in my head

I am more into post shot routines. Shouting fore or playing a provisional.

 

[Owen_Thomas_14]

One practice swing which replicates the shot i want(full shot, half shot, draw, fade etc) at the side of the ball. Stand behind the ball and pick a spot just in front of the ball. Set up so my clubface is aiming at the spot and just swing. I dont look up when i set up to ball as for me encourages more negative thoughts to creep in.

 

[jammydodger]

Tee it up, quick look to see where the trouble is, and hit it straight into it.

Quality

 

[JustOne]

Tee it up, quick look to see where the trouble is, and hit it straight into it.

Quality

Agreed

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I think a pre-shot routine is essential for consistancy and I've watched a few of my partners in the weekend roll ups and most all do the same things whther consciously or not which I thought was interesting. However those that had a defined routine did seem to hit it more consistantly

 

[Swinger]

Tee it up, quick look to see where the trouble is, and hit it straight into it. When playing home course don't even need to look for trouble, as have perfect picture in my head

I am more into post shot routines. Shouting fore or playing a provisional.

Love the post shot routines bit.

I've been working on my club release a bit recently, I don't mind if the ball goes into the trees but it gets expensive when the club keeps going that far off line.

 

[JT77]

tee it up, make a practice swing, pick a target, deep breath, get myself lined up and then go

 

[kinhell]

One very important thing I have found recently is positioning of the club head.. I played with a scratch golfer in a comp and noticed he was getting annoyed with himself for not hitting exactly out the middle of his driver. He had a dot on his ball which left a mark on the face of the driver and it was about an inch out from the centre. I'd be pleased with that but he wasn't. He told me that he puts the club head down on the ground and makes sure the exact centre of the club is lined up with the exact middle of the ball. He drops the handle down and gets his grip right with his hands hanging below his head and not in front of him. He then gets his feet in the right place and checks his alignment. It helps him hit it sweetly out of the exact middle of the club.
I used to get my feet right and then reach forward to the ball which was never consistent on every shot. I have started trying his method of setting up the club head first and have started to hit the ball a hell of a lot further than before and effortlessly as its striking the sweet spot more of the time. Gone from about 230 yards to about 260. Being precise about what you do helps enormously.

 

[fairmorn308]

Here is my routine.

From Tee:
1) Decide on where i want to play my next shot from
2) Decide what club to use
3) Tee Ball up, Stand behind ball and picture the shot want to play and where you want it to end up on fairway
4) While still behind ball carry out practise swing how you want to hit the ball
5) Address ball
6) check alginment
7) Look forward a target
8) Await for the go signal
9) Let rip

Approach:

1) Check Lie of the ball
2) Check pin position prior to choosing club
3) check distance to ensure select correct club
4) Stand behind ball and picture the shot want to play and where you want it to end up on fairway
5) While still behind ball carry out practise swing how you want to hit the ball
6) Address ball
7) check alginment
8) Look forward a target
9) Await for the go signal
10) Let rip

Putting:

1)Check line your going to take and remove any stones etc and repair any old pitch marks you feel the ball might roll over.
2) While waiting for your turn to put have good look from behind ball of line your going to take.
3) Watch your partners ball roll towards hole which gives me a good idea of how the ball will react at the hole.
4) when my turn i will go behind the hole to confirm i am taking the correct line and read it from another angle.
5) Algin ball up to hole and remove marker.
6) Address ball and check alginment of putter to line of putt.
7) Clear mind and have visual of ball rolling into hole.
8) Look 3 times at hole
9) Hit putt

 

[Smiffy]

Here is my routine.

From Tee:
1) Decide on where i want to play my next shot from
2) Decide what club to use
3) Tee Ball up, Stand behind ball and picture the shot want to play and where you want it to end up on fairway
4) While still behind ball carry out practise swing how you want to hit the ball
5) Address ball
6) check alginment
7) Look forward a target
8) Await for the go signal
9) Let rip

Approach:

1) Check Lie of the ball
2) Check pin position prior to choosing club
3) check distance to ensure select correct club
4) Stand behind ball and picture the shot want to play and where you want it to end up on fairway
5) While still behind ball carry out practise swing how you want to hit the ball
6) Address ball
7) check alginment
8) Look forward a target
9) Await for the go signal
10) Let rip

Putting:

1)Check line your going to take and remove any stones etc and repair any old pitch marks you feel the ball might roll over.
2) While waiting for your turn to put have good look from behind ball of line your going to take.
3) Watch your partners ball roll towards hole which gives me a good idea of how the ball will react at the hole.
4) when my turn i will go behind the hole to confirm i am taking the correct line and read it from another angle.
5) Algin ball up to hole and remove marker.
6) Address ball and check alginment of putter to line of putt.
7) Clear mind and have visual of ball rolling into hole.
8) Look 3 times at hole
9) Hit putt

I'm very similar to that

 

[Snelly]

I have said before that I am not a fan of a long and involved pre-shot routine.

My own view is that it is a waste of time, is a primary cause of slow play, bears little on the quality of the strike and lastly, is deemed as a requirement because it is what the pros do on TV.

That said, I of course accept that I have a pre-shot routine of sorts myself so accept I may be seen as a little hypocritical. Anyway, it goes as follows.....

1. Pick club
2. Pick a line
3. Line Up
4. Hit the ball

Experience shows me that the quality of shot or result has absolutely nothing to do with practice swings, waggles, flexes or anything else. You have all hit enough balls in your life to know what to do so just hit it and then go and find it.

I get pretty vexed when playing with people who take an age to get ready to play. Checking yardages to the nth degree, 40 second session of histrionics before eventually taking a swing and slashing it 40 yards right and losing their ball - usually a cue for a session of diagnostics and detailed post shot routine!

The only other point I would make is that I am much more deliberate around the green as this takes more thought than just repeating a good swing.

This, as you can probably see, is one of my bugbears about modern golf. Don't forget, Woosie won the Masters without a practice swing.. Also, I remember when I was about 15, playing off 2 and I was a nightmare for all the pre-shot bo****s. My grandfather who played for Yorkshire for many years and was a scratch player, got fed up of watching my Faldo-esque routines and pulled me to one side and said, "Son, no-one ever hit a good ball while they were swinging at thin air in a practice swing!!" I packed it in shortly afterwards and have never got into it since.

Apologies to those who have long and involved pre-shot routines! I am not having a go at you per se, more at the general perception that deems them necessary as I totally disagree.

Cheers,

Snelly.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

My pre-shot routine is actually quite simple in practice. Once I get to my ball I make the necessary decison on what club to use based on the usual (distance, lie, wind etc) and select my club.

I stand behind the ball and put my glove on. This acts as my mental trigger to focus on the shot. I have an imaginery line which once I've crossed I'm commited to the shot I have in mind. I take my address, look at the target, give the club a single waggle and hit it. Once the ball has landed I'll take my golve off which is my trigger to forget about the shot and where it has gone and to just accept the result of the swing I've just made. I'll clean the club, put it in the bag and go and look for the ball