Pre-shot Routine

What's wrong with looking at the shot as you walk uo to it, select club, practice swing if you want, then bang! HIT IT, pick up bag and walk on!
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If you do that on every shot .... isn't it a pre shot routine?
 
irrespective of shot (except puts) i try to do the following

visualize shot
take 2 practice swings.
repeat "rhythm and balance" in my head twice
hit.
 
I believe I'm actually starting to get a pre-shot routine - well on the tee anyway. Not so good at doing it anywhere else, and for me, with irons it's mostly about finding where the ground is.
 
Craw before this I was literally the quickest player ever. And this pre shot routine isn't going to double the length of an average round! It might add 10-15 mins onto a round. Nothing major and i'd sacrifice 15 minutes for 1 or 2 shots off my handicap.
 
Stand close to the ball and have a (very loose) practice swoosh.
Walk behind the ball. Picture the shot I want to hit. Pick out a spot a couple of feet in front of the ball to line up with.
Walk back to the ball, line up with the spot and hit it.

If it's anything other than a full shot (especially chipping) I'll have a few more practice strokes to get the feel of the distance before I play the shot.

I'm guilty of not going through with it if my score's trash.
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Mine's is similar to Regions.....Except that i stand behind the ball to target line and have a practice swing....Usually at the same tempo as the real one if i can manage it.....

I also make a habit of doing it on pitces and chips as well....
 
I step up to the ball whilst chatting to my mates, leave my stance open and weaken my grip. Give it a whallop and slice it nicely out of bounds. It gives me a very repeatable swing every time to be honest ! :-)
 
Mine is and walk to my ball. Put my bag down. Get a yardage ( normally by laser). Look at the lie, wind, downhill/uphill and come to a final yardage. Pick a club. Think of the shot and pick the target. Give 1 slow practise swing stopping at 3/4. 1 fast practise swing. Then have 1 last look at my target and pull the trigger.

For chips and pitches it will be All of the above but few more practise swings to get the feel.

For putting its take a good look at the break. Sometimes from both sides. Align my line with where i want to aim. Take 2 practise strokes. Pull the trigger.
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That's the problem with kids and coaching, bloody idiots coaching you into a six hour round if your going to do all that crap before every shot.

What's wrong with looking at the shot as you walk uo to it, select club, practice swing if you want, then bang! HIT IT, pick up bag and walk on!
Click to expand...

Couldnt have put it better myself Crawford.

Theres a bloke at our place who plays off 18 and hes been having lessons and he's got this loooooong convoluted preshot routine that just pisses us all off. Its soooo frustrating when you just want to get on with your round of golf to have to keep waiting 2 minutes for this pile of crap to finish. Then he knobs it and we start all over again with the pain. After 3 shots we eventually get to the rest of our drives and we're so intent on making up time it all becomes a chore.
 
Mine is and walk to my ball. Put my bag down. Get a yardage ( normally by laser). Look at the lie, wind, downhill/uphill and come to a final yardage. Pick a club. Think of the shot and pick the target. Give 1 slow practise swing stopping at 3/4. 1 fast practise swing. Then have 1 last look at my target and pull the trigger.

For chips and pitches it will be All of the above but few more practise swings to get the feel.

For putting its take a good look at the break. Sometimes from both sides. Align my line with where i want to aim. Take 2 practise strokes. Pull the trigger.
Click to expand...

That's the problem with kids and coaching, bloody idiots coaching you into a six hour round if your going to do all that crap before every shot.

What's wrong with looking at the shot as you walk uo to it, select club, practice swing if you want, then bang! HIT IT, pick up bag and walk on!
Click to expand...

Couldnt have put it better myself Crawford.

Theres a bloke at our place who plays off 18 and hes been having lessons and he's got this loooooong convoluted preshot routine that just pisses us all off. Its soooo frustrating when you just want to get on with your round of golf to have to keep waiting 2 minutes for this pile of crap to finish. Then he knobs it and we start all over again with the pain. After 3 shots we eventually get to the rest of our drives and we're so intent on making up time it all becomes a chore.
Click to expand...

Totally agree with you both. Fine to have a pre-shot routine if it is what floats your boat but be considerate and keep it down to a few seconds.

The way I see players procrastinate and agonise over club choice and faffing with a routine really irks me. You'd think they were leading the Open by one and playing the last for the claret jug. Invariably, the miss the green or fairway and I am half tempted to say that if you'd just walked up and hit it with a rythmic swing and an uncluttered mind, it would probably have been a better result.

I blame the pros on TV and magazine articles that bang on about the imperative need for all the pre-shot stuff.

My routine is just like Craws. Look at the shot as you approach the ball, pick a club, take aim, quick waggle and then belt it. 20 seconds max.

As a kid, I used to think I was Nick Faldo and take an age over the shot with all kinds of pre-shot nonsense. My Grandad persuaded me it was all a load of rubbish that he had never needed and he played for Yorkshire!

Detailed pre-shot routines make a simple game more complicated and contribute to the problem of slow play too - just my opinion of course.. :)
 
Rotella talks about the importance of pre-shot routine in his books, for all the above reasons, but he also says that the preshot routine can be different for each club,
i use the same preshot routine from driver to 9 iron but when im inside 100 yards i tend to have a couple practice swings,that i wouldnt do with a 5 iron, to help judge the distance a bit better but i still do the exact same thing from 30 yards with my wedge on every shot like that so someone watching me for 4 holes would see me use a different preshot routine on different kinds of shots but that doesnt mean its no good.
so only 2 people doing the same thing before EVERY shot doesnt mean that everyone elses pre-shot routine is crap!
 
I understand what you are saying.

I am not saying everyone's pre-shot routine is crap and I understand if people want one. We are all different. Just making an observation in general terms that it seems that a proportion of club golfers take the pre-shot routine too far and would probably fare better if they got on with the game.
 
Mine is and walk to my ball. Put my bag down. Get a yardage ( normally by laser). Look at the lie, wind, downhill/uphill and come to a final yardage. Pick a club. Think of the shot and pick the target. Give 1 slow practise swing stopping at 3/4. 1 fast practise swing. Then have 1 last look at my target and pull the trigger.

For chips and pitches it will be All of the above but few more practise swings to get the feel.

For putting its take a good look at the break. Sometimes from both sides. Align my line with where i want to aim. Take 2 practise strokes. Pull the trigger.
Click to expand...

That's the problem with kids and coaching, bloody idiots coaching you into a six hour round if your going to do all that crap before every shot.

What's wrong with looking at the shot as you walk uo to it, select club, practice swing if you want, then bang! HIT IT, pick up bag and walk on!
Click to expand...

Couldnt have put it better myself Crawford.

Theres a bloke at our place who plays off 18 and hes been having lessons and he's got this loooooong convoluted preshot routine that just pisses us all off. Its soooo frustrating when you just want to get on with your round of golf to have to keep waiting 2 minutes for this pile of crap to finish. Then he knobs it and we start all over again with the pain. After 3 shots we eventually get to the rest of our drives and we're so intent on making up time it all becomes a chore.
Click to expand...

Totally agree with you both. Fine to have a pre-shot routine if it is what floats your boat but be considerate and keep it down to a few seconds.

The way I see players procrastinate and agonise over club choice and faffing with a routine really irks me. You'd think they were leading the Open by one and playing the last for the claret jug. Invariably, the miss the green or fairway and I am half tempted to say that if you'd just walked up and hit it with a rythmic swing and an uncluttered mind, it would probably have been a better result.

I blame the pros on TV and magazine articles that bang on about the imperative need for all the pre-shot stuff.

Detailed pre-shot routines make a simple game more complicated and contribute to the problem of slow play too - just my opinion of course.. :)
Click to expand...

think yourselves lucky they're only doing pre-shot routines.
some time ago I had a round with a (very disorganised) mental coach (courtesy of GM). he advocated:

a pre-shot routine
a post-shot routine, and
a between shots routine

at the time mine were 'take club out, hit ball, put club back, find ball'

most miserable round I've ever had
 
a post-shot routine

Replace divot : Wipe mud off club : Put club away


a between shots routine

Walk to ball thinking about next shot
 
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