Pre-shot Routine

bluewolf

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Ok, I'm going to go slightly against type here and say that whilst I do agree with a PSR, I do think that the most important part is to make all your decisions when stood away from the ball, then when you address the ball, have one simple swing thought and commit fully to the shot you decided upon.... Most of my destructive shots come from when I'm still thinking about the shot to hit as I'm taking the clubhead away from the ball...
So, I guess it's still a PSR, just not a convoluted one involving too many moving parts..:thup:
 

Jack_bfc

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Im going to time myself now. I don't think its too long...

look down the line and pick point of ref.

Set up behind the ball.
step back
Practice swing.

Step in - quick look down the line then swing....

Then swear, hit the ground and do it all again about 100yards down the fairway ;)
 
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Snelly

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Pick a club, pick a spot in front of the ball in line with the target, take a stance relative to it then hit the ball.

20 seconds max.

This is what tour pros did 30 years ago and they were as good as the lads on tour now who seem to think you need five minutes preparation to hit a shot. You don't.

As for a minute of faffing to get ready to hit the ball - if that is true, I would have a word with you after a couple of holes and tell you it wasn't acceptable to make everyone else on the course wait that long.

One other point, if you do need a longer amount of time to get ready to play the shot then do so if you must but it should happen in advance of your turn to play as when it is your honour, you need to be at a point when you are ready to actually hit the ball.
 

patricks148

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Pick a club, pick a spot in front of the ball in line with the target, take a stance relative to it then hit the ball.

20 seconds max.

This is what tour pros did 30 years ago and they were as good as the lads on tour now who seem to think you need five minutes preparation to hit a shot. You don't.

As for a minute of faffing to get ready to hit the ball - if that is true, I would have a word with you after a couple of holes and tell you it wasn't acceptable to make everyone else on the course wait that long.

One other point, if you do need a longer amount of time to get ready to play the shot then do so if you must but it should happen in advance of your turn to play as when it is your honour, you need to be at a point when you are ready to actually hit the ball.

Yep, no need for more than that..

No wonder it takes some guys so long to get round if they bugger around for almost a min before they hit the ball;)
 
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Pick a club, pick a spot in front of the ball in line with the target, take a stance relative to it then hit the ball.

20 seconds max.

This is what tour pros did 30 years ago and they were as good as the lads on tour now who seem to think you need five minutes preparation to hit a shot. You don't.

As for a minute of faffing to get ready to hit the ball - if that is true, I would have a word with you after a couple of holes and tell you it wasn't acceptable to make everyone else on the course wait that long.

One other point, if you do need a longer amount of time to get ready to play the shot then do so if you must but it should happen in advance of your turn to play as when it is your honour, you need to be at a point when you are ready to actually hit the ball.

Agreeing with you once again - good post :thup:
 

Jack_bfc

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OMG that was painful!

To the OP,

Your routine will develop over time (try to just watch Snedeker and stay away from Loupe, Na, All Effing Day and Bradley)

Just watching that and the seconds passing I reckon I am done and dusted in 20sec.

What's with that air shot?????
 

North Mimms

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So the list should read aim, ball position , path, tempo.

All the above should take no longer than a minute and can be applied to most shots including putting.

A pre shot routine should only take a minute if you are actually writing down everything that you are doing!
 

cookelad

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Just watching that and the seconds passing I reckon I am done and dusted in 20sec.

What's with that air shot?????

At the time he was suffering major brain-driver failure and would pull out of his drives at the start of the downswing (so technically not an air shot) also part of the reason for the extended pre-shot routine, he's better now but can still drag it out a bit!
 

garyinderry

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standing over a ball going through some laborious PSR is only going to give more time for nagging doubts to surface.

as mentioned, the best thing to do is do fully decide what shot you are going to play before you settle into the ball. once that's done,


couple of praccy swooshes, get into position, adjust feet to make sure you are balanced, then just hit it.
 

3565

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standing over a ball going through some laborious PSR is only going to give more time for nagging doubts to surface.

as mentioned, the best thing to do is do fully decide what shot you are going to play before you settle into the ball. once that's done,


couple of praccy swooshes, get into position, adjust feet to make sure you are balanced, then just hit it.

that constitutes a PSR????? :whistle:
 

Foxholer

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Pick a club, pick a spot in front of the ball in line with the target, take a stance relative to it then hit the ball.

20 seconds max.

This is what tour pros did 30 years ago and they were as good as the lads on tour now who seem to think you need five minutes preparation to hit a shot. You don't.

...

That's all most Tour Pros do now. Just a few that have 'problems'!

As for them being as good as now? Not really quantifiable because so many things have changed and (almost) all have changed, but I'm as certain as I can be that that is not the case. Most are now spending the time in the Gym that used to be spent in the Bar! But as it was a case of 'most' being there too, it was only the relative quality being measured, not overall quality. And is it really technology that is allowing the current crop to be hitting 6 or 5i (blades) from where miracle shots with 4W or 2i were previously hit?

And quite possibly the fact that a single dropped shot can cost twice as much as the Winner actually received 30 years ago - even allowing for inflation - might have something to do with it too!
 
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HawkeyeMS

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To have one like Keegan Bradley or Jason day isn't necessary, but some form of PSR is, IMO of course.

Do you always set up to the ball in the same way? If yes, then you have a routine.

If you don't set up to the ball the same way each time, you are making the job of aiming correctly more difficult than it needs to be.

I've said this before, there are things that you need to do before you hit a shot. Pick a club, pick a line, address the ball, hit it. This is not a PSR in my book, it is part of the process of hitting a ball. Anything beyond that is a PSR and isn't necessary.
 

richy

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Just golfers that realise that prancing around doing yoga before you hit the ball isn't going change the fact that you might hit a bad shot.

I think its more to do with reducing the number of bad shots rather than eradicating them all together.

Although I've never seen anyone "prance around" or "do yoga" before hitting a shot
 
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