Should You Be Speeding Up Your Pre-shot Routine?

Dr Rich has been writing and coaching about the critical importance of the Pre-Shot Routine  (PSR) as the anchor of engaging in process and avoiding getting lost in outcome (refer to blog dated 7-28-26).    

Ryan Fox’s fast pace of play during his recent win at The Open has prompted  many golfers to wonder “Should I be speeding up my pre-shot routine?”   Ryan famously took only 22 seconds to make his final winning 18-foot putt.     

To answer the question about the pace of your own Pre-shot routine (PSR):

First, it is crucial that golfers through a learning stage to create and standardize their PSR.  It is especially important that the PSR contains  the essential elements that promote optimal performance, including the mental components.  [You can get a copy of Dr Rich’s PSR Inventory by sending an email to drrichgolf@gmail.com.] 

However, at some point it is time for a change of pace because some golfers can become  bogged down in their PSR, especially those who are very analytic.  For those golfers, left brain analytic thinking can start to dominate  right brain athletic performance.

Ryan Fox says he picks his shot window quickly, and rarely hesitates about club selection unless the wind is severely gusting.  He takes no practice swings and is famous for stepping up to the ball and pulling the trigger with minimal fuss.

The longer players stand over the golf ball the more time they give their brain to introduce doubt, fear and technical thoughts.  A more rapid routine allows the brain to shift away from calculating and worrying to a more “reactive” mode dominated by targeting and executing.  Golf can begin to feel like a dynamic continuous game rather than a series of separate stressful events.  It can actually start to mirror more reactive sports like tennis or basketball.

When golfers look at a target and form a vivid mental image of the shot, the visual image has a very short half life.  Neuroscience studies show that the human brain can keep a visual target in mind for only about 2.5 seconds, and after that we are guessing where it is.  

If you take three practice swings, step in, look a few times, waggle and wait, the mental image of the target fades and becomes  replaced by a focus on the club head or the mechanics of the swing.  Fast players pull the trigger while the target is still visually and mentally dominant in their minds.  

Here are three drills that you can try out to see if it makes sense to edit and speed up  your pre-shot routine.  
1) Commit and count : take one look at the target  and as soon as your eyes return to the ball count out loud “one..two” and swing on two.  This simple rhythm prevents your brain from hijacking your body with technical thoughts or anxiety.  
2) The 10 second shot clock:  Give yourself 10 seconds to settle, feel, look and trigger the swing.  You might even set a 10 second alarm on your phone. 
3) No practice swing: Play 9 holes with zero practice swings allowed on full shots .  A perfect practice swing is no guarantee of a perfect actual shot anyway. 

CAVEATS:  

• Be thoughtful about considering  this change in your process without careful consideration of the implications of modifying any long-standing process that has been helpful.  

• The idea of playing faster can be very appealing.  Making this change presupposes that a player has already created and programmed in a complete PSR.   Just raising the tempo for someone who has a poor or incomplete  routine may not be a short-cut to suddenly  playing better. 

• Speed only works when it's paired with certainty.  If  you rush when you still have a lot to work out in your game, chaos can follow.