Thinking About Your Pre-Shot Routine
Once you become a Zen master of Golf, all you will have to do for your pre-shot routine (PSR) is:
Pick a target.
Visualize the shot.
Make a brief rehearsal swing to feel the shot.
Step up to the ball and swing.
Most golfers are still on a journey to creating their own unique PSR. Without going through this process, you will never reach your golf potential.
If you want to improve, you need a repeatable PSR, regardless of your skill level. The brain can only be on one track at a time, so make it a positive one with your PSR.
Engagement with your PSR will:
Focus your intentions
Calm the nerves
Limit mental clutter
Activate muscle memory of your better golf swings
Lead to more consistent scoring
Reduce the number of those occasional dreadful shots
Build confidence
Allow you adjust to new golf courses and conditions (your game will travel well)
Help you play better in competitive golf and under pressure
Help you overcome challenging visual golf hazards (large bunkers and water)
Help you neutralize bad memories on certain holes
Increase the probability that your best swing will emerge
Help you enter your comfort zone
Displace the potential intrusion of negative thoughts and feelings
And, to accomplish all that, the PSR requires a mindset committed to process instead of outcome and a commitment to using it on every shot.
Depending on how you parse things, there are 4 phases of the PSR. But don’t think this means taking a long time. With practice, your PSR should take 10-15 seconds at most.
In this brief essay I will only touch on one key factor in each phase. There is obviously a lot more involved. And much of the content is generally available. What is not so easily available is how you best adapt these components to your personal game. Personalizing the PSR is something I commonly work on with my Dr Rich Golf clients.
Phase I: The Thinking Phase
This phase takes place behind the ball, without a club.
A wonderful quote about this phase: Jack Nicklaus said: I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head.
Phase II: The Rehearsal Phase
This phase also takes place behind the ball, with your selected club in hand.
In this phase, you switch from the left brain, analytic thinking, over to right brain “feel” for the swing you are about to create.
Rehearsal swings are especially important when you have big transitions between clubs such as going from driver to wedge. Rehearsal swings are usually less than full swings. Sometimes the right number of rehearsal swings to feel committed is none!
Phase III: Addressing the ball
Setting up becomes more automatic for higher skilled players. Even expert golfers can benefit from final checks on alignment, optimal ball position for the specific shot, relaxation, and final glance(s) to the target (not more than 2 please).
Phase IV of the PSR: The Swing
For some, it’s possible to feel ready to just go! What a goal for the rest of us.
For most, some key swing thoughts (1-3 at most) help to keep the mind and body on track. Consider holistic instead of analytic swing thoughts. Analytic swing thoughts involve micro-mechanics of body parts. Examples of holistic swing thoughts include a way to prompt optimal tempo, a focus on a complete breath coinciding with the swing, or a “guiding phrase” such as “nice and smooth.”
Too many swing thoughts is a recipe for disaster. Ben Hogan warned against having any swing thought once you start the downswing.
It is very important to insert some affirmational thought into your PSR; the last moment before the swing is a great place to do that.
Finally, until you have put in the work, pre-shot routine is actually more of pre-shot creation.