We've launched the new forums! Read more here

The Pre Shot Routine

e1iterate said:
Fast forward to 30 mins in.
Click to expand...

Everyone in that last group was pretty quick;)

I don’t usually take any practice swings. Just try and pick a target and aim, deep breath and go.
 
Putting is different though. I try to have more of a routine on the green to focus a bit more.
 
It starts as soon as I get to the ball by lasering my distance to the hole.

When it’s my turn to hit I take a practice swing, go being the ball to find my line, return to the ball and swing.

Typing that out I see that I could be faster by taking the practice swing behind the ball so I only walk into and address the ball once before.

There’s no good reason for why it is what it is. It just feels comfortable
 
Canadan said:
I do like a lot of what Ben Hogan has said, but I disagree.
That said, a practice swing does not require the following;

1- lining up
2- waggling
3- full speed
4- more than one
Click to expand...
@e1iterate can attest that my practice swing is normally my best swing of the sequence.
 
Canadan said:
sorry man, I'm just not as athletic. I need to loosen up the cobwebs.
Click to expand...
It’s not an athletic thing, it’s just I like to be in a full lather before going to the first tee. So I’m already warned up.
 
I don't have a set pre-shot routine yet. Still experimenting to figure out what works. So sometimes my routine is fast, sometimes not so much. There hasn't been any consistent advantages of disadvantages to the faster or slower ones, for me, so far.
 
My pre-shot routine is a 3/4 swing behind the ball, find a spot just in front of the ball, align the face and then my feel. 2 waggles and pull the trigger. If I am not the first teeing off, I am usually pegging my tee in the ground before the other person’s ball lands to start the process.

15-17 seconds total.
 
This thread begs for videos and critiques 🤠
 
It depends on how I'm swinging. From the tee box I usually put the ball on the tee, look at the fairway and pick a spot, then line up and swing. If my back is tight I will occasionally take a practice swing.

From the fairway I laser the flag, grab a club, then go. I actually should take a practice swing more often but usually rush to not hold anyone up and that often leads to bad shots.

Where I lose time is when I have a wild ball off the tee that takes time to find. In a casual round if I don't find my ball I take a stroke and drop a ball to keep pace of play going. In competitive events trying to find those shots cost time. I am working to reduce the frequency of those!
 
Last edited:
My preshot routine begins once I start heading to my ball. Once I see the ball I start looking at and visualizing the shot. Once I get to the ball I get a distance (either laser or gps). I take a look at the lie. Get a Distance from measuring device, then calculate +/- elevation, +/- wind. Commit to a distance, grab the club and setup, one maybe two waggles and swing. The only variation to this is adding in one practice swing which usually isn’t a full swing but more of a half swing to find the bottom of my arc.
 
swing hard.....hopefully find ball.....swing again.

literally probably is taking me longer to type this than for me to swing.

Might be why i score what i score lol
 
I love these threads where there are pages and pages of how no one is slow, but I will attempt to self-critique. 🙂

I don’t take a long time when I get to the ball ready to hit and don’t have a long pre-shot routine and don’t take practice swings. That said, I know I can play faster than I often do. There are two places I can speed up:

1. getting from the cart to the tee box. I am overweight and my back hurts most of the time and I move too slow sometimes.

2. I usually mark putts that should be tap-ins. When I am not given a short putt, I rarely go up and finish because I worry about stepping in someone’s line or whatever. I need to get better about just walking up and finishing it off.
 
Last edited:
Tenputt said:
I think one of the keys is to begin your pre-shot routine while others are taking their shots. My routine is as follows:

1. Determine the effective yardage (“effective” meaning taking into account wind, slope, temp and actual distance to my target).
2. Pick a club.
3. Make one practice swing, visualizing what I want the ball flight to be.
4. Step behind the ball and pick a spot in front of the ball for alignment.
5. Clear my mind.
6. Take my swing.

I can play an 18 hole round of golf walking in well under 3 hours, so I don‘t believe that I am slow. I have a sequential reason for everything that I do. I am generally ready to swing as soon as the person immediately prior to me swings, except when on the tee box, but I can go through my entire routine in 15 or 20 seconds.
Click to expand...
Effective?? No Coriolis effect factoring? 😇 😉
 
Check lie, stand behind ball to pick a target, pick intermediate target, maybe or maybe not a practice swing.... pull the trigger.... then hope
 
I’m driving up to the ball, I’m looking at ball looking at green, ball green ball green, stop cart, precision pro yardage from cart, pick club in mind, stand behind ball, pick target on green and spot in front of ball, take stance, look at green, look at feet, hit ball.
Long winded yes^ but in reality the whole process is less than a minute.
 
I’m reading a lot of 15-20-30 second routines, I don’t buy it. It takes 10 seconds apiece to get out of the cart, then look at bag, then look at ball, and green, setup and hit. That’s 50 seconds.

Are we talking routine as in over or behind the ball? Or are we timing the whole process?

Lets just say the course is wide open, you have the first tee time at 7 am, can you play a hole in less than 5 minutes? X 9 holes = 45 minutes? If you can’t do this then your routines can’t be 10-20-30 seconds.
 
I'm generally pretty quick. Will have checked the yardage as I'm walking to the ball on my watch so will know what club I'll be hitting before I get the the ball. Check the lie, line up and pull the trigger, no messing about.

Driver is a little slower currently as I'm working on a few things that aren't ingrained as yet, so have to consciously check the grip and alignment before mentally reminding myself to swing round my body rather than sway. But all in all, probably less than 20 seconds between putting the tee in the ground and picking it up again.

Wedges I'll take a few practice swings just to get a feel for the distance and swing length but other than that, good to go.

We have a saying here, if you're going to miss it....miss it quickly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top