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What do you see when you stand on the tee?

I stand behind the ball and pick a spot out in the distance that I want to aim at.
 
I see the hole layout then my landing area/where I want the ball to finish then my target followed by bringing that in to an intermediate target
 
I'm looking at how my life got to this point and where did I fail...

Just the general targeted area. Potential trouble spots to avoid.
 
I pick a target in the background ie a tree. If hazards to avoid I try and avoid them by shot shape. Set up and trust my swing


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Great discussion.
While this is lengthy, for a course I know, we're talking maybe 5-10 seconds and for a new course maybe 20 seconds (30secs if I have to laser a target).

1.) I first get a general idea of the layout of the hole (straight, dogleg left/right, uphill/downhill, does the fairway run out) and finally, the wind direction at the time.

2.) Next I try and work from the hole back. If possible, where's the hole placement on the putting surface or at a minimum, where's the trouble around the green and where is the trouble on my tee shot. (Visually or using yardage book, scorecard or google maps).

Once I have done that analysis, I figure out the club and the side of the tee I want to hit from. I pick a target out in the distance for starting my tee shot (for my slight fade/straight shot) and bring a line back to a spot about a 1' in front of the ball. Then off we go...
 
I see where I want the ball to end up, and then focus on my aim point and visualize the ball flight to that spot.
 
I mostly just look for a spot in the middle of the fairway. Either a yardage pin, or a tree in the distance.
 
I see the path pf the ball and find my target where I want to be seeing the ball tail back (I hit a fade off the tee). This is just like how I would throw a curveball in baseball, I find the high point where I expect the ball to start falling and that's my focus.

Prior to putting the ball in the ground, I have already decided what club I am using, so from that point its thinking as little as possible and just focusing on the shot itself.
 
I see my intended target area
 
From the tee (pre setup) I plan the hole for its layout, what I see, and where I want to be after a tee shot, then chose my club accordingly. At actual swing time its just about looking at my target line/area and then proceed to align myself and take the shot for where Id like it to go.
 
Pick a target off in the distance- a tree normally. Don't really see my shot I just see what I want it to land.
 
Tadashi70 said:
You’re standing on the first tee. You’ve pegged the ball and are standing behind it. What do you see? Do you see the fairway and the shot you want to hit? Do you see all the trouble and were you don’t want to be? Do you see nothing and just swing away?
I think what you see in your minds eye will dictate the shot you deliver. Granted positive thoughts can still lead to a miss because golf isn’t a perfect game. But I think there is more gained with positive sights vs negative. This does assume you possess a swing that often better than bad.
Click to expand...

as honest of an answer as I can give...

when I hit well, I have seen the shot, focused on the target, cleared head of swing thoughts, and swung away...

when I hit poorly, I have not had a HIGHLY specific target, have just swung away...

I am a feel player, so not many swing thoughts ever, but what is first to go when I am playing poorly is focusing on the targets...
 
I see a 60 yard wide area at 275 yards. I then look 10 yards left of the middle as my starting line and then find an intermediate target in the first few yards and place my ball and line up square to intermediate target and swing away.
 
I see the shot I want to hit.
 
I see where I want the ball to land, the flight I want the ball to have, and the line between my ball, and an aiming point a foot or so in front of the ball that's on my target line. Once I step up to the ball, all I think about is my target. I'll even look in front of the ball in order to sort of erase it from my mind & stay focuses on the target.
 
I always draw on a memory from a completely different hole at a different course when I hit the perfect shot with the club that I have in my hand. I feel like using a different image than what is in front of me frees me up to react athletically to what I am picturing. I have a "go to" image for each long club in my bag and each shot shape that I could want to hit in a given situation.
 
I also should add if I am trying to figure out the line I want to off the tee on that tee box for the first time I already failed.
 
If it's one of the courses at my club, I don't think much at all. I've hit those shots plenty of times, so I just focus on tempo and being relaxed.

If it's a different course, then I pick something to aim at, and envision the shot I want to hit. My (good) tee shots are a mid-trajectory baby cut, so I imagine starting one just off the left edge of the fairway and gently flaring it to the middle.
 
I tend to focus on where I want my ball to end up once I've put the tee in the ground. Looking at the rest of the hole comes before, when I'm trying to pick my line.
 
At Dubs, I see the first of the line of trees on the left at the dogleg that I am aiming at. Expecting it to fade back into the fairway.
 
When I look at a target and swing to said target good things usually happen. Its the time between the backswing and follow through when things go wrong ;)
 
Just trying to see where the cart girl is...

When the game/swing/mind is right I'm seeing my target and envisioning my shot.

When the above is not good I'm seeing the miss and the trouble


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Look at the beauty of nature, be thankful to be playing golf, pick a target, look down at the ball, rip down the middle; I Hope!!!!
 
Home course has a huge tree, im not an arborist so no idea what it is, that you can see the top third of. I know it's 20 yards or so left of the green, which you can't see from th box. I know I have no chance in hitting it the 370+ to get it there. But I do know that if I aim for that tree my ball will either fade, which it does 90% of the time, right into the middle of the fairway or that 10% of the time it goes straight I'll be just along the tree line on the left side of the fairway. Either way I've got a great look at the second shot to the green.
 
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