Consistent Golf Starts by Building a Consistent Pre-Shot Routine

Perhaps one of my favourite things about golf is that the game and its courses are available to every player.  With a few notable exceptions we can play the same courses the best in the world play.  Playing the game at a variety of different courses challenges us as players and forces us to think if we are to play a new course well.  Playing different courses does something else, it creates great memories.  With no other sport can we watch the best in the world and say “remember when we played there?”

The Africa Open and East London Golf Club played last week is one of my favourite tournaments of the year.  Not because of the field or that it’s a huge event but because it’s personal to me.  East London is my wife’s home town and I have played the course many times, including with my Dad and Brother 2 days before my wedding.  As a memory, it’s one of my favourite golfing experiences.  It’s great to watch the Tour players tackle a great old golf course knowing the challenges it presents.  It is also a course which highlights the theme of this week’s blog very well.  It’s not long by modern standards and has several very short par 4’s, however it presents the players with a test which many failed.  It demands the player THINK and understand the strategy involved on every hole.

You cannot simply step up and hit the ball as far as you can and then play from there.  The 5^th hole is less than 325 yards and yet was the 3^rd hardest hole all week, the 6^th even shorter and it too played over par for the week.

On course play and course strategy is something which is not taught enough these days.  We are so focused on the swing and its mechanics we very often forget how to play.  How many of you hit the ball well in practice but fail to transfer that into a good medal score?

A poor or inconsistent mind set WILL create inconsistent results.  Walking up to the ball, grabbing a club, glancing at the target and hitting the ball as hard as you can is seldom the best strategy for producing consistently good golf.

The video this week shows you a very simple way of creating an easy pre-shot routine.  If your game is inconsistent I can guarantee your approach will be inconsistent.  Very few Club golfers create a routine but it’s fundamental to playing better golf.  It helps eliminate easy mistakes such as poor alignment and forces you to think more clearly about where you want the ball to go.  Use this idea to help build your own routine and make it consistent and repetitive every shot.

I look forward to reading your comments posted below or you can e mail academy@howdididomedia.com