Golf Articles

Average is just not good enough

Pre shot routines are the backbone of a solid swing and fundamental if you want any kind of consistency in your game. It is the container that holds everything together and without it you are prone to inconsistencies in both your physical and mental setup for each shot. This will result in ever changing setups, poor swing consistency and a wandering mind making it ten times worse.

A vital part of any pre-shot routine is a clear and precise visualisation sequence for each shot that clearly spells out and gives you a precise feeling of the shot you require. Imagine the shot, talk yourself through it and get a solid feel for what you have to do.

Without this your mind has not been given clear solid instruction on the task ahead and your thinking will be prone to wanderings onto other subjects which can be very harmful, like what happens if you hit a bad shot? Or remembering that bad shot on the last hole and now here you are again. Will you make another poor swing and hit an additional bad shot?

Developing and using a simple yet solid visualisation strategy is the key to a repeatable system to send the ball to your target with the best effect a high percentage of the time. It's quite simple really, when you have a good pre shot routine which incorporates excellent visualisation techniques, you WILL play better golf.

The "Vision Engineering" or visualisation or Imagineering (imagination Engineering)should be done at the beginning of each pre-shot routine to program the coming shot into your mind. Every top professional in ANY SPORT uses their minds in some form or another to program and practice Peak Performance.

The first part of your visualization routine is to stand behind the ball, looking toward your target on the ball to target line. Your target may be a small patch of dark grass in the centre of the fairway, a leaf lying in the right half of the green or a blade of grass on the left edge of the cup. Be very clear and precise about your target before going into the physical aspect of your pre-shot routine.

You should literally "see" the ball flight or speed and line of the putt as it tracks toward your target perfectly, and in the case of a putt, enters the hole. When teeing off with a driver you should be just as focused on sending your ball to a precise target as you would be with a crucial 4ft putt to win the Saturday medal. This narrowing of attention, focusing down, taps into your unconscious mind and provides it with clear instructions of what you want it to do.

Stand behind your ball and trace an imaginary ball flight from the ball to your intended target as if you had just hit it and are watching it curve through the sky or on the green. Watch it travel on your desired trajectory right to your target and finish precisely. This only takes a few moments to do but these are critical seconds if you want to play great golf.

Make a practice swing that precisely models the swing you need to make in order to send the ball the desired distance to the target. Really feel in your muscles and mind that you have a solid representation of the swing you will need. Make more swings until you are comfortable that your mind has it all worked out. Always take your thoughts, visualisations into the "Feel It" stage.

Once you have completed this simple but enormously important process you can continue with the rest of your pre-shot routine. Step into address and complete your routine and swing as normal.

I can assure you that there are endless studies that demonstrate that the effective use of visualisation strategies has a profound and undeniable effect in improving performance. When you channel your mind toward the inner-game processes and start your pre-shot routine this way, your mind and body work in far greater harmony with increased positive results.

The more you practice the better you will get at it and thus your results will show steady improvement.

Warm regards,

Mark Wright.

Ps. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions.