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Originally Posted by canadian_man_44 I think you got it right there GoNavy. If you think too long you're sure to mess it up. I see too many people step up and take a beautiful practice swing then step up to the ball and instead of taking that same beautiful they set up to the ball, look at the target, reset the club, target, waggle the clubhead, etc. They take a couple minutes before they actually swing the club. I find if I take my practice swing, then, immediately setup on the ball and take the same swing within 5-10 seconds then my shot is as beautiful as my practice swing, but, when I take too long over the ball, I might as well be aiming at the trees or the water because that where it ends up.
Another thing I can say about a practice swing, if you take one with your driver and hit the ground, don't hit the ball with the next swing. Make sure you take a good practice swing before you hit the ball. I have a friend who did that quite a bit (hit the ground) on his practice then step up to the ball and top it. His head seemed to be telling him to pull back so he wouldn't hit the ground again and he always messed it up. Anyway, a couple days he did it again and I told him to take another practice swing. he gave that a try and then hit the ball straight down the fairway. Get the negative out of your head with a positive. |
Exactly, I'm not quite that quick, but my preshot routine is pretty consistant, around 28 sec. That is from the time I take my first step toward the ball from behind it. Now my time standing behind the ball looking down the fairway may vary, because this is the time I am factoring in any adjustments for wind,uphill/downhill, draw/fade, etc...and this is also the time I take any practise swings incorporating any adjustments or swing thoughts from previous shots. But once I have my target or aim point if you will, decided, I'll take one more look at the target, and make my first step to the ball, 28 secs later the ball is gone.
During that 28 sec I walk to the ball, set my right foot even with the ball, put my club down, take my grip, place my left foot in position, then set my right back in it's position carefully aligning myself with the clubface, I check my shoulders, hip, and feet alignment, I look at the target (not the flag, but my target I selected, where I want the ball to go initially, dependant on fade/draw, wind this changes, I decided this before I started mt preshot, when I was standing behind the ball) As I look at the target I do a quick waggle or two to loosen myself and take a deep breath, a quick visualization of the shot, back to the ball and swing. Seems like a lot but this happens in 28 sec, pretty much everytime, you can set a watch by it. If I take longer, I tend to hit poorly, faster and I feel rushed.