Pre-Shot routine

What is an acceptable amount of time for a pre-shot routine….

I was playing golf in the States a few weeks ago. We were the second group to tee –off. The Marshall came up to us twice, and said we were slowing down the course and asked if we could speed up.

My pre-shot routine is too quick. I usually don’t take a practise swing – I check my alignment, posture and that’s it. – less than 10 seconds.

I timed some of those I was playing with, and politely said…. Guys it is taking you more than 3 minutes to hit the ball. I am waiting for the two of you, and in the aggregate – that it what is costing us the most time. If you could find a way to speed up your pre-shot routine – we would play much faster.

Needles to say, I almost got killed! I though we could have a dispassionate discussion, but I was informed that the longer pre-shot routine allows them to play a better game with less shots, which actually speeds up the game. So, I said why not take longer – says 6 minutes to shoot… per shot…

Any way, I was looking up Golf Etiquette online – and it indicated that you “ought to take between 30 to 35 seconds to shoot… the timer starts ticking when you arrive at your golf bag!

I think that is about right, and I also found some other useful tips….

P.S. A few times I sped awhead in the golf cart - I am not kidding - two errant balls hit the cart - thereafter, I stayed back!

3 minutes is, as the French would say, taking zee piss.

Talk about getting inside your own head.
Imagine freezing a tennis ball for 3 minutes and then trying to hit it... impossible!
1) find it
2) decide what you want to do with it
3) try do it
4) go back to step 1