Here’s Justin Rose’s take on his preshot routine.

One thing I particularly like is his use of his club as a plumb bob.  It really does help you pick a spot that is directly in line with the ball and your target point.

At about 24s into the video Justin talks of closing his left eye to get alignment from ball to target.  Which eye you should close depends on which of your eyes is dominant. If you don’t know click this link to see our simple routine for checking which eye is dominant.

Notice that Justin talks of trusting his swing as he steps up to hit the ball.  It is a crucial element of consistent ball striking.

This brilliant cartoon found on Pinterest from the golfersgrail.net sums up what goes through too many of our minds when we take our stance to play our next shot.

I described in my article on golf pre-shot routines how I attempt to clear my conscious brain of all thoughts just prior to taking the shot.

Sad to say, this cartoon probably summarises what happens all too often.

Golf Pre-Shot routines are proven to be immensely important in consistently playing good golf.

All the pros have consistent pre-shot routines right up to the point that if they get disturbed in their preparation they will put the club back in the bag and start the routing all over again.

It’s one of the great joys of golf is that you have chance to plan exactly how you are going to play each shot, in detail, before you step up to hit the ball. Why is it then that so few amateur golfers have developed a clear pre-shot process?

Developing Your Pre-Shot Routine

In his book, ‘Wired to Win’ Wired to Win: The Mental Keys to Play Your Best GolfDavid Breslow talks of a 3 step process. Here’s how it works for me.

Step 1

Step 1 occurs as I am walking up to the ball. As you approach your ball you can be assessing your next shot including:

• Distance for the next shot
• Prevailing conditions including wind direction and terrain
• Lie of the ball
• Target landing area for next shot
• I look for a point 3-6 feet in front of the ball in-line with my chosen target (you use this as your alignment point when you take your stance)
• Shot shape and trajectory
• Visualising what you want the ball to do both in the air and after it hits the ground

From a mental game point of view this last point is all important. Once you have visualized the shot you aim to play you must positively commit to that shot.

It sounds like a lot of stuff but you can do pretty much everything as you walk along the fairway (yeah right!) to you ball. Personally I like to walk when I play golf and tend avoid courses that insist you use buggies.

If you do use a buggy, instead of speeding right up to your ball, stop 20 to 30 feet behind your lie and walk up to your ball while doing your assessment.

Step 2

Now I have got the next shot firmly visualized I can quickly take my stance and aim the club at my chosen alignment point.

Once aligned I shuffle back and take a couple of practice swings that are intended to rehearse the shot I have visualised.

Step 3

In step 3 I once again take my stance. I allow myself a couple of waggles to loosen my wrists and fingers and then quite clearly think, ‘over to you’. It’s my way of passing the responsibility for playing the shot over to my subconscious.

At this point my conscious mind has one responsibility – to focus on the back of the ball throughout the whole swing. To make this transition clear I take a breath and let half of the air out. At the same time I visualize the ball expanding to fill my whole field of vision.

Then I just trust my swing.

Does It Work

You bet it works.

And it works for every shot you play including putting.

Trouble is I probably use it for a few holes and then don’t do it for a few more. You get chatting to your playing partners so maybe you walk up to the ball without doing step 1. Sometimes you feel you have lost ground on the match in front so you rush your shot and don’t do either step 1 or step 2.

It’s not too surprising that when you simply walk up to you ball and hit it the results are not often what you would like.

It is something that I need to work on making a rock solid part of my game.

It is no coincidence that the very top pros have totally consistent pre-shot routines.

Sounds Like a Lot of Time

Reading this it does look like a lot of work and time to simply hit a golf shot. In reality it takes practically no time at all.

Step 1 is done before you reach your ball.

You probably already take a couple of practice swings so step 2 is much more a matter of conscious visualization rather than adding to your existing set-up time.

All you are doing in step 3 is getting into the zone to hit your shot.

Top 3 Golf Improvement Pillar

It’s one of my top 3 golf improvement pillars in terms of delivering rapid and consistent improvement in your game alongside:

1. Gripping with the fingers
2. A clear visualization of your swing technique

It might be the easiest of the lot to apply.  So why do I struggle with something so simple?

Justin Rose’s Preshot Routine

Click here for a very short video where Justin Rose describes his preshot routine.

Who else would like to improve their golf swing while they sleep?

It sounds impossible but really works well.  In truth it is based on a simple meditation you do while falling asleep.  The premise is that as you fall asleep your subconcious will continue working to embed the swing routine in your mind.

Pre-Sleep Meditation

How to get Started

Before you get started you are going to need to have your own swing technique very clear in your own mind.  As you know, we always recommend you visit your pro and have a few lessons.

Failing that, buy The Simple Golf Swing by David Nevogt.

Ideally you should write down your view of the golf swing – here’s mine.  If you need a bit more inspiration take a look at my analysis of Rory McIlroy’s swing.  Don’t worry, looking at Rory’s swing doesn’t set you up to try to achieve the impossible – he really does have a superb, simple swing.

This whole thing will also work a lot better if you have practiced a bit.  Hopefully you will have hit some great shots that you can recall when needed.

Done all that?

Let’s go!  Just one thing – remember that it takes a heck of a lot longer to read this that it does to apply it in practice

The Meditation

While I use this technique as a pre-sleep routine you can do it whenever you have a few minutes of quiet, comfortable relaxation.

This is how it works for me.

• Get comforable – you don’t want to be distracted as your arm goes to sleep or you get a crick in your neck
• Start to relax
• • Start with your breathing
  • Softly breath in to the slow count of 4, hold, and breath out to a count of 4
  • Repeat 10 times or until you feel yourself becoming less tense
  • Keep breathing slowly throughout
• Once you are lying relaxed and comfortable start to visualise your self set-up to play a golf shot
  • See the ball on the ground (or on a tee if you want to practice your driving)
  • Picture your club resting behind the ball – make sure the club face is perfectly on the target line
  • Visualise your self taking up your stance.  Feel your weight pressing down into the ground.  Where is the ball in your set-up?
  • Take your grip on the club.  Feel the club nestling in your fingers.
  • Sense just how soft your grip is.  Feel the flexibility in your wrists.  Take a few waggles of the club to feel the relaxed flexibility and club head control your grip gives you
  • Look down and see you left arm is straight and perfectly in line with the shaft
  • Your grip feels natural, comfortable and relaxed.
  • Your eyes are comfortably on the back of the ball
  • You can feel that your shoulders are loose and relaxed
  • You feel youself ready to start your swing and give up total control to your body to execute the shot – your job is to stay loose and to keep your eyes on the ball position until after impact
  • At this stage your swing thought is simply that the ball looks bigger and bigger – you want to keep your eyes on the ball

This all takes an awful lot more time to write or read than it does in reality.

Sometmes I will stop here. I have run through a perfect (in my mind) set-up routine. I feel absolutely great and I am ready to execute one of my best shots.

Sometimes I will be asleep.

Other times I will continue with the rest of my swing

• I know I am ready to start the backswing
• I can feel the club movng away on the target line as my arms and shoulders start to rotate about my spine
• The rotation feels great – I am really loose and relaxed
• My right leg is relaxed but stays still to resist the rotation of my body and build the coiled spring tension to add power to the shot
• As my shoulder rotation continues the club naturally moves inside the target line.  It’s nothing I do – it is a completely natural consequence of rotating my shoulders around my spine.
• As the club head moves inside the target line I start to set my wrists
• As the swing continues through 8-9 oclock I can feel that my wrists are fully cocked
• Staying very loose I continue my shoulder rotation until my hands are at about 11:00 – I know that that is about as far as my flexibility allows me to reach
• I am concious of making sure I lift my arms to maintain the swing plane angle
• As I near the top of the backswing I can feel the coiled tension developing in my body
• At the top of the back swing I conciously sense my left knee moving over my left foot to start the tranistion of weight to the left side
• My hips start to turn back to square – I can feel that my arms and shoulders have not yet moved and remain at the top of the back swing
• The ball looks even bigger as I look at the back of the ball
• My shoulders now start to rotate around my spine to bring my arms and club back to the ball
• I am very concious that my upper body lags the movement of my lower body
• My wrists stay relaxed – I don’t make any attempt to either maintain or change the angle between my arms and the club – it can all happen naturally
• As my hands return to the 6:00 position I am concious that I keep my shoulder rotation going with my arms coming down towards the ball.  I can feel my wrists uncocking as the club head accelerates into the ball
• The impact is perfect (it’s my meditation after all)
• I can feel my right hand rolling over the top of my left as the club head follows through on the target line
• I see the club strike the ball and can see the scuff mark the club leaves on the turf after the ball has gone (I don’t tend to take deep divots)
• The rotation of my arms and shoulders continue and I finish with my belt buckle and chest facing the target
• The ball starts slightly to the right of the target line can gently draws back during flight
• I can feel myself holding the finish pose – it’s such a good shot.

And that’s about it.

Nowadays it is pretty unusual for me to rehearse the full routine.  Normally I will simply visualize myself perfectly set-up for the shot.  I will spend a moment feeling the weight through my feet and the relaxation and looseness in my wrists, back and shoulders.

Often I will only rehearse part of the swing – the takeaway and wrist set for instance.

Other times I will see and feel myself at the top of the backswing.  My shot rehearsal will then just be feeling my weight transfer to the left side.

Hopefully you will have noticed that I don’t just visualize.  I try to feel the sensations and movement too. This is why it is so important to have actually practiced your ideal swing technique.  During your visualization you can recall exactly how you felt.

There is much more that could be written on golf meditations including:

• Course management
• Pre-shot routines
• Reading putts
• Developing a positve mindset

Let me know if you have any thoughts.