Stephen D. Simmons

Editor and Publisher StrategicGolfer Instructional Series

This weekend we were treated to a great display of exceptional tournament golf.   More importantly, we were treated to an excellent example of how important the pre-shot routine is to playing great golf.

Before I get to the discussion of the pre-shot routine I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Phil on an amazing performance.  Whether you like Phil or not,  you have to be impressed with his  performance on Sunday.   Phil shooting 65  yesterday under those conditions was one of the best golf performances of 2009. 

I may be one of the few that likes to see tournaments where other players challenge Tiger.    Multiple winners on golf’s grandest stages is good for the game.

As I was waiting for the television broadcast of the final round to start yesterday, I came up with an idea that turned out to be very supportive of the StrategicGolfer instructional message. At the core of our instruction we stress the importance of moving beyond swing mechanics to the creative side of golf; the mental and strategic aspects of golf.

Strategy, visualization, and the pre-shot routine are the most important skill elements that must be learned as part of significant golf improvement. 

Very important …as the numbers from yesterday’s tournament will demonstrate.  I wanted to measure the importance of the pre-shot routine as outlined below.

My idea was to pick three players that would get the most television coverage during the final round of the tournament.  Obviously, Tiger was going to get lots of coverage and Kenny Perry was playing well so they were my first picks.  I believed Phil was going to play well because of his new found confidence with the putter,  so I picked him.

My goal was to measure the pre-shot routine with a stop watch from the moment they made a move towards the ball until the club started the backswing.  In our intruction we define this as entering a "bubble"; a place where no conscious swing thoughts exist and this part of your routine should only take 10-15 seconds of time.  We stress the importance of limiting any conscious swing thoughts and only think about the target, the feel of what your intending to do, and then initiating the backswing with a trigger like "trust it".

Because television coverage is structured to bounce around and show as many golfers highlights as possible, it was impossible to time every shot.  I was able to time at least 30 shots per player.

I divided the type of routine into two types; full swing and putting.  We believe it is permissable to have up to three different routines by adding short game shots to the mix.  Whatever number of routines you have, it is important to make those routines as solid and consistent as possible.

 What I found from the analysis was very interesting.  Based upon the measurements of Tiger’s routine, his average full swing routine took 11.47 seconds.  Sixty one percent (61%) of measured routines were within .5 second of his average.  More noteable, he made two bad swings coming down the stretch; his tee shots on 16 and 18.  His routine on the tee shot at 16 was  2.5 seconds longer than his average.  The tee shot on 18 was 2 seconds longer than his average.  Something triggered the delay and the results were dissappointing.

Kenny Perry had an average full swing routine of 13.19 seconds.  Only forty four percent (44%) of his routines were within .5 seconds of his average.  The numbers indicate a lot of time variations, some faster and some slower than the average.  This is not good if you want a machine like performance. 

Phil Mickleson’s full swing routines averaged 11.25 seconds.  Ninety three percent (93%) of his routines were within .5 seconds of his average.  He did not have any measured routines that exceeded 1 second from his average.

 Based upon the measurements,  Tiger’s average putting routine took 8.61 seconds.  Sixty percent (60%) of measured routines were within .25 second of his average. 

Kenny Perry had an average putting routine of 6.25 seconds.  Eighty three percent (83%) of his routines were within .25 seconds of his average. 

Phil Mickleson’s average putting routine was 8.04 seconds.  Sixty seven percent (67%) of his routines were within .25 seconds of his average. 

All of the players on the PGA Tour have solid routines.  It is a very important aspect to playing great golf.  The proper routine allows players a safe haven from distraction and a consistent starting point on every shot.  The numbers show, that the best players in the world, can have variations in the pre-shot routine resulting in a significant impact upon athletic performance.  Most amatuers do not have a pre-shot routine or have variations that are sigificant and are a major contibutor to poor performance.

Phil had a statistical advantage over Tiger and Kenny because of the consistency of his routine.  He was very machine like in all of hits shots.  You could see it in the way he played.  I would bet a lot of money that when Tiger has his "lights out" days, his routine has very little variations in time and are indicative of a machine like performance.  Yesterday was not one of those days.

The other thing that was very impressive was watching how consistent all three players approached putts.  They all have a unique approach to stalking the putts and took a different number of practice swings, but when they moved into the ball it was the same every time;  or certainly within .25 seconds of their average on almost all of their putts.  This is especially true on shorter putts.

So what lessons can we learn from this discussion?  Here are a few things to consider if you want to play your best golf:

• Consider the pre-shot routine the most important club in your bag.
• Build a solid routine that can be used on all of your shots.  You can have up to three different routines; full swing, short game, and putting.
• Refine the routines to include the smallest number of steps  possible.  Steps could include the number of waggles, the number of times looking at the target, how you step into the shot, etc.
• Strive for quality and consistency in your routine.  Your scores and ability to play at your best levels will go hand in hand with the quality of your routine.
• As part of your move towards the ball, make the last 10-15 seconds of your routine as repeatable as possbile.  If anything distracts you start over.

Stephen D. Simmons

Editor and Publisher                 StrategicGolfer Instructional Series

I was invited to play golf this last weekend with a friend of mine and it’s a story that has to be told.

Tim and I know about how powerful the instructional message is we write about inside StrategicGolfer.  When you see it in action, especially for a higher handicaps, and how the creative side of golf if allowed to surface can overcome significant golf swing flaws, it’s a message hard for me to surpress.

Its Saturday afternoon and a beautiful fall day in south Texas.  The temps are around 85 degrees and while there are thunderstorms in the area, none of them will bother us this day.

My friend is an 18 handicap golfer give or take a few strokes.  On easier courses he can break 90 but this day we are playing a private layout that is blanketed by tree lined fairways, heavy rough, very deep green side bunkers, and small undulating greens.

I don’t get to play his course a lot but its a real gem.  Nick Price and other tour players compare it to the Valderrama Golf Club in Spain.  Exacting tee shots, lots of doglegs, elevation changes, and small target greens.  Needless to say this is not a pushover golf course.

My friend gets off to a slower than hoped for opening hole.  The opening hole is not long but requires a very exacting tee shot and approach shot into a heavily fortified green.  He makes double and we move on.

While standing on the tee of the demanding par 3 second hole he starts to describe his strategy for this hole.  He wants to intentionally hit a shot that end ups short of the green and then chip and putt for par.  The green side bunkers are severe and he knows his limitations.  He does exactly what he intends on his tee shot, hits a pitch shot, then lips out his putt.  He almost makes the par he strategized from the tee.

As we walk along on our golf journey that day he continues to tell me what his strategy is for some of the more challenging shots he faces.  He is offering this information to me unsolicited. 

All of our golf nstruction on StrategicGolfer.com emphasizes the importance of playing with pictures.  Pictures give the brain a much clearer sense of what the intended action is than words.  Pictures are more in line with feeling and golf is all about feeling, tempo, and touch.

When golfers try to execute based upon specific verbal ques the outcome will be suspect. What do you think would happen if you tried playing golf like this?

"I’m going to keep my left arm straight until the 9:00 position on the back swing and then I will rotate the forearm 45 degrees to the right and back which will allow me to set the club in a parallel position to the target line….."

I don’t know why my fried was in such a verbalizing mood last weekend but I did not interfere.  I let him continue to tell me as much about his strategies as he wanted to.

On the toughest golf hole on the course, a 440 yard dogleg right par 4, playing uphill and into the wind, he pictured a strategy that would play to the right side of the fairway to minimze the length, hit a three wood to within wedge range, and then pitch and 2 putts for a "bogie".

He did everything he intended but made his 6 foot putt for par.  4 net 2….hmmmmm.  Later he pictured a shorter club on a dogleg right par 4 from the tee to keep the ball out of the rough.  From there is strategized hitting a 3 wood to somehwere around the green with his pitch and putt strategy.  He hit the green in two.  While getting ready for his putt he said I should be able to two putt this for par.  I said why not 1 putt for birdie.  He one putted for a natural birdie…3 net 2….hmmmmmm.

The more he verbalized his strategizes the better his pictures were.  He played great and I think it was his personal best on that course.  This picture development process is one of the most important aspects to playing great golf. 

Most golfers chase the perfect swing.  They spend hours trying to develop something that does not exist.  Try spending that time learning how to develop a picture based strategy.

Its Called Visualization

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Stephen D. Simmons

Editor and Publisher – StrategicGolfer Instruction Series

Our highest priority in short game practice is learning how to convert more up and down attempts.  Most golfers use the same method of practice in the short game area.  They dump a pile of balls and rapidly work thru the pile hitting a variety of shots to one or multiple targets without any effort at attempting to convert those shots with a putter. 

How can we measure our success if we do not calculate our conversion percentage?

Practice like the pros….learn to convert!

Your ability to shoot lower scores is dependant upon how well you convert your scoring opportunities.  The way you convert more shots is by hitting shots that finish close to the hole.  Actually, we want the ball to end up past the hole if it does not go in.

We need to be conservatively agressive…meaning, we need to hit crisp shots that get to or beyond the hole with the correct read of the slope and break of the shot.

The gate drill can be used for any short game scoring shots.  Generally the gate drill will be used for shots of less than 30 yards.  The gate for a putt is different than a pitch or chip shot. 

The gate in putting practice is just wide enough to let the ball pass thru the gate without going into the hole.  For longer putts of 40+ feet you may have to adjust the gate to be about two cups wider than the hole.

You can see in the example below, the gate for putts of 15 feet is 2 inches to either side of the hole and 18 inches deep.  The gate is intended to help you get the ball to the hole with a good degree of accuracy.  If we miss the hole we want our shots to be just outside the hole and stopping within "gimmie" range.

The gate in chipping and pitching practice is 24 inches wide of either side of the hole and 36 inches deep.  If we miss the hole we want our shots to be just outside the hole and stopping within "gimmie" range.  Statistically most golfers have a fairly high percentage of conversions from less than 3 feet.