Pre-Game Warmups

Successful golf starts with a great pre-game routine

Lower score cards don't happen by themselves or by all luck. They happen from hard work, dedication and a well planned, instinctive, pre-game warmup routine you should perform automatically before every round of golf…

… pre-game warmups always happen before every professional golf tournament.

Ball striking, chipping and putting is your regimen in order to be physically and mentality ready to begin play. It's your investment in sound play that ultimately produces lower scores. 20 minutes is just enough.

It is so important to your psyche to be in the center of the fairway on hole #1. This routine should help you accomplish the task. If your current routine produces this situation already, than by all means keep doing it.

Here's the warmup routine…

Start with a 5-minute stretching exercise that's specific to your needs, or approved by your physician. Spend another 5 minutes, chipping balls to a specific distance or hole on the chipping green. This helps you to warm up and has low impact on the joints you'll be using on the driving range.

Now move to the driving range and use your pitching wedge for 6 balls, followed by an 8 iron, 6 iron and your 3 wood. Hit six balls with each club at 50-60% power. The purpose of this exercise is to warm the golf muscles you'll use during the next four hours, not to see how far you can outperform your golf buddies.

Next, retreat to the putting surface for a 5 minute workout. Here's the best part of your pre-game warm up. Your session is about understanding the speed, roll, distance and break of the current putting conditions. If you spend 10 minutes that's okay… but stop and don't overcook your practice session.

These pre-game warmups and time tables are what I recommend. If you spend 20 minutes on the range hitting balls, you'll be feeling the fatigue at the turn of 9 holes. Your muscles will feel tense, as if you've already played 18 holes, and that will affect your score.

To familiarize yourself with the speed of the green, hit several putts over 15 feet to get a feel for it – it should be apparent right off. Fast or slow? Wet or dry? Then set up in your normal posture about 15 feet from the practice greens edge.

Check the ball placement in your stance by putting to the greens edge with a perfect roll, end over end to just short of the edge. The ball should produce what sounds like a click off the putter face with true roll. That sound and roll will tell you where to postion the ball in your stance the rest of the day.

To find your distance, practice my putting technique using foot placement in your setup of 12 and 15 inches apart for putting 12, 24 and 36 feet. This one technique alone can save you many strokes.

Here's a brief on the technique…

• Place your feet 12 inches apart. Take you putter back to the inside arch of the back foot. With a smooth stroke on average greens it should roll 12 feet. Moving the putter to the outside of the back foot and through with a smooth stroke should roll 24 feet. Moving the back foot back to 15 inches apart, the putter to the inside of the back foots arch, the ball should consistently roll 36 feet.
• When practicing the break, remember to focus on the speed of the green, so you don't over roll the center of the apex in the arch of your break. Practice putting to the point where you want the ball to start rolling towards the hole. If the green is fast, aim just below the center of your arch and if it's playing slow, aim a couple of inches above the arch.

If the first hole is a par four, use the 3 wood you practiced with on the range. Warm up the full swing at 60% power till your time to hit. You'll be more confident, have most all of your golf muscles ready and the pre warm up mentality to split the first fairway.