Pre-shot routine
Common Mistakes in Pre-Shot Routine
The habits that make pre-shot routine feel productive while leaving your scores unchanged.
Busy is not the same as useful
When the target is chosen, many golfers practice enough to improve but organize it poorly. Under first-tee pressure, they hit the same club to the same target, rake another ball over after a miss, and leave with no record of what happened. Under first-tee pressure, that feels like work, but it rarely changes the scorecard.
Pre-shot routines break down in familiar ways:
- Under first-tee pressure, changing three swing thoughts in one session.
- Before you step in, practicing only from perfect lies.
- When the target is chosen, quitting a drill as soon as it gets uncomfortable.
- Inside a pre-shot routine, measuring success by the best shot instead of the pattern.
Make every miss useful
If a swing goes sideways, check the routine first: did you pick the target, rehearse the feel, and step in without adding a late thought?
Keep the promise small
Under first-tee pressure, a strong session often improves one narrow thing. That is enough to test the habit. Inside a pre-shot routine, stack enough small wins and the course starts to feel less random.