Better Pre-Shot Routine To Improve On Golf Topped Shots (Video) - Lesson by PGA Pro Pete Styles
Better Pre-Shot Routine To Improve On Golf Topped Shots (Video) - Lesson by PGA Pro Pete Styles

If you started to work on improving your top shots and you’ve followed the videos prior to this one, and you’re understanding how to make those changes, that’s all good. What we often see, is golfers struggle to actually take it out to the golf course because they don’t necessarily have the correct pre-shot routine, they kind of set up to the ball, they’re so focused on their swing, they’re so focused on just hitting this damn shot and making sure we don’t top it. They actually forget to have a good routine. So here is four elements I would like to bring into a nice pre-shot routine. So the first thing is going to be selecting the correct target, we stand back behind the golf ball, we look down our target line, and we make sure we’ve chosen the right thing to aim at. That sounds obvious, but that target isn’t always the flag, if the flag is tucked in the corner of the green, into the pond over there, and the winds blowing that way, you could be aiming ten or even 20 yards to the side of the flag to make sure you’re playing to the safer part of the green. But you need to decide that, prior to setting up top the golf ball. The next thing to then to look at is having the correct ball flight. So we need to know, if I'm trying to play to that target, do I expect this ball to draw, do I expect it to fade, I'm I happy just to hit and I'm I going to allow for the correct shape that I’ve got?

So we need to make sure that I’ve chosen the correct ball flight and the correct target. The next thing is to only have one simple swing thought in your mind. And that can be quite difficult you know, you might have watched some of these videos and I’ve given you different bits of advice. And suddenly there is ten different things in your head ,I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do that, I’ve got to do that, and it can be quite confusing. So let’s first try and go in the golf course with one simple swing thought. That’s probably going to be the biggest priority of the fault that you have in your game. So if the biggest fault you have is topping the ball, then the priority is to make sure we stay down and make good contact. If your biggest priority is slicing the golf ball, then we need to understand how to correct with the slice. But go out to the golf course with one swing thought. The last thing then is going to be having a nice big deep breath before we take the shot. So we stand back, we pick our target, we see the ball flight, we have our swing thought, we have one nice deep breath in and out, nice practice swing, visualizing the shot all the way through. Now we can go ahead and play the shot correctly. 2015-10-09

If you started to work on improving your top shots and you’ve followed the videos prior to this one, and you’re understanding how to make those changes, that’s all good. What we often see, is golfers struggle to actually take it out to the golf course because they don’t necessarily have the correct pre-shot routine, they kind of set up to the ball, they’re so focused on their swing, they’re so focused on just hitting this damn shot and making sure we don’t top it. They actually forget to have a good routine. So here is four elements I would like to bring into a nice pre-shot routine. So the first thing is going to be selecting the correct target, we stand back behind the golf ball, we look down our target line, and we make sure we’ve chosen the right thing to aim at. That sounds obvious, but that target isn’t always the flag, if the flag is tucked in the corner of the green, into the pond over there, and the winds blowing that way, you could be aiming ten or even 20 yards to the side of the flag to make sure you’re playing to the safer part of the green. But you need to decide that, prior to setting up top the golf ball. The next thing to then to look at is having the correct ball flight. So we need to know, if I'm trying to play to that target, do I expect this ball to draw, do I expect it to fade, I'm I happy just to hit and I'm I going to allow for the correct shape that I’ve got?

So we need to make sure that I’ve chosen the correct ball flight and the correct target. The next thing is to only have one simple swing thought in your mind. And that can be quite difficult you know, you might have watched some of these videos and I’ve given you different bits of advice. And suddenly there is ten different things in your head ,I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do that, I’ve got to do that, and it can be quite confusing. So let’s first try and go in the golf course with one simple swing thought. That’s probably going to be the biggest priority of the fault that you have in your game. So if the biggest fault you have is topping the ball, then the priority is to make sure we stay down and make good contact. If your biggest priority is slicing the golf ball, then we need to understand how to correct with the slice. But go out to the golf course with one swing thought. The last thing then is going to be having a nice big deep breath before we take the shot. So we stand back, we pick our target, we see the ball flight, we have our swing thought, we have one nice deep breath in and out, nice practice swing, visualizing the shot all the way through. Now we can go ahead and play the shot correctly.