You're Correct!

Your pre-shot routine is absolutely crucial before you hit your golf shot. The twenty seconds leading up to actually playing the shot really influences whether you are going be successful or not.

Having the right things in place prior to hitting the shot will mean you are going to hit a much better, more consistent, more accurate and effective shot than if you have not got the right things in place when you are getting ready to play.

To work on your pre-shot routine you need to move through three different zones. The zone furthest away from the ball is your think zone. This is where you make all your decisions. You look at how far the shot is, the yardage, what the wind is doing, what the slopes are like, what the lie is like and how you are feeling on that day and then you make a choice on the club that you are going to use. Once you have made this choice you want to have a really good look at the shot in front of you, taking everything that you can see and then draw a line in your mind for the shot, how you want to play the shot and make that line a really vibrant color - bright pink, bright red, bright yellow - really make it stand out so that it has your focus.

Walk forward into your feel zone. This is where you remember and play by memory of that scene that you pictured in your head and you have drawn the shot into and make your golf swing to that memory. Feel the swing you are going to play, rehearse it. The last thing you do before you leave the feel zone is really look at the target again and draw the line of the shot back down to the ball from the target. Pick a point in front of the ball, one to two feet on the ground, that you can now aim your club face at. Once you have got that point a few feet in front of the ball, walk into the final zone which is your play zone.

Once in the play zone, aim your club face at that point you selected one to two feet in front of the golf ball. Set your feet up, ball position, posture, take your grip, get settled. Have one more look at the target so that you know where the target is and then pull the trigger, swing the club and hit the shot.

If you practise doing this on the training ground, on the driving range or the practise ground, you will find that you can do this very quickly and move quickly through these three zones, making good decisions that help to focus you well.

The only thing you are concentrating on by the time you get to the play zone is the task in hand, namely getting the ball to the target.

This action will only serve to make you feel more rushed, out of breath, therefore you will play worse, hit more shots and ultimately make you play slower.

You really need to have a practise swing once you have decided what shot is required because it is a rehearsal of what you are about to do. You want to get a feel for the shot so not having a practise swing is not a good idea and you will end up mis-hitting the shot and then having to play more shots as a result, which will slow you down.

You need to think about the shot and how you are going to play it. You need to decide on the club you are going to use before you start to practise that shot and then go and execute it. If you just walk up to the shot, hit the shot, and then think about it afterwards, you will find that you are taking more shots on the golf course and you are actually playing slower, with your score going up.

Work on having a really good pre-shot routine, moving through your think zone, your feel zone and your play zone and you should find that gets you playing much faster because when you are over the ball you just swing and hit.