Simplify your pre-shot routine with these 3 easy steps

Any golf professional will tell you that a consistent pre-shot routine is a primary key to playing good golf.

But for some players — especially beginners — it can be difficult to decide how to best prepare yourself to hit each shot. Fortunately, GOLF Teacher to Watch Dr. Alison Curdt has a simple plan to follow to ensure your pre-shot routine is easy to replicate before every single swing.

“One of the ways that your performance could be held back is from the lack of a pre-shot routine,” Curdt said in a video posted on the newly-launched LPGA Professionals YouTube channel.

A useful pre-shot routine, Curdt said, incorporates a set of behaviors and actions that help you prepare for the shot at hand. Below are the 3 steps she recommends taking.

Dr. Alison Curdt’s 3-step pre-shot routine

1. Swing rehearsal

“The first step behind the golf ball is, let’s do a rehearsal,” Curdt said. “This can be preparing your body for the swing, loosening your muscles or feeling a movement that you’d like to move.”

2. Pick a target

“Second step is to make sure you pick a target,” Curdt said. “Stand behind the golf ball, be intentional with where you want to start the golf ball.”

3. Prepare the mind

“The third step is gonna be preparing our mind for the shot,” Curdt said. “This is gonna be using a deep breath to prepare us, be calm, be emotionally uninvested in the shot to hit our best ones.”

When you combine all the steps, the three steps flow together in a matter of seconds: swing rehearsal, target selection and a deep breath before addressing the ball.

Then, walk into the shot and swing freely!

“You are ready to perform,” Curdt said.

For more tips from Curdt and other LPGA professionals, click here.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.