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Pre-round warm up

by Tina Tombs, golf instructor

Here are two questions to ask yourself: Why is it important and what is it that you want to think about and do when you are getting ready to play? Remember, a warm up is exactly what it says, a “warm up”—get loose, tempo, rhythm, balance, timing and mentally ready to play your round.

First you want to allow yourself time to prepare for the golf course that you are playing. If you are coming from the office and you don’t have time, the two most important things to do are to stretch with two golf clubs and take golf swings and chip and putt to get the feel and pace of the greens. That way you can save some strokes with your short game and actually develop a feel for your golf swing.

In this golf tip I am going to focus on a routine that I used, as well as many other tour players use, to prepare for a round of golf. Allow yourself at least 1 hour to use this routine. Adjust if you do not have this much time.

Stretch
Putt: you want to putt longer putts first. 20-, 30-, 40-footers. This gives you the feel and speed of the greens. You can putt to a tee or a hole, but the goal is to get the right distance and develop feel. At this time, you can also chip some to get the feel for your chipping.
Go to the range, start with pitching wedge, allow yourself 10 balls to loosen up, 7- or 6-iron, long iron or hybrid, fairway wood, then driver. This warm up time is to get loose, and find your rhythm and timing, hit solid shots, see the target, and be in balance. Incorporate your routine in your warm up to play with the same intensity and consistency you will use in your round of golf.
Then go putt some short putts, if you have time hit some bunker shots to test the sand on that golf course.

Now you have prepared yourself physically and mentally before your round and given yourself a great opportunity to play your best round of golf. Hit it high and let it fly!