Instruction

Own your game and execute better with a post-shot routine

Published

10 years ago

Nov 1, 2013

We are all trying to get better at this silly game a variety of different ways. But one skill set that rarely gets the attention it deserves is our post-shot routine.

Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the term? I know it didn’t hit my radar until late in my golfing career. For golfers who are impatiently waiting for the answer to join the party, the post-shot routine is the end of the process of executing a golf shot, and has the primary purpose of asking yourself one very simple question:

“How could I have achieved a better result from my last shot?”

When utilized correctly, the post-shot routine can be one of the most efficient tools in helping you understand your game. It can also give you a more specific game plan to help you achieve a better result from your next shot.

Jim Furyk, golf’s newest member of the 59 club, and a golfer’s role model for a conscious post-shot routine.

Jim Furyk, the latest golfer to enter the 59 club at the 2013 BMW Championship, is an extremely proficient user of the post-shot routine and a wonderful role model for golfers to emulate. What can we learn from Furyk’s post shot routine? When he doesn’t achieve the outcome he desires, he almost ALWAYS executes a conscious, post-shot dynamic swing.

One of my favorite examples of his steadfast commitment to his post shot routine (although it’s a painful one) came on the final green of his single’s match in the 2012 Ryder Cup. Furyk had a relatively straight putt, from less than 8 feet, to tie the hole and halve his match with Sergio Garcia. But he missed the putt and lost the match. He then shook hands with Sergio and both teams that were watching the match conclude, and afterward he delayed the next match waiting in the 18th fairway because he had not had the opportunity to finalize his post-shot routine. He went back to the location of the missed putt, re-read the putt and then took multiple putting strokes, engraining the actual stroke that WOULD have made the putt.

Jim Furyk, studying the putt that cost him a Ryder Cup match against Sergio Garcia. This is one of the conscious choices Furyk makes during his post-shot routine.

Furyk KNOWS what takes place with his game when it breaks down, which is the first step to having and executing a conscious post-shot routine. Maybe the feel at impact and the subsequent ball flight told him. Perhaps he could feel that something was out of sequence with his golf swing. Or maybe it was a simple mistake of alignment or ball position. It also could have been a combination of the three. Regardless, Furyk is educated enough about his tendencies to evaluate what sequence broke down with his shot execution.

You too need to know the reason why your golf ball misbehaved. If you can’t answer why your golf ball threw a temper tantrum, you are only relying on your athleticism to help you execute a better shot the next time around. If you read one of my previous posts, you’ll know that it is my belief that you’re hindering your growth and ability to execute shots by solely relying on that skill set.

Instead of relying solely on your “Athlete,” I encourage you to put on your problem solving hat, and/or go seek out your local teaching professional to help you answer those questions and OWN your game. That understanding will help you be better prepared for the second step to an efficient, conscious, post-shot routine.

Let’s get back to our role model for the post-shot routine. Because Furyk knows what broke down in the execution of his golf shot, he consciously knows the correct “medicine” to apply to have made his last execution more efficient. This is the second step to having a conscious, efficient, post-shot routine. Furyk has a game plan to help him manage the tendencies that break down in his golf swing. One of those game plans is making the correct, dynamic golf swing sequence that would have helped him execute his last shot more efficiently.

I encourage you to watch Furyk the next time he’s on TV. He almost always takes dynamic practice swings after a poorly executed golf shot. When he takes those practice swings, he is applying minor adjustments to his technique to program a better swing for his next shot.

A contributing factor to Jim Furyk 59 at the 2013 BMW Championship was his steadfast commitment to a post-shot routine.

A maybe surprising observation that most of us have a subconscious post-shot routine. It might be an act of frustration, like screaming out your favorite four letter word. It could also be a resigned acceptance of what just transpired, perhaps with a sigh and shrug of the shoulders. It could also be a celebration… “I am invincible!” And it might even be a subconscious golf swing.

My challenge to you is to implement a post-shot routine similar to Jim Furyk’s. To maximize this routine, you need to have CONSCIOUS thought. Conscious thought will give you a deeper understanding of your golf swing. Understanding your golf swing will lead to complete ownership of your game. Complete ownership of your golf game will lead to better management of your game’s tendencies, and ultimately lead to lower scores.

Good luck!

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Tim Mitchell

Certified Teaching Professional at the Pelican Hill Golf Club, Newport Coast, CA. Ranked as one of the best teachers in California & Hawaii by Golf Digest Titleist Performance Institute Certified www.youtube.com/uranser

11 Comments

Anthony Maccioli

Nov 4, 2013 at 9:07 am

This is a great strategy. My college coach last year tried to stress this to me and I have began to try to implement this into my game; it is hard to do every time though, unfortunately. I feel like it won’t slow down play much at all honestly. It is quicker than people going and hitting a mulligan and then having to go search for their ball. It definitely allows someone to be able to let go of their bad shot and go onto the next one and be clear headed.

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Tim Mitchell

Nov 3, 2013 at 3:42 pm

All…thank you for your comments! I understand your concerns about the Conscious Post Shot Routine slowing down play on the golf course. I would like to offer the following observation about my experience with learning patterns.

Any skill set that you learn, takes time to understand, practice and apply with proficiency. The more proficient you become at a skill set, the simpler, easier and less time consuming that skill set takes.

Think of how long it took us to learn how to drive an automobile with a stick shift transmission. Becoming proficient with the combination and sequencing of clutch, gas, stick shift and steering column was a frighteningly slow and painful process for every gear shift! I’m sure we all had some awkward, tricky moments for the first couple of weeks, but eventually we became comfortable, efficient and TIMELY with driving our car.

My suggestion…spend time developing this skill set on the range first. Slowly but surely, like all skill sets that we learn, the speed will come…so much so that it should not affect the pace of play on the golf course. In fact, if you are skilled enough at the Post Shot Routine, you could potentially fix yourself quicker and therefore hit less poor shots on the course.

Food for thought!

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- Randy
  
  Nov 5, 2013 at 7:08 pm
  
  You said yourself that Jim Furyk slowed down the group behind him while on the 18th green. He is as skilled as they come when it comes to the “Post Shot Routine”, and yet he is slowing groups down. I hear a lot of PGA tour pros say that they leave analysis of their golf swing on the driving range. This seems more like something that needs to be done on the range rather than extending a round by 30 minutes or more.
  
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  - Tim Mitchell
    
    Nov 7, 2013 at 3:30 pm
    
    Yes Randy, he did. But I believe Jim used that opportunity to go through his post shot routine because he had company. The European Team was still celebrating the victory on the green as well. There’s definitely a time and place to use this skill set. If you’re out of position on the golf course, spending time catching up should be your first priority.
    
    I would make one other comment…some players leave the analysis of their swings on the range, some don’t. It’s all about finding the right balance that works best for you. Thanks for the observation!
    
    Reply Report comment
paul

Nov 2, 2013 at 9:17 pm

Lots of negative people visit this site. If 10000 people read this article, 50 are going to take it to heart and with 10s of thousands of courses across north America im sure the average round will increase by 0.007564 seconds.

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MD's

Nov 2, 2013 at 5:41 pm

Obviously a time and a place for it, but very effective in identifying the correct feel. For those unable to consider its benefits, do so at the detriment of your development. Cheers for a good write up!

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pablo

Nov 1, 2013 at 8:53 pm

This can be done on the fairway and green, in an abbreviated way, as i currently do (just the quick visualization and stroke, not the entire pre shot routine) without undue delay. But use common sense. Bottom line is you can’t hold up play.

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Golfwrx

Nov 1, 2013 at 8:08 pm

JM is not a convincing example to convey your message. Whatever pre and post shot routine JF is using, it doesn’t prove to be working on PGA Tour. Then how will it work with amateurs at their local courses?

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George

Nov 1, 2013 at 4:35 pm

Just start the article over with the caveat “IF THERE”S NO ONE BEHIND YOU.”

If someone at our club played with Furyk’s pre- and post- shot routine, he would receive a letter of warning for slow play.

If you’re doing that s–t on a muni on saturday morning, get ready to have half empty beer cans thrown at you.

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naflack

Nov 1, 2013 at 1:22 pm

I can understand the sentiment here however…
Let’s leave this exercise to the pros who get paid to play this and find a five hour round to be part of the job. I’m a calm guy who respects other golfers but if I had to play behind some knob who goes all the pre and post rigmarole…I would have some choice words for him and I would also let the club house know what this clown was doing out there. We aren’t pros, the game isn’t our living, let’s be reasonable on the course. Play your shot at your pace without rushing but this ain’t the open championship. Again, I can appreciate the content and message of the article but I think applying this to the average handicap golfers round of golf won’t help the game. Save this for the pros and the club tournaments please.

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Gary McCormick

Nov 1, 2013 at 1:07 pm

Great — now we’ll have slo-mo’s holding us up with their post-shot routines after they’ve plumb-bobbed, read the putt from the four points of the compass and still 3-jacked from inside 6 feet.

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Instruction

Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?

Published

3 days ago

Apr 24, 2024

Shawn Clement

Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!

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Instruction

The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic

Published

4 weeks ago

Mar 29, 2024

Terry Koehler

My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.

As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.

The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.

Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:

Mis-aligned hands

By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.

The position of the grip in the upper/left hand

I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.

To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.

Too much lower (right) hand on the club

It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.

Gripping too tightly

Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.

So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.

Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

Published

2 months ago

Mar 4, 2024

Shawn Clement

Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?

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