Instruction
A five-step process to get in the zone on every shot
The concept of getting in “The Zone” is a very ambiguous and difficult feeling to attain. It seems to ebb and flow on its own schedule, and for many golfers it is never available when they need it most.
Last month, I delivered a 60-minute on-course coaching session with a top junior golfer in Rochester, N.Y. The goal of this session was to learn the process to be 100 percent ready on every shot. This is a five-step approach that allows you to take control of your pre-shot routine and get in The Zone on every shot, regardless of the situation.
For 55 of the 60 minutes, all we focused on was this game-changing, pre-shot routine. At the end of the session all my student had to say was, “I feel sorry for my competition.”
If you want to eliminate the inconsistencies in your game and approach every shot feeling ready, here are the steps to make it happen.
Stop the ANTS
ANTS are Automatic Negative Thoughts that create terrible shots. ANTS come in all shapes and sizes and make you say things such as: don’t go out of bounds, I hate this hole, my short game stinks and a plethora of other unhealthy communication patterns. To STOP the ANTS you must:
- Be aware that you are having a negative thought.
- Take a four-second timeout.
- Get focused.
Watch the video below to learn more about these steps.
Visualize your entire shot
The proper way to visualize your shot is to think of it like a movie. Close your eyes and envision it from the time it leaves your club to the time it stops. Another method is to envision your shot in reverse.
Jason Day’s pre-shot routine…reminiscent of an Olympic diver. Well done. ???? @PGATOUR @PGAChampionship pic.twitter.com/1LWIBOXwN8
— Anna Owen (@pilotpressO1) August 17, 2015
Pick a specific target
The next time you have an approach shot of any length, pick the exact dime-sized spot of where you want your ball to land. If it is a safe pin placement, envision how it will release once it hits the green and roll into the hole.
Be 100 percent ready
As you walk toward the ball and get ready to hit your shot, say to yourself R-E-A-D-Y. This confirms that you are prepared and it is time to just swing.
Just swing
As you stand over your ball and get ready to hit your shot, it is time to eliminate all conscious thought and just swing. Your mind and body are ready to go, and you just swing the club.
If you want a better benchmark for your game other than your score, keep track of how many shots you felt completely ready to hit during the round. Go through the five-step process and actually keep track of it on your scorecard. This is a great indicator of where you need to improve and allows you to become your own head coach!
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Instruction
Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?
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
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.
More from the Wedge Guy
- The Wedge Guy: Golf mastery begins with your wedge game
- The Wedge Guy: Why golf is 20 times harder than brain surgery
- The Wedge Guy: Musings on the golf ball rollback
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Instruction
Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!
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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Kelly
Mar 16, 2016 at 11:19 am
Adding a step at the end helps to stay in the zone !
When you hole out instead of acknowledging score you reach in the hole, grab the ball and say to your self, where’s the next tee ? Visualize yourself on the next tee.
Your subconscious mind won’t understand what is meant by this so it will search for the hidden meaning, which is you don’t care about results !
The reason this is so important is all of your false limitations are tied to results !
This one simple step can have you rewriting pressure and the way it will be experienced or most likely not experienced at all !
Chris Taylor
Sep 2, 2015 at 4:25 pm
Has Jason always scared the ball like that before each shot, or he just figure out the secret to golf?
marcel
Aug 30, 2015 at 8:03 pm
all said good and well… but in my life experience an average golfer does not even warm up. so there goes the 5 step process… just a slow pace and shanks.
M
Aug 28, 2015 at 6:39 pm
I’ve worked with Greg in the past and these steps ABSOLUTELY help. Committing to the 100% ready is HARD. I only did it on about 70% of my shots the first time out and I actually played pretty well.
It’s like anything else you have to stick with it and practice it on the range like any other club. Stick to it and you will see results and golf gets way less stressful especially if you play in events at your club, local tournaments, or just a money game with your friends.
Jeff
Aug 28, 2015 at 3:32 pm
I’m not a good speller.
Philip
Aug 27, 2015 at 3:37 pm
Very true on the comment on seconds not minutes. Step 1 is totally done within a couple of minutes after my last shot as I’m walking to the new ball location. I’m finish step 3 as I approach my ball. Complete step 2 as I make a practice swing and accept step 4 just before setting up to the ball. Then just step 5 and repeat – hopefully with fewer step 1s.