8 Steps: To Get You Prepared For A Round Of Golf

Golf Monthly

Kit Alexander highlights the things you need to do before stepping on the first tee to help you play your best

Transcript

00:00I'm here on the first tee at the beautiful Burley Park Golf Club and I want to talk to you about

00:10arriving right here ready to go fully prepared to play your absolute best golf and that starts

00:19with all the preparation you do beforehand. There's loads of things you can do and ways

00:25you can prepare to make sure when you arrive on the first tee you are ready to play your absolute

00:31best golf. Dirty clubs can have a really negative impact on your performance especially when you're

00:41looking to generate spin on approach shots into greens and those finesse shots around the putting

00:47surfaces. You want to make sure your clubs are always as clean as they possibly can be but especially

00:52if you've got a big round coming up. What you want to do is leave them to soak for a little while in

00:58some warm soapy water. Don't leave them for too long but just long enough to really soften up any dirt and

01:04grime and get it out. Whip them out, give them a quick wipe off and you'll see there's still probably

01:11a fair bit of dirt in the grooves. So a toothbrush is a really good thing to use, also an old wire brush

01:17you can get specific tools for it as well and give it a little scrape right into the grooves. That should

01:23remove any debris, any mud that's compacted in there. Give them another little dunk and a wipe off

01:30and they are absolutely ready to go. You have got shiny clubs ready to hit the first tee.

01:38A good night's sleep is an essential but underrated ingredient when it comes to playing good golf

01:44and you don't want to be hungover either. So try and keep the drinking to a minimum the night before.

01:49Maybe just one or two beers if you're treating yourself. But with that in mind I'm heading off

01:54so I'll see you in the morning.

02:17So after a good night's sleep I am as fresh as a daisy.

02:20I'm super chilled because I know all my gear is packed up in the car ready to go and I've planned

02:27my day. I've left myself plenty of time to get there and go through all of my routines before I tee off

02:34and I know even if there's a little bit of traffic I've got enough leeway. I'm calm, I'm chilled and I'm ready to go.

02:41Something that's really going to help you play your best golf and score better and can be done

02:50really at any time before you play is to build a strategy for the golf course you're going to be

02:57going up against. Now if it's your home club you probably know it like the back of your hand. You

03:03know where to go, where not to go, what clubs to hit in certain places. Rather than just think that

03:09in your mind and maybe recall it or not, write it down. Get it down on paper how you're going to attack

03:16each hole, what clubs and what strategy are going to give you the best opportunity to shoot the lowest

03:23scores. And the important thing is once you've got a strategy stick to it. No matter how things are

03:29going if you have a brilliant start or a horrible start, we see it so often from the pros, they say

03:34I just stuck to my strategy, I did what I set out to do. Have a look through, get a course planner,

03:42decide exactly how you're going to play every hole and try and do just that when you get out on the course.

03:48What you eat and drink has a huge impact on how your mind and body feels in general as well as

04:00when we're playing golf. So it's really important that you eat right and get hydrated before you play

04:07golf. Exactly what that means for you is going to depend on your tea time. If you're going out bright

04:13and early, maybe a bowl of porridge, something with slow release energy is great. If you're teeing off

04:20a bit of a funny time, maybe midday, you might normally actually be eating when you're teeing off

04:25or not long after. Try and build your meals that day around your golf so you're fully fuelled for the

04:32full three and a half, four, four and a half hours that you're out on the golf course. And we often

04:38overlook staying hydrated. You always need to drink way more than you think and it can really affect

04:45you mentally as well as physically if you are dehydrated. Always have at least one of these

04:51bottles with you. Keep sipping on it as you go through your warm up and when you're out on the

04:56course, don't forget, reach for this and have a swig. So we're in the range but before you go reaching

05:13for those clubs, it's really important to have a bit of a stretch. Warm up your muscles, get them nice

05:20and loose and get the blood flowing. The golf swing itself is a really athletic motion. There's lots

05:27of twisting and there's lots of speed in it. So if your muscles aren't ready for that, they're A, not

05:33going to perform at their best and B, you leave yourself open to picking up injuries. And that's

05:39awful because we don't want anything that's going to stop us playing golf. So what stretches should we

05:45be doing? There are loads and loads out there. I'm just going to show you a couple of my

05:50favourites. And because golf is a full body action, it's important to try and get a little

05:56bit of movement and stretching right the way up your body. So a really dead simple one to start.

06:02Gets the back of your legs and your lower back. Cross your legs over and just bend straight over

06:08as far as you can. I can only just get to the floor. If you can't, that's not a problem. Just take

06:14it until you feel the stretch and hold it there for about 20 seconds. Repeat on the other

06:20side and then that should loosen up right up the back of your legs. Another really good one is

06:28because we've got this turning and twisting motion and a lot of that comes from around the hip area

06:33and the upper body is just sort of start rotating your hips. Press them as far forward as you can feel

06:39and as far to each side. When you get to the sort of points on the clock, just hold it and feel that

06:46stretch in each area. That will really get your hips used to this sort of motion. And then we move

06:54in to the upper part of the body, the arms, the shoulders. For this you can actually grab a club.

07:00So take a club, stick it behind your back like this and just turn as much as you can. Have a little bit

07:08of flex in your knees as well, similar to the golf swing and just hold it. That's going to increase the

07:14amount you can actually turn in your golf swing, which is also going to bring greater speed and

07:20hopefully more distance as long as you can control it. There are loads of stretches you can do. Those

07:27three are a great place to start but please do make sure you stretch before you hit any golf balls.

07:37Once you're stretched it's time to get the clubs out and hit some balls. Now do not reach

07:44straight for the driver. Go in low, go with a wedge, one that you're going to hit a lot during the round

07:50as well. It's a shorter club, it's an easier swing, a bit more finesse and it allows you to really ease

07:57yourself into your practice session. From there what I'd recommend doing is working your way up through

08:03the bag. You don't have to hit every single club but maybe jump every two or three. Make sure there's a

08:10wedge in there, make sure there's a short iron, a mid iron, a long iron or hybrid and then your three

08:16wood and your driver. Now what you're looking to achieve here is familiarity. Remember this is a warm-up,

08:22it's not a practice session. You're not going to drastically change what you're doing in these 15 or

08:2920 minutes on the range before your tee time. This is about grooving a little bit of what you've got but most

08:35importantly finding out what your swing is doing that day. Where is the ball going and what are

08:41you going to be able to do on the golf course to use that ball fly and the shots that you're hitting

08:45on the range to get round in the lowest score possible. Just finally a really great little tip

08:52before you head to that first tee. Your last few shots in the range can be playing the first few holes in

08:59your head. If it's a driver that you need to hit a little bit of fade off the first tee, hit that. If

09:05that's going to leave you a nine iron, then hit the nine iron. If you've got a par three coming up that

09:10you know requires a specific club, practice hitting that as well. The familiarity of hitting those shots

09:17just before you go out onto the course will fill you with confidence when you face them under pressure.

09:23It's so important that you go to the chipping and putting green as well. I know it can be tempting to

09:33spend all your time hitting balls in the range or even just wander on chuck a ball down two or three

09:38putts and then off you go but I promise any time spent chipping and putting before your round is time

09:47well spent and that's for a few reasons. First of all when you're chipping not only are you practicing

09:52those shots working on your action just a little bit before you go out but it gives you a real sense

09:58of the firmness and the speed of the greens. If you see how it reacts on the chipping green with any

10:03luck the greens out on the course will be very similar. It enables you to not only judge what

10:09you're doing with your short game but also on your approach shots. How is that ball going to react

10:14to the green soft? Can I fly it all the way or are they firm? That's going to make a huge difference to

10:19how you play a lot of shots out on the golf course. When you are practicing your chipping don't just

10:25give yourself a perfect lie all the time either. Try a few little funky lies. If you know the course

10:30you'll know the type of shots you're most likely to face. Those are the ones you want to be hitting

10:35and getting confident with on the chipping green before you head out. Once you've finished up chipping

10:41make sure you head into the bunkers as well to hit a few bunker shots. Of course the sand will be

10:47different from course to course and depending on the weather you've been having. So you really need

10:52to familiarize yourself with the bunkers on that day. And then time for the flat stick. There's a few

10:59things you're looking to do on the putting green before you head out onto the course. First you're

11:05getting the pace. So head to a spot about 40 feet from the fringe of the green a relatively flat putt

11:12and just putt to the apron. You're not worried about a specific target like a hole. You just want

11:17to gauge that pace and calibrate your stroke to the speed of the greens on that day. Then you can get

11:23into some more hole specific stuff. A drill I really like to do is the round the world chuck three or four

11:30balls around the hole. Any sort of distance you like really from two to ten feet you can vary it up as

11:36well depending on how much time you've got. That will enable you to see how the ball is breaking from

11:42different slopes on different sides of the same hole and also see the ball going in as well. And

11:49finally before you leave the putting green you want to be heading to that first tee brimming with

11:56confidence. So you want to see a putt going into the hole. Chuck a ball down no more than a foot from the

12:02hole. A putt you cannot possibly miss. Line it up, ram it in with confidence and head to that first tee.

12:16I hope you found all of those tips really helpful and they will get you well and truly prepared the

12:21next time you tee it up. If you've liked the video please give it a thumbs up. If we've missed anything,

12:29any little hints and tips you've got add them in the comments below. Remember to subscribe to this

12:35Golf Monthly YouTube channel. There's so much great content coming your way and as we're all done here

12:41and I'm fully prepared I'm heading out onto the course.

13:00be

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