Lesson 8 - Pre shot routine (10-week golf improvement)

We’ve had some pretty wretched weather over the past couple of weeks so it has been difficult to get out onto the golf course.

This has been a bit of a shame as I really enjoyed the putting session in week 7 and was keen to put it into practice out on the course.

However, winter greens are probably not the best place to be honing new-found putting skills.

The putting lesson with Scott Oxley from J Whitaker Golf was a reminder for me how some of my preconceived ideas have been getting in my way.

For example, I thought when it came to putting that my wrists needed to be completely quiet and the stroke should come more from the shoulders.

When Chubbs tries to teach Happy Gilmore how to putt in the movie he makes it look like it is all coming from the shoulders so maybe that’s where my initial thought came from? I obviously then convinced myself this was case. What an idiot I am.

It’s funny how we start doing things then look back years later and realise the reasons behind them are completely ridiculous.
I thought we could have a look at bunker play but without wanting to put my swimming trunks on, Scott and I decided to work on some pre-shot routine work. So, in conclusion, you won’t get better at golf by watching Happy Gilmore – go and see your local PGA pro.

The one-handed putting drill which Scott showed me really helped me get more feel on the greens. Previously, I had been far too wooden and robotic which was probably why I would often struggle to get the right pace.

Scott also made a few technical tweaks to get me more over the ball and get the shaft more in line with my left forearm.

I liked this particular lesson as I went away with a few simple things which I know will improve my putting. There weren’t quite so many fundamentals to work on which will keep me awake at night.

So on to lesson 8, I thought we could have a look at bunker play but without wanting to put my swimming trunks on, Scott and I decided to work on some pre-shot routine work.

One of my problems in recent weeks has been addressing the ball then standing over the shot for 20 seconds while I go through about half a dozen swing thoughts.

See if Scott can help improve my thought processes and routine by clicking on the video above.