What is your pre shot routine

Trying to determine if my routine should be changed. Should the routine change from tee to fairway? What is your putting routine?

Here is the routine I try to use but not always successful! 10 hcp.

  1. Assess the lie
  2. Pick the target
  3. Determine the yardage to the target
  4. Pick the club
  5. From behind the ball hold the club up from ball to target
  6. Pick short target a yard or so in front of the ball
  7. Address the ball using short target
  8. Two practice swings - first with any technical thoughts and the second with as clear a mind as possible!
  9. Take a deep breath and exhale
  10. Swing

I noticed that you didn’t include “visualizing the desired flight path”, ie., seeing the properly executed shot in your mind before proceeding down the list. Jack Nicklaus suggests not to bother taking the shot if you haven’t pictured the shot you want to make. He says this is true even on the driving range.

One of the things that picturing the shot would encapsulate, that you don’t appear to have in your checklist, is the shape of the shot you’re planning. If you intend to execute a draw or fade, it probably needs to show up somewhere between 3 and 4 on your list, especially if you’re better at executing the desired shape with one club over another.

Just my $.02…

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Thanks great suggestion!

A lot of mine is similar to yours. I go through all the assessing yardage and other factors, pick a club, visualize and then pick an interim target. Then the bit that I really focus on making the same every time. I watched one of @ScottFawcettDECADE’s videos about Tiger’s routine at the 2000 US Open. He timed Tiger from when he stepped forward towards the ball to impact on about 15-20 different shots. The variation in time was around 13.3 seconds to 13.7 seconds. Basically as near as makes no difference identical every time. I practised that for a while. I have two - one I use for putting and one for full shots. Short game shots I do similar to my putting.

The putting routine is:

Stand three paces behind the ball
Step forwards left foot first, right foot, left foot into position for practice stroke
Right foot into position
Putter down to the left of the ball
Track the line with my eyes
Practice stroke
Practice stroke - both trying to feel the speed I need
Step left forward forwards into final position and at the same time, put putter behind the ball
Right foot into position
Track the line with my eyes
Eyes back to the ball

Full shots I do the practice swings before I step forwards, but once I step forwards it’s similar to the putting one in many ways

Three steps behind it again
Left foot, right foot, left foot into position
Club behind the ball facing my interim target
Right foot into position
Check target (aim point rather than final target)
Look at target one more time
Eyes back to ball