Pre-Round Routine?

[Jonnyy8699]

I thought it might be interesting to find out what kind of pre round routine you guys have. I was thinking stuff like how early you get to the course, what you do to warm up, stretching, habits, rituals; pretty much anything from packing up your bag to go to the course, to hitting that first shot. Or maybe something like going to the range the day before.

Personally, I usually go to the range at most 2 days before my round, hit one large bucket, and practice chipping for a half hour and putting for a half hour. Then the next day before I leave my house I think about what kind of things I need to do based on how I hit them at the range. Then I double check my bag to make sure everything is in it, and head to the course. Then I check in with the pro shop, get my warm up bucket, and do chipping and putting first for about 20 minutes. After that I stretch moderately to loosen up a little. Then I go to the range and hit the warm up bucket with these clubs in this order. Wedge, 7 iron, little bit of 5 iron, 3 iron, 3 wood, driver. I usually hit most of the balls with my wedge, 7 iron and driver. Then I go to the area around the tee box about 10 minutes early, maybe observe the guys teeing off, or the guys on the practice green. And I'm sure to know the group that is scheduled right ahead of me so I can tee off as early as possible as I play a bit slower than normal.

And that's about it. So everyone post your routine here, don't be afraid to get detailed.

[MiniBlueDragon]

I have a lazy routine but in my defence it's much better than all those I play with:

- I normally hit the range or play a round every few days so I don't intentionally got to the range before I play. I do though make sure I have all my gear ready a day or two in advance.

- On the day of play I get up early, make sure my gear's all still there and ready.

- I eat a nice solid breakfast that I know will keep me going for a few hours (porridge quite often).

- I leave in time to arrive at the course a good hour and a half before my tee time.

- At the course I leave my gear in the car and go take a look around the club. I visit the clubhouse, the chipping/putting/range facilities and finally the the pro shop where I pay for my round if I've not paid already and I buy any balls, tees or yardage books I may need.

- I normally grab a coffee then and sit and have a look through the yardage book, marking onto it more of less what my game plan will be; I work backward from green to tee on each hole.

- Once I've finished my coffee I head to the car, load anything I've bought into my bag and head back to the clubhouse to change my shoes. I change and then head out to the putting green.

- On the putting green I take a few 5ft, 10ft and 15ft putts from the green to the fringe to see how my judgement of pace is.

- I then find a hole not being used and I drop balls at random points around the hole at differing distances but make sure some are at 5ft, 10ft, 15ft etc. I then practice zero-line finding and distance estimation for my AimPoint chart reading.

- Once I'm happy with putting I'll head to the range or net and hit balls, all with my 6i. I start off with little chip shots, then half shots, 3/4 shots and full shots, warming up  and feeling my swing positions as I do it.

- Normally that's when other group members appear and tell me about the traffic or their wife giving them hassle and so they'll play badly today etc.

- Around that kind of time it's normally tee time so we start the round.

Looking back there's one thing I don't do which I probably should; chipping practice - No idea why I don't do this and will add it into my routine.

[QuazerSKITS]

If im just having a knock at my home course, its usually get to the club and then proceed as follows:

• Have a pint
• Get my stuff out of my locker
• Have a chinwag in the Pro Shop
• Practice Putting
• Practice Chipping
• Hit a couple of shots into the net (PW, 7, 4, Driver)
• Hit a few more chips
• Get to the tee and smash one down the first/smash one over the hedge.

If im in a comp i usually skip the pint and get there about an hour and half before my tee time and hit about 30 balls in the paddock, making sure i finish hitting the same shot im gonna be hitting off the first tee.

Me personally, i find the more i have a fixed, exstensive pre round routine i feel more tense so i just like to practise loosely and get relaxed.

[rustyredcab]

Get out of my car about 5:45 AM before our 7 AM tee time. Check in at the pro shop, get anything I need from my locker, and head to the range. Very limited stretching -- already stretched my wrists in the car. Start with either a PW or GW at close targets. I only care about flight -- not distance. After a few to loosen up, I grab the alinement sticks and a practice club (either molded handle for grip work or my Tour Striker) and hit some 3/4 swings working toward full swings making sure my set up is good. Hit six good shots in a row. If I started with the training club, I then hit the Tour Striker. When I've hit a few good shots with the TS. I switch to 8-iron, then 4-H, each until about four - six nice shots in a row. Then hit a bunch of drivers until I really like results. If I feel wild with the driver, I drop to my 3-W and hit those until I'm happy. Back to club I plan to hit off first tee (could be anything from 5-I - Driver depending on conditions and risk/reward choice). I hit two or three of those with great care to simulate tee shot. No sticks for those last shots. Entire process should take about 35 minutes.

I return the training clubs to my locker on the way to the putting green. I use only one ball on the green. Start with 15 and 20 foot putts to the fringe uphill, downhill, and "flat." Do this until I feel the speed (if the practice green has not been cut yet for some reason, I do not spend much time on this step). After the lag practice, all other putts are carefully lined up. I go to a hole and sink four three-foot pretty straight putts. Then back off to six feet. Find a 6-10 foot breaking putt and hole it twice. Try a putt that breaks the other way and hole it twice. No matter what, I finish with my last three putts going in -- even if I need them to be two feet just to get the three in a row. Off to the first tee as the group ahead is getting set (I can see them from the green).

While waiting near the first tee, I get tees and a few balls ready with different numbers in case I need a provisional, I get my partner's bag on the cart, and I mark up the score card with everyone's strokes. I am the scorekeeper of our group every week. I make it a point to know everyone's handicap before I get to the course so that I can fill out the card at my leisure. I find this last little detail really helps me avoid any last minute rushing before my first tee shot. If all goes according to plan, I have about five minutes to relax before my group takes the tee.