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Four Steps To Laser Focus (for that perfect preshot routine)
Step 1: Observe. As you approach your shot, take in the entire environment, including your lie, yardage, wind, hazards and your intended target. Theres a lot of info to process, but with a little practice, its easy to do.
Step 2: See. Analyze the shots given circumstances. Take my situation here: Teeing off from a severely elevated tee box (Lombard Street at Moorpark Country Club in Moorpark, Calif.), the yardage book says I have 240 yards to the rough. If I hit my 5-wood (which normally goes 240), Ill drive through the fairway (remember, downhill shots go farther). Therefore, I must come up with a hard yardage, or what the shot actually plays. In this case, Ive subtracted 15 to 20 yards to account for the elevation change and have selected a 3-iron instead.
Step 3: Feel. See how Ive just made a practice swing? Im rehearsing the shot exactly how I want to execute it. All too often, golfers take practice swings that dont resemble how the actual shot is going to be played. Dont underestimate the importance of a practice swing! They create a feeling of the shot at hand. Now Im going to take that feeling to the next step: execution.
Step 4: Trust. At this stage, youre actually hitting the shot, so narrow your focus to a specific target, like Im doing here (in this case, the 150-yard marker). If youve completed the first three steps correctly, then youll be able to trust your shot. Stay focused on an external target and execute by just letting go. Maintain a focus on what you want the shot to do, not on where you dont want the shot to go.
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