Different Ways to Practice Your New Golf Swing

It is done prior to hitting the refurbished golf gps driving range or putting green. We get stuck with a client on the phone, a conference call runs long, we get stuck in traffic. Whatever the case may be we are caught rushing to the golf course, getting to the course with 10 minutes to spare, jump out of the car, tying our golf shoes, get to the first tee with 5 minutes to spare, haven't hit a shot or putted ... Do I need to go on?

Probably not.

It is a situation that happens to us all, and I as am guilty of it as you. However as strong as I suggest performing a good warm-up, and putting yourself in the correct frame of mind for the round, life at times just does not allow us to do it.

What are we to do in such situations?

I first off would suggest not utilizing the John Daly "grip and rip it" motto if you get to the first tee without warming-up. I have seen this (myself included) lead to a myriad of problems from the get go.

I can remember a few years ago I took this approach and I think made a triple bogey on the first hole. My drive went left into the rough, second shot to the right, approach shot over the green into the bunker, bunker shot rolled 20 feet past the hole. Need I go on?

Let's just say I learned my lesson. If you are caught in this type of situation lets not panic. Let's put a plan together to start the round out on the right foot and keep you in a positive frame of mind.

My first suggestion is not to rush and attempt to hit 3 putts, pull out driver take a few hacks, and then tee it up.

Lets take the 5 minutes we have and get the body warmed-up and ready to swing a golf club. How can we do this? Simply by putting together a series of golf stretches to "loosen" you up. Golf flexibility exercises will loosen the muscles and joints of your body. Preparing them to swing a golf club. They are simple to perform and can get your body and mind more ready to play than just a few practice swings with the driver. This will take a couple of minutes to perform, but it will help you get the body ready to swing the golf club.

Once we have got the body "loosened up" lets get the mind in the correct space. I have seen all too often the tempo of a swing is way out of whack when a golfer lacks the time to properly warm-up.

Take a few extra practice swings, relax, find your tempo, and match your first swing to the tempo of your practice swing. This is a tip I learned from Dean Reinmuth (top 50 Golf Digest teaching pros).

If you are not comfortable over the ball, step away, take a series of practice swings until you find the "right" swing and then perform that same swing over the golf ball. So if you are rushing to the first tee to get your golf game going let's review the protocol.