The importance of preparation

With the weather being so good recently, the number of entrants into the competitions has certainly increased which is very good to see. Over the past few weeks, I have spent some time analysing all the scores from the competitions, and I was amazed at some of the trends I found. One in particular was how many golfers don’t seem to score well on the first five holes, but then for the rest of the round, they play near to their handicap. So, this got me thinking of why this might be:

• Does the player fear these holes?
  
• Does the player not know how to play these holes or can’t play the shots they want to?
  
• Has the player not got the speed of the greens and had a few three putts?
  

Whichever way I looked at this, I could only come up with one conclusion, these players are not preparing for their game before they tee off. You use every single muscle in a golf swing, so your body needs time to warm up and get use to the swinging motion of the club. So, what chance have you got of hitting the shot you want to on the first tee if you haven’t even held a club that day? Very little chance let me tell you. You have got a twelve-foot putt on the first green, it’s slightly downhill you don’t know the speed of the greens - this could very easily become a three putt. Both of these will drain you of confidence very quickly but both can be avoided if you can give yourself at least 15-minutes before you tee off.

10-minutes to do some stretches and hit a small basket of balls on the range. 5-minutes on the putting green getting use to the pace of the greens that day.

You then walk to the first tee feeling positive and confident about the game ahead.

If you think about it, for the first five holes at Aston Wood, you may only hit 10 - 15 shots by which time your body is just warming up but your score card is not looking too healthy.

So, give yourself the best chance of shooting a good score and prepare.