Golf Tip from Paige Spiranac: Pre-Shot Routine to Reinforce Good Practice Range Habits

What does your pre-shot routine look like? Join Paige Spiranac as she discusses hers, and how it helps her bring the good habits she develops on the practice range to the tee box.

One thing that I really like to do when I’m practicing and playing is incorporate a drill or a feel into my pre-shot routine. This really helps me focus in on exactly what I need to do. I feel like sometimes people don’t have a set pre-shot routine. Or when they’re out there on the course, they don’t really know how to take what they’re working on the range and translate it over onto the golf course.

This is a great drill or something that you can incorporate into your swing that will really help. If you see a lot of pros while they’re playing, they do little weird kinds of things when they’re practicing. I’ll show you what I mean. You can see I’m either doing practice takeaways or practice downswings, or kind of an exaggerated hip movement. This is just to get a feel that they’re working on the range and bring it over to the course.

For example, I really struggle with my takeaway. So you’ll see me before I hit the golf ball, on the range and on the course, do a little practice. That’s making sure that I’m doing exactly what I need to do and getting that feel. It’s really hard when you’re on the range and you’re just banging golf balls and it feels great because you get repetition. So you just do the same thing over, and over, and over again.

But when you’re on the course, everything changes. You don’t have the ability to just sit there, at same exact spot, same exact lie and hit the shot over and over again. It’s very scary to take what you have on the range over to the course because everything changes. So, this is a great way to get that feeling again. Make sure that you’re doing what you need to be doing. It could be anything. If you are quick at the top, maybe stop at the top for a second before you hit it, or if you want to work on your leg movement.

It’s really personalized to you and what you need, and what you’re working on. That’s what’s so great about it. I have problems with my takeaway, so I practice it once. And that just really helps me get that feeling of what I’m doing on the range and bringing it over to the golf course. If I’m working on a leg movement, let’s say I want to get more power, and I’ve talked about this in a recent tip, I showed you a squat and push down. So what you could do is you could come here and kind of get that feeling.

And that could be your drill. Just find something that works for you that helps you hit the ball better. And if you practice that on the range, do it on the golf course as well and I think it’ll be a little easier transition from bringing your range game over to the golf course.