An ideal pre-round warm up should get you ready to play your best today. You’ve practiced, you’ve been doing this a while, and you know that if you’re looking for that magic bullet on the range right before you play, you’re in trouble and in for a long round. However, if you hit a few balls using one of the top 3 swing triggers you like, chances are one will work the best and you’ll feel some confidence.
Now start finding and hitting targets. Play the first few holes of the golf course. Imagine the first fairway then the approach. Then move to the 2nd hole and play it the same way. After a few imaginary holes, imagine the one that gives you angst and play it great while on the range. This approach gets you in the mindset to score.
The next step is to go hit a few chips, pitches & bunker shots. Whenever possible, I play a game called 3,2,1 to 10 points. If I hole a chip, pitch or bunker shot, I get 3 points…if it takes only 1 putt to finish I get 2 points and if it takes 3 shots I get 1 point. This will get you ready for having to get up and down and enables you to practice a little short game and putting. If the short game area is busy and I can’t putt out after the short game shot then I’ll hit one ball to one target and then change targets. If I hit it to within 3′ I’ll call that an up & down, If I hit it between 3 & 8′ I’ll score that a 2 1/2, If I hit it outside 8′ call it a 3 (bogey).
For putting warm up, I use one ball and at first I’ll find the flattest part of the green and try to hit to a spot getting the ball to stop on the spot or as close as possible to get the feel for the speed, then I’ll do a 2, 4, 6′ compass drill trying to one putt from those distances from north, south, east & west. One putt at each spot and keep score; 12 is perfect, 14 is great, 15 or 16 will do. Either way, the idea is to get in the mindset to score by keeping score while playing warm up games.
I’ve seen lots of players who complain that they were hitting it great on the range then couldn’t find it on the course. The reason is that they hit 40, 7 irons at the same target and got in a groove, then got out to the course and had an uncomfortable feeling because now, they get one shot at this particular shot. Prepare for that by making a random game out of the warm up so you’re ready when you begin play. My warm up takes less than 45 minutes and when I get to the tee I’m ready to score. Every shot on the course has a consequence….warm up with the same mindset.