For your golf game to be more consistent and more like a top golf pro you must create and habitualize a consistent physical pre-shot routine. And the first thing I want to discuss about creating a physical pre-shot routine is practice swings.

Personally, I don't believe a practice swing should be part of your physical pre-shot routine for the long game. But that doesn't mean I don't think you shouldn't have a practice swing before your long game shots.

Confused?

All right, let's clear this up by defining what a physical pre-shot routine is:

A physical pre-shot routine is a set of physical movements that should be exactly the same before every golf shot.

Now, if you have say two practice swings as part of your physical pre-shot routine then you must have two practice swings before every long game shot whether you feel like you need them or not. And this is one of the main reasons why I teach all of my students to have practice swings before they start their physical pre-shot routine for long game shots. Because that way they are free to have as many practice swings as they wish, or none if that's how they feel.

Another reason for NOT having practice swings as part of your physical pre-shot routine is because directional accuracy with your long game shots is very, very important. So to have greater accuracy with your long game shots you should focus on setting up as well and as accurately as you can on every shot. And practice swings as part of your physical pre-shot routine will detract you from this and hurt your accuracy.

But again, before you start your physical pre-shot routine you're more than welcome to have as many practice swings as you feel is necessary.

Although, I would say that you should never get into a habit of doing more than 2-3 practice swings before each shot because you'll slow play down too much.

Generally one practice swing should be enough to get a feel for the swing again unless you've got a very unusual lie then you may want a few more practice swings next to your ball to get a feel for the shot you're about to play. Then simply go back and start your physical pre-shot routine. Just don't do a specific number of practice swings before each shot, vary it by going with your gut instinct.

Alright, practice swings is cleared up....let's now get into the physical pre-shot routine itself. When you create a physical pre-shot routine here are some key things I believe you should do…

1. Always start your physical pre-shot routine directly behind your ball.

2. Have your grip set to go before you address the ball.

3. Pick out an intermediate target to align your clubface to.

4. Have a waggle in your physical routine to keep movement up and to help keep you relaxed and ready to go.

5. Always make sure you look at your final target before swinging the club.

6. Have a physical swing trigger to signal the start of your swing.

Once you create a physical pre-shot routine it's a good idea to write the steps down so that you can always refer back to it if you forget. Having said that, you should practice your physical pre-shot routine over and over to make sure you don't forget.

And the goal when practicing your physical pre-shot routine is so that on the course you don't have to worry about where you're positioning the ball, aligning or how your grip is. Because they will just happen naturally from you following your physical pre-shot routine that you've created.

What I teach my online students is a setup procedure to get into almost the same good setup position shot after shot….and obviously this creates amazing golfing consistency.