Pre-round warmup

[~AD]

I didn't want to hijack Tyk's '"First Hole Jitters" lasting too long!' thread so I started my own.

 

What is the minimum that I should warm up before a round? I have to balance a mental warm-up vs physical fatigue. I've tried taking an hour to warm up before the last few rounds, and since I'm a high handicapper I was pretty tired by the time the 15th hole came around. All those extra swings add up quickly! :S

 

On the other hand, when I don't warm up enough I bomb the first few holes until I string together a few confidence building shots.

 

Should I continue to warm up for an hour, or cut it down to 20 minutes or so? What are your thoughts?

[pughdog]

Good thread idea

 

What goes into your hour long warm up now?

[~AD]

Good thread idea

 

What goes into your hour long warm up now?

 

Thanks!

 

I'll spend about 30-40 minutes taking 5 shots per clubs at the range, working my way from LW up to the Driver. I usually end up taking more than 5 swings with the driver since it takes me longer to be comfortable with that club.

 

I'll practice chipping 5 balls from a spot and then pick a new spot and do it again. Rinse, repeat for about 10 min.

 

I'll practice putting for 10-15 minutes to finish off.

 

Nothing too innovative I'm afraid.

[Tyk]

Great thread, I didn't at all mind the hijack, but it deserves its own topic!

 

I start every morning at home with a 20 minute stretch out to keep my lower back in shape, this is regardless of if I'm golfing.

 

My at the course warmup is about 90 minutes if its important, but I can compress it to around 30 if need be. Alot of the 90 minute warmup is just decompressing and getting into the feel of being on the golf course. I start with my wedge around the greens, and work with it for about 15 minutes or so, paying close attention to the speed of the greens and how the ball is rolling out from both tight lies and the rough. I putt for a bit right after this just to get an initial impression of the greens, but its not my real putting warmup, which comes last. I putt maybe 5 or 10 minutes or so and then head to the range with a 40-50 ball bucket. I take Driver, long hybrid, and gap wedge and usually 5,7,9 or sometimes 4,6,8 to the range. I spend about 30-45 minutes, taking my time and stepping back often and trying not to wear myself out.

 

I start with either my 7 or 8 iron and try not to pay any attention to the first 15 balls or so. These shots are purely stretching and establishing tempo. Once I start to feel loose and know I'm getting a good turn in, I hit a few "for real" shots with the mid iron and then switch to the 4 or 5. I'll hit as few as possible with this club, maybe only 5 and hopefully not more than 10, expecting that my work with the mid iron has my swing in a good groove. Then I switch to long hybrid, which can be a bit of an animal for me. If its going well I'll only hit 5 or 10 with it and the move to driver, which I probably spend the most time with. I'll finish off whatever I have left (if any) with the short iron and gap wedge but don't really care to much if I hit them or not, mainly with them I'm just trying to dail in the wind conditions as I hit a very high ball.

 

Then its back to the putting green for the remainder of the time before tee time, hopefully at least 10 minutes on the gree, where I work mainly with trying to two putt 25 footers and draining 5-10 footers.

 

If I need to cut it down, I drop the initial wedge work (my strong suit) and head straight to the range, hit a small 25 ball bucket focusing mainly on loosening up and the mid iron and driver and then head to the green.

[~AD]

Very detailed Tyk! How did you end up with your current routine? Did you adpot a routine that you read about somewhere or was it through trial & error?

[Tyk]

Its a combination of what my teachers have taught me, what the players at my course who's games I respect do, and what works for me. My routine is not set in stone. For example, I just recently switched my wedge work to first instead of last for a few reasons. One because I have a good wedge game, and its nice to chip and get the ball spinning and stopping, basically, its alot of fun for me, and it gives me alot of info on the greens and the grass. Which ties into the second reason; hitting good wedge shots relaxes me, gets me in a positive mood and gets me looking forward to the range, third, it starts getting me loose, you have to have good hands to play a good wedge shot, you can't be tight. All this translates into a good setup for full iron shots, but its easier to start with the short game.

 

My routine is LONG, I know it, and I can trim it down and be fine. I can't be cold, I hate getting out of the car and walking to the tee! I'm happiest when I can go through it all. I'm kind of a range rat, for me, practice is almost as much fun as playing!

[Matt Saternus]

Given the varying people that I play with and the lack of control I often have over when I'm teeing off/when I show up, I don't really have much of a set routine. If given my druthers, I'd like to be at the course about an hour beforehand. I like to stretch and hit balls on the range first, starting with half wedges and working up to a couple drives. I'm really just trying to get loose and see what I have on that given day, I try not to work on too much before the round because then I go out to the course with a million thoughts. After hitting balls, I like to chip and putt for 10-15 minutes and then get to the tee at a relaxed pace. To me, being relaxed is more important than anything else. If I can only chip and putt, that's fine, if I have to walk out of my car to the tee, that's not ideal but I'll make it work. The worst thing I can do is try to squeeze in more than I have time for and get myself out of rhythm.