The Opening Tee Shot

Maybe not the hardest shot in golf, but certainly the most unnerving, is the opening tee shot. No matter how well you warmed up, you can’t help but wonder what's going to happen today. There's a host of doubts that could be running through your head, but if there are, it comes down to this. You warmed up your swing but you forgot to warm up your mind.

Isn't that the point of your warmup, to get ready to play? If all you do is hit balls to remember your swing and smooth out any loose shots that appear, the exercise is all you got. The warmup is meant to accomplish three things: establish clean contact again, establish your swing tempo, and get your mind into playing mode. That last one is the most important.

One thing you will hear about your pre-game warmup is not to start correcting faulty shots. The reason for that is doing so warms up the wrong part of your brain. You want to engage your subconscious mind, the one you can't have a conversation with, the one that responds to what it sees on an intuitive level.

When you have a ball in front of you, look downrange, pick a shot, and hit it. Don't judge the result. If you have a slice that came from nowhere, let it go. Hit lots of wedges and fewer shots with the longer clubs. Swing, hit the ball. Swing, hit the ball. Make it no more complicated than that. All the while, practice looking first to find a shot and hitting the shot you see.

When you step onto the tee box, stay in that mode of thinking. Look down the first fairway and see what needs to be done--where you want to hit the ball and what club will get it there. The big mistake would be to hit the shot you hit the last time you played this hole. Respond to what's there now. Let the needs of the shot you see infuse themselves into you and respond to that feeling. Then go through your pre-shot routine as you would for any other shot and play away.

The more often you can start a round in this way, the easier this shot will get over time, and the more you will start playing every shot this way. Your only limitation will be for how long you can sustain this kind of concentration before you get back to analyzing again. With practice, you will be able to keep on for the entire round, but it all starts with your warmup, validated by playing the first tee shot the right way.

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