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Post Shot Routine

A post shot routine helps a player identify areas of "the process" that could be improved up.  The general process for hitting a golf shot on the course is

  1. Evaluate the shot at hand
  2. Commit to the shot
  3. Execute the shot
  4. Conduct post shot routine
  5. Move on to the next shot
  6. Repeate 60 something times a round (hopefully)

During your post shot routine, you should try to forget mechanics but rather, focus on "interference" or what distracted you from fully committing to the shot. Here is a brief list of things that frequently cause interference.

  • Failure to adjust for ball below your feet or above your feet
  • Visual distractions such as trouble left or right, or ball sitting down
  • Mental distractions such as moments during the execution where you lose commitment

Once you identify interference, your goal is to figure out the trigger for how that interference was allowed into the arena.  It's somewhat like dog training. You have to issue the correction before the dog bites, not after.  So, when evaluating the experience, you want to look for the first sign that you were going to have interference, and identify it so that you can build a strategy to prevent it next time.

Tags: Mental Game, Intermediate

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This drill, we're going to talk about the post-shot routine.

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So many people are familiar with a pre-shot routine where you're going to try to get yourself

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from the right state of mind so that you can execute a shot the first time without distractions,

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all that good stuff.

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But I rarely see amateurs who have a very good post-shot routine.

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And I think that it's important when you're trying to transfer practice from the range

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to the course to have a good post-shot routine during most shots.

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So the post-shot routine shouldn't be a matter of a few seconds, but your goal is to interpret

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the feedback from that shot.

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Here's what I mean about it.

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So let's say I take a shot and I let's say hit it off to the right.

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My goal is not to analyze my mechanics.

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They might have broken down, but I don't want to use this time to pay attention to that.

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But I want to pay attention to during the post-shot routine is was there any distractions

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that I didn't pay attention to during my pre-shot routine?

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So was there any point over the ball where I kind of doubted the club selection?

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Was there any point during the swing where I doubted the commitment to the shot?

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And then if neither of those check out, then if I take a step back, was there anything

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that I didn't see here as in?

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Well, maybe the ball was actually below my feet, and I should have adjusted my swing

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to more of a fade-by-swing, and I just didn't prepare for it, or was there a visual distraction?

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Like maybe the bunker over to the right was where my eyes were last fixated before I went

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and pulled the trigger.

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So the post-shot routine is a great way to go through and see when you lost commitment

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to the shot.

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If you're practicing and you are hitting shots that have a predictable pattern,

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like you're either hitting poles or slices, right?

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So I'm coming over the top pattern.

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I'm hitting poles and slices, but I'm doing it while I'm working on mechanics.

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That's something totally different.

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If I'm hitting the ball great on the range, and then I get on the course, and every time

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I have a ball below my feet shot, I hit a slice, it's not mechanics.

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It's preparation.

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I didn't prepare for the shot appropriately, and you're not going to figure out if you're

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not preparing for the shot appropriately unless you learn to analyze the feedback within

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appropriate post-shot routine.

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I call it non-judgmental acknowledgement.

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Just kind of make note of what you're seeing so that you can then add it to your practice

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schedule.

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Don't try to correct it on the course.

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Just pay attention right at down if you need to, but start noticing, but start notice the

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patterns of when your bad shots hit because they're rarely just because of mechanics,

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and if you can rule out the other stuff, it makes it a whole lot easier to train.

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