Saturday morning has arrived and you are preparing to head down to the course for your friendly match with the lads. You are leaving at the last minute, rushing out the door and getting changed in the car park. You reach the pro-shop pay your fees and head to the putting green for a few quick putts, then onto the tee.
You joke with your friends about how “old” and “stiff” you are feeling, and that it may take me a couple of holes to loosen up today. You are not hoping for much, I mean after all, you are just out for a laugh. But are you?
I want to draw your attention to how you would approach the club championship; you would probably get everything ready the night before, polished shoes, clean clubs and a snack prepared in the fridge. You head to bed a little earlier than normal and set the alarm for an hour or so earlier, to make sure you arrive in plenty of time, enough to head to the range for a quick bucket of balls to loosen up the muscles.
You head out with high hopes, but ultimately you have a day to forget. Well actually you don´t you have to remember this day and the vast chasm of inconsistency compared to your usual rush to the first tee.
Normally a consistent golfer, who heads to the course with barely a warm up swing you play to a standard that you are content with, except the first couple of holes, a standard that would put you amongst the front runners for the club championship, but it all went awry on the day. Pressure got to you and you buckled, or did you?
No, you didn´t buckle under the pressure, you changed your routine, you arrived early, hit some balls on the range and had time to get to know the speed of the greens. You screwed up before you even left the house, because you did something that is so out of the ordinary you simply couldn´t cope.
Warming up by hitting a few balls before you head out is something that you should always try to do, rather than just on special occasions, it helps you to loosen up but more importantly it prepares you for the days when you want to be ready to go when you stand on the first tee. The importance of the game shouldn´t determine whether you warm up or not, warming up should be an integral part of your preparation for playing.
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