Committing to the shot

Played an away match last weekend and was shocking. Main problem was off the tee; just couldn't get the ball in play well enough to be able to go for the green. But even my approach shots were poor.

I was at the range before playing and was striking the ball nicely so I put the problem down to not committing fully to the shot. So, does anybody have any tips on the best way to commit to a shot. (And I'm fully expecting some wag to say "just commit to it"!)

regular problem for me also - I tend to club down and that convinces me to swing fully. Best I can do other than "just ..............."

I find that not having a practise swing next to the ball on full swings, do it a bit behind or even side on so you looking down the fairway, then when you address the ball you know its time to hit it.

Similar with 2nd shots, put you back a couple of meters behind the ball to the right remain behind the bag while you take take your practice swings, work out yardages etc, then when you pass the back its time to hit it, its just a trigger...

Basically when ever I address the ball the next thing i'm going to do is hit it, no messing about, thats done its time to play, its different for short shots and putts and you want to 'feel' the pace etc but on longer the shots you can visualise the shot, have a practice swing, align the shot from a 3-4 meters away. The as soon as you step up that that ball, you don't have to decide to commit, you've already done it...

Thanks for that. I'll try those at home over the weekend.

I was trying desperately to line up correctly, pick a target, etc but it just weren't happening. To be honest the best shot I hit all day was on the 14th when I was 5 down and my opponent had just put his second onto the green. So I had no choice but to commit. (Just missed my birdie whilst he 2 putted for a 5 and 4 win.)

Had a similar problem last week, couldn't understand why I wasn't hitting it well, thought I was commiting but I was actually overswinging, simply reduced the back swing which got the tempo back and fanny's your aunt it was sorted.

You have to go through your pre shot routine and also be confident you have the right club in your hands. If you are 100% confident that you have got the right club then you can make a full swing at the ball and make sure you keep your eye on the ball through impact.

If you have ANY doubt in your mind about not having the right club it's very hard to commit fully.

Good luck

Good call S_R. A trap I fall into quite often. And many others I suspect.

Thing is when you first think about not overswinging it feels like the club is barely getting half way back but in reality it's probably not far off horizontal.

Just a little thanks to s_r as I made a conscious effort to swing shorter and hit the ball so much better yesterday. Still didn't score great but that is more down to 38 putts!!

I was thinking about your post watching Fowler on Saturday - if you want to see some commitment to a shot then try to watch the highlights of his round. Even in the pouring rain when most players were taking toilet breaks and spending more time looking into their yardage books to let it past he still just walked up to the ball, grabbed a club and gave it a rip. He is so committed it almost seems like he doesn't think about what he's doing but the shots he was hitting suggested otherwise...