Rehearse the opening tee shot.  It’s not good enough just to show up at the course a half hour before tee off time and hit a bucket of balls.  Have a purpose on the practice range.  Go into the clubhouse, grab a scorecard or yardage book (if you are not familiar with what awaits you on #1) and visualize how you will hit that all important first shot.  Pick out hazards and yardages before you decide on what club to use.  Once you have selected your weapon, loosen up with a few half shots with the club before blasting away.  After 10 or so shots, start paying attention to your ball flight and try to develop a feel for the swing.  If you are panicking because all you seem to be doing is hitting duck hooks or banana slices, slow down your swing and take it to a ¾ swing to promote accuracy.  Make sure that your alignment is solid (lay down a couple of clubs on the range like a train track and line them up with the target you chose on the practice range) and begin working on a smooth tempo (I like to use Vijay’s count of 1-2, 1-2 in my head).  Now that you have practiced and warmed up with some purpose, you are ready to head to that tee and split the fairway.

     If you don’t already have one, develop a pre-shot routine.  All the great players have them and for good reason.  Having a pre-shot routine allows you to focus on the task at hand.  Part of the pre-shot routine should include some sort of practice swing.  This swing notifies your body that it better get ready for what’s about to happen.  Make sure the practice swing has purpose and that you approach this as you would the actual tee shot.  Simply swinging the club for the sake of swinging it just wastes time and energy.  Next,  you will need to pick two targets.  One in the distance (tree, rock, building) and one a couple of feet in front of you (discoloured grass, leaf, clump of dirt).  The target in the distance is your target-line and the path to it is the same path that you want your ball to travel on.  It is vital that your alignment (feet, hips, shoulders, eyes) all square up along this target line.  There is virtually no chance of your golf ball following this line if your body is not aligned properly.  Mentally draw a line from your target back to your ball.  Once you have mentally drawn this line, find your second target (the piece of grass or dirt) that is a couple of feet in front of your ball.  This is the target you will use just prior to launch.  The goal is to get the golf ball going over this closer target with the eventual goal of following your original target line.  It sounds tough but…

     To help with this, you need to limit your swing thoughts.  I’ve heard guys muttering “..head down…follow through…uncock the wrists…turn…pivot…finish” to themselves just prior to swinging.  You have already rehearsed this shot on the practice range, you have sharpened your focus with your pre-shot routine and selection of target, and now you just need to pull the trigger and go.  If you absolutely need something to think about, think tempo.  Conjure up Vijay’s “1-2, 1-2” (the first 1-2 for the backswing, and the second 1-2 for the downswing and follow through to finish).  The next thing you’ll probably hear is “Nice ball” or “That’ll play”.