A WARM UP IS JUST THAT
“A WARM UP”
I’ve been at many tournaments with my elite players and witnessed many warmups before heading out to perform in these tournaments on major tours.
With the seasoned players who have been on tour for many years, once again they are at a tournament that they’ve played many times before, same course, same conditions, same accommodation, just the same. It’s like “ground hog day “
So, some of the warmups are average at best, the players not involved very well, maybe a little tight from different beds, different pillows, haven’t slept well, just can’t get to that quality level of involvement, whatever, it happens !
From some of the worst warmups I’ve seen, the player has produced some of their best rounds ever, amazing !
Most of us would panic producing poor quality during the warm up and be asking ourselves “what’s wrong with my swing “ then go through the process of pulling everything apart and walk to the first tee an absolute mess”
Well the elite understand how hard it is to change their swing technically ( been trying for years) ( so it won’t be swing related) but they understand how easy it is to have poor mental involvement and can feel they are just not involved. So in the walk to the first tee, they quieten down their mind, start sharpening their focus and start seeing a good shot with this first shot .
They treat the “warm up” as a chance to loosen up, get nice coordination flow and balance going. They will hit a few shapes with full routine and keen focus and just get a few quality ones happening. They will go back to their wedges and hit within themselves to enhance the coordination.
You just see them knuckle down and sharpen up to ready themselves to play. In fact after many years of watching, with certain players, its an advantage for them for their warm up to be average, as they just lift and get their mental game underway.
So for us, it’s about going through a range of clubs and shots from wedges to driver and back again, freeing up the body slowly as we work upward, riding ourselves of technical thoughts, getting ourselves involved in targeting, seeing and feeling the required pictures and having the quiet mind that allows us to have quality focus.
With the above the warm up is great fun and enjoyable and we are ready to go play.
So I really believe that
“A Warm up is just that, a loosener “