Golf Tip: 10 Steps to Avoid Disaster on the Tee Box

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Put your swing thought to work: Finish high & count to 10!

This final and crucial step came from an LPGA Golf Clinic for Women several years ago. I was having trouble finishing my swing. I was battling the dreaded sin of deceleration. My body was beginning to resist the turn.

I was convinced when I went to the clinic that I was beyond hope and was simply going to have to accept certain physical limitations that go along with aging.

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My instructor at that clinic was seven months pregnant and she gave me a simple strategy to manage what I’d regarded as immutable physical limitations: count to 10 while I hold my finish. It sounded entirely too simple, and not accommodating to all the various problems and circumstances that were plaguing me at the time. But it seemed to be working for a very pregnant women, so I decided to give it a try.

It only took a couple of times of counting to 10 with my driver extended in front of me, parallel to the tee box, for me to stop decelerating and finish my swing. That lesson gave me my swing thought: “Finish high – count to 10.”

I don’t have a Lexi Thompson finish, but I’m not 20 and I’m not a pro.

How do I know that these 10 steps to avoid trouble off the tee actually work? I stay out of trouble off the tee. I hit the fairway 90% of the time and even when I miss the short grass I’m generally sitting comfortably in the second cut. And the time spent in my set-up is more than saved in time not spent hunting errant tee shots.

Next: Playing Golf In Cold Weather

There are other parts of my golf game that are deeply flawed and in need to correction, but direction off the tee isn’t one of them. For more golf tips that work, browse the ProGolfNow Golf Tips tab.

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