If you are taking the time to learn the game of golf,you should take the time to take practice swings. I always say, "If the pros do it, there is a good reason for it." Much of what the pros do is designed to take the error out of the shot.A great example is hitting the ball first from a fairway bunker.Most pros hit the ball first with their irons from the fairway. What about practice swings?
Nearly all profesional golfers take a few practice swings before they hit the ball. Why do they do this? Because a few practice swings tell you what you are about to forget to do.You know the feel of a good take-away. If the practice swings feel strange, then you know you are forgetting something.
Never is that more important than when on a side hill lie. Or an up hill lie. Or a down hill lie.Or a side hill up or side hill down hill lie.Practice swings tell you two important things. They tell you how to adjust for good balance and they tell you how much to choke up on the grip; alternatively how much to adjust your posture for an uneven lie. The ball one inch below your feet requires a grip adjustment and even an adjustment to your stance. Hips move slightly forward if the ball is above your feet by merely one or two inches.
The best pros take as many as five practice swings before a chip shot. Actually, most fairways lies are not level. Many may be if your course is level but I find as I approach the ball most of the time there is a slope of some kind in the fairway. We do not want to hit fat or thin so we take practice swings to determine the correctness of our stance and balance before the shot.
You will be a long time learning if you do not learn to take practice swings. The sooner the better.
RHE
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