One very important part of the golf swing that is often times overlooked is your pre-shot routine. Majority of amateur golfers maintain the same swing thought(s) throughout the entirety of their swing, which at times, can be more harmful than helpful. In this Play Better Golf segment, Srixon tour staffer and PGA Tour winner, Russell Knox, offers a simple pre-shot routine tip to help amateurs have a better thought process before executing a shot.

Martin Hall: On your journey to better like every golfer you need thoughts, you need strategies to deal with difficult shots, and now you’ve had the great fortune to work with Pierre Nielsen and Lynn Marriott. Tell me about Think Box, Play Box, what that means to you.

Russell Knox: Yeah, I mean it’s been very important to me and has been a big part of the reason why I’ve improved and ultimately got to win a tournament. And I mean if I could stand back here and just like what you said there’s an area where you can think and then you cross the division line and then when you’re over the ball is your play box and this is where you need to be able to react more. I don’t want to talk to myself when I’m over the ball here I just want to let things be and give it a good rip.

So it’s very important to, when you’re over the ball, not to be thinking too much and I think a lot of amateurs are thinking too much about their swing or where they need to be, whereas this is the point where you just got to trust your instincts and your athletic ability and really let it go out to the target.

Martin Hall: So let’s pretend I’ve painted a line here and here we’ve got the Think Box and here we’ve got the Play Box. Show me what you do.

Russell Knox: So, if I’m going to hit this Drive I’d be thinking here I’ll be calculating the wind and the whole shape. So for me here I would like to hit a little draw so I’m gonna pick out a point in the distance there and really start to see the shape of the flight I want to hit. So once I’ve got a good picture in my head, I’m passing the decision line, I know what I’m gonna do. So now I’m into the Play Box, no talking, so I’m over here and I’m just picturing that shot and letting it go.

Martin Hall: And that was just about perfect. So all your self-talk, if we can call it that, all your self-talk’s done back here. When you’re here could we say, mentally, you’re quiet as you’re over the ball?

Russell Knox: Yes. Yeah, you want to limit the amount of thoughts that are going through your head when you’re over the ball. Maybe just one thought when you’re over it just to be free and give it a good rip.

Martin Hall: I mean it’s a fantastic piece of information for the viewers.

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