River Ridge Golf Club - West Houston, Katy Texas

Tips From Our PGA Pro, Trey Birchum:

Warming up…

How do you warm up for your round? I’ll tell you how I warm up; I open the trunk, get out my bag, put my shoes on, go to the tee, twist around a couple of times to pop my back and I hit. That’s it. I don’t hit range balls, I don’t putt, I just go. That’s what works for me. I’ve learned this through countless years of trial and mostly error, and it works because it’s in the rhythm of what I do every day. I’ve tried to go out on the range before a round and work through my bag, and I basically can’t. I don’t possess the attention span, and I freely admit it. One of the things people don’t understand about the golf business is…

that if I’m going to play golf, it’s usually on about 5 minutes notice. I’ve got enough time to grab my stuff and go, or I’m going to get caught up doing something. It’s just the way the job works. So after about 20 years of being in the routine of grab your stuff and go, your game adjusts accordingly. So I have developed a theory; you prepare for your round the way you prepare for your every day. If you’re an analytical type, a perfectionist if you will, you need to warm up. You need to hit shots and get your body and your brain in focus. Work your way through your bag- start with a wedge and work up to the woods, hitting about 10 balls with each club at most. Picture your round and make your plan in your mind. Now go work your plan. On the flip side, if you’re like me and you work on a much more fluid schedule, you need to go with the flow. If you’ve got the time and feel like hitting a few, then do it. If you can’t stay focused for that long, just grab a bite to eat and stretch some to get loosened up. You may not feel like doing anything, you may just want to go play. That’s fine; there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve seen a lot of good rounds left on the range before they ever teed off. I’ve also seen a lot of rounds that could have used some warming up. Which type of person and what type of personality are you? Let that determine your preparation for a round; just because some guy on TV or some book said you should warm up before every round doesn’t mean it’s true. It’s your game, you know it better than anyone else. Trust in that knowledge and make your decisions from there.

Fairways, greens and one putts.....

Trey Birchum
PGA Head Professional, River Ridge Golf Club
email: tbirchum AT riverridgegolfclub.com