Simple Tips for Planning Your Next Round of Golf Part 2

You have to succeed in doing what’s necessary.

Winston Churchill

In Part 1 of this posting, I focused I on the things that you needed to do in order to secure a tee time reservations. Technically, I would have shared the FREE Golf Planning Resource Sheet within that first post, but here’s the link for you to download your copy right now. Think about this as not so much a continuation of the same post but an additional phase of preparation when we talk about tips for planning your next golf round. With the rise of swift changes to many course policies and practices due to the widespread pandemic, being prepared is going to take you a long way and limit the amount of frustration that you may have to endure upon arriving at the golf course.

Check Your Equipment

You cannot show up for a round of golf and you haven’t checked your equipment since your last round or visit to the driving range. Like Winston Churchill said in his famous address to the House of Commons in 1916,”You have to succeed in doing what’s necessary.” Take the time to simply do a brief equipment check and ready yourself for your upcoming round of golf.

EQUIPMENT CHECKLIST

• Golf Bag (overall function) If it has a stand, is it still popping out and stable? Plan on walking, do you need all of those clubs and balls in your bag?
• Clubs Check to make sure that your golf clubs are in order and clean. Wipe them down the night before as you get into the right mental state to head to the course for your next round of golf.
• Additional Equipment Do you carry your bag or use a walking cart? What condition is the cart in right now? Have you checked your inventory of golf tees and golf balls? Make sure to ensure that you a divot tool and ball marker, even if it’s a lucky dime.
• Golf Gear & Clothing This includes everything from what you wear and what extras you carry. Rainy weather might require a rain poncho and an umbrella. Golf shoes always seem to be a good asset, especially when playing some of these less-maintained municipal courses.

Download a FREE copy of the Golf Planning Equipment Checklist.

Plan Your Arrival

Stretch the Night Before

I would suggest yoga or some deep stretching exercises that involve engaging your core and your lower back. Use an early morning warm-up of full-body exercises such jumping jacks and squats topped off with planks. Look into golf fitness programs and regimens that might fit your style.

Get a Good Night’s Rest

Sleep is a highly undervalued commodity as noted as part of Amanda’s posting in Bubbles & Barbells. Rest can impact not just your immune system. It can also have a direct correlation to your ability to remain engaged for extended periods of time. No wonder the CBD industry and its hemp-based products are making a killing as it spreads throughout the golf industry. Weekend golfers need to maintain their alertness while on the course and searching for lost balls in the rough.

Wake Up Early

Rise up early the day of your round. Get your cup of coffee or tea. Stretch your muscles and open your eyes with some early morning of CNN, Fox Business or BBC News Worldwide. Or, you could always read an article or a blog post on tips for planning your next round of golf to see if you have done everything as planned.

Arrive at the Course Early

Provide yourself enough time to check in and conduct whatever pre-round ritual you need to do in order to get into a good head space before teeing off for your round. If you use the range or putting surface, allow time for it and whatever pandemic changes that might have transpired since your last golf outing.

If you are organizing a foursome or group for golf that day, be sure to text and call your fellow players to ensure that all parties arrive early, check in and are in the ready position for when the start calls your group name over the intercom system. Nothing worst than that late-comer member of your foursome running to catch up with your group at the first tee out of breath and barefoot on one foot with his other golf shoe and sock in hand. That makes for a good impression regarding that golf etiquette.

Have Fun and Keep Swinging

The great thing about golf is being out there. You hit the fairway and feel at one with the environment. Whether you enjoy just a good time with some friends and a few brews or you truly embrace the challenge of competing against the course, golf is the type of thing that can consume four hours of your day with one round and leave you feeling like you truly got to know the other person in the cart (well, at least pre-pandemic) and you learned something new about yourself and your golf game or at least about the golf course and its layout and design.

Just be sure to have you some fun out there after all of the planning that you did for your next golf round and keep swinging.