Golf Tip

Pete Mogg is the Head Golf Professional and Director of Instruction at Horseshoe Bay Golf Club.

When arriving at the practice facility, there are a few areas you need to focus on.

First and foremost, stretching and getting loose are extremely important to your activity. If your practice facility offers a short game area, begin your warm-up session with putting before moving on to chipping. When arriving at the driving range, continue with smaller swings to continue getting fully loose.

After a few small swings, start to extend your backswing further and further until you reach a full swing. Progress through the clubs in your bag in regards to loft, from pitching wedge to 8-iron, to 6-iron, fairway wood, and driver. Many amateur golfers approach the driving range with driver in hand, ready to hack away. WRONG! The driver is the biggest club in the bag, requiring the biggest swing. More people pull muscles and hurt themselves from trying to make such a big swing without being warmed up.

For every practice session, 70 percent of your time should be spent with shots ranging from 150-yards and in. 20 percent of your time should be spent with longer iron shots, and the remaining 10 percent should include your fairway wood and driver. If you think about it, this makes sense. Typically, your driver is used only 14 times each round. With this in mind, a bogey golfer uses their driver on only 15 percent of their shots.

When at the practice facility, make sure you always have a target, never hitting more than four consecutive shots at the same target, switching clubs often. Concentrate on tempo, posture, grip and alignment. Good luck!