ON THE COURSE Make it all routine

The easiest way to ensure that you cover the basics on every shot is to count yourself in with a simple routine. For me, it would go something like this:

1 place the clubface behind the ball;

2 place left foot in position and establish ball position relative to it;

3 bring in the right foot, and generally shake my body into a good posture;

4 check that my feet, knees, hips and shoulders agree as far as alignment goes and

5 waggle the clubhead once or twice, then off I go.

Chip Koehlke, the head coach at my Institute of Golf in Orlando, has had me working on this pre-shot drill lately - what he calls a 'full swing waggle'. From address, I wind up the backswing in one go, drop back to the ball, then go. This gives me a sense of returning squarely to the ball and reminds me to turn my upper body and shift to my right side properly, which sometimes I neglect. Don't make that mistake yourself.