How this interesting concept can help you build good golf habits

WWelcome to Play Smart, a game improvement column and podcast from editor Luke Kerr-Dineen to help you play smarter, better golf.

We’re all about improving our golf games without overhauling our swings around these parts. Obviously, there are limitations to doing that. You’ll probably need to make some technical upgrades to your golf swing, at some point. But there are also plenty of ways you can improve now changing how you play, but how you practice and prepare for your next round. Ingrain a few good habits away from the course, and you’ll play better the next time you’re back on it.

One way you can do this is to employ an interesting concept called “habit stacking.”

What is “habit stacking”?

It’s a pretty simple idea: Think of something you do every day, or multiple times a day, already. A habit you have, like brushing your teeth, or in golf terms, hitting a driver on the range before you go play. Habit stacking involves introducing a new habit every time you do an existing one. Here’s a few golf related examples of how that might work:

GOLF Top 100 Teacher Dave Phillips suggests doing one-legged squats to strengthen your hip flexors and glutes as you brush your teeth.

PGA Tour player Max Homa says to take a few minutes checking your golf posture in the mirror before leaving for the course.

GOLF Top 100 Teacher Kellie Stenzel says to take do your full pre-shot routine before each driver you hit on the range.

Short Game Gains founders Hannah Gregg and Frederik Lindblom suggest taking 10 minutes before you go to bed to work on your putting alignment with an at-home setup.

You’re not trying to build an entirely new habit from scratch, because that is difficult and requires discipline. Instead, habit stacking allows you to introduce a new habit and help it stick, faster and easier. You may even come out a better golfer at the end.

You can listen to a full 12-minute Play Smart episode below, and subscribe to the Play Smart podcast on Apple here, or on Spotify right here.

Luke Kerr-Dineen

Golf.com Contributor

Luke Kerr-Dineen is the Game Improvement Editor at GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. In his role he oversees the brand’s game improvement content spanning instruction, equipment, health and fitness, across all of GOLF’s multimedia platforms.

An alumni of the International Junior Golf Academy and the University of South Carolina–Beaufort golf team, where he helped them to No. 1 in the national NAIA rankings, Luke moved to New York in 2012 to pursue his Masters degree in Journalism from Columbia University. His work has also appeared in USA Today, Golf Digest, Newsweek and The Daily Beast.