JOHN DALY Says Never hit a shot without it

Never, ever hit a shot without going through your pre-shot drill. Not on the practice range, and certainly not on the golf course either. Your pre-shot drill is critically important to your golf game because it focuses your mind on all the keys to putting a good swing on the ball. Here's mine:

(1) Stand behind my ball and set my target line. Mr. Harvey Penick said it best: "Take dead aim."

(2) Visualize my shot soaring through the air exactly on line and trajectory that feels best for the situation.

(3) Walk up to my ball and take my stance: square alignment, feet parallel to target line.

(4) Check my ball position: off inside left heel for driver, more towards the center as the club I'm using gets shorter.

(5) Check my upper body: arms hanging straight down from shoulder, hands in perpendicular line with chin and ground.

(6) Check my ball position by imagining a line straight up at a 90-degree angle from the ground: if it touches inside my chin, it's too close; outside my forehead, too far away.

(7) Check my grip: the V's formed by my thumbs and first fingers are pointing just right of my chin.

(8) Look/Waggle. Look down the target line, then back at my ball, and waggle my club head over it. Four looks, three waggles. No waggle after fourth look. Time to let 'er rip.

(9) Exert slight (slight!) increase in grip pressure on fourth look. I'm reluctant to include this, because I've made such a big deal of you relaxing your grip. But for me, an ever-so-slight increase in grip pressure is my way of saying it's time to get down to business. You know, Grip It and Rip It.

As I said, that's my pre-shot drill. Looks like it takes forever, but it really doesn't, you will soon learn to do it without thinking but one must always remember to do it. And while I might shorten my pre-shot drill some with middle- and short-irons, I always follow it to the letter when I hit driver. You don't have to copy it. Prefer three looks and two waggles? Two and one? Be my guest. It all depends on what you're comfortable with.

Just don't try to get away with, say, ten looks and nine waggles. If you were to do that at the Lion's Club in Dardanelle (Ark.), I'd have to get someone to politely ask you to remove your butt from the course -- unless your playing partners hadn't already come up the side of your head with a 2-iron.

But whatever mix you settle on, go through your pre-shot drill every time. Trust me -- grooving your pre-shot drill will help your groove your golf swing.

John Daly is a five-time PGA Tour champion, including the 1991 PGA Championship and 1995 British Open.