Golf Tips: Never hit the ball until you know where it’s going - the crucial role of the target lin

The first step to playing fantastic golf is realising that there is an essential part to the game that has been there since the first round was ever played by shepherds with crooks and stones on the links of the Scottish Highlands.

That essential part, the vital thing to remember at all times, is the intended line to the target, from the ball to the hole or the fairway. Now commonly known as the 'target line', its importance is a critical thing that you simply must understand if you are going to develop your game.

The point at which you make the commitment to hit every shot down the target line you is the point from which your game will start to improve.

The great Jack Nicklaus never hit a golf shot in his whole life without making sure that he stood behind his golf ball and picked a point just two to three feet in front of his ball that was on the target line.

The essential part of the pre-shot routine is to stand behind the ball, looking down the target line and picking out the intended spot for the ball to end up, then starting the ball down your target line.

World snooker champion Cliff Thorburn, a highly competitive golfer, played off two and was incredibly difficult to beat. His concentration was incredible and it came from his involvement in matches in Canada during his youth where players were competing for prizes thousands of dollars and because of this, every single shot counted.

It was when I asked Cliff what made him so competitive, and how it was he holed so many putts just when he needed them, that I realised the importance of the target line.

Cliff said he would never, ever hit a shot until he knew where it was going; it was as simple as that. Whether he was playing golf or snooker, he would never make a pass at the ball or attempt to hit it until he was absolutely convinced that he knew where it was going. He was meticulous; always knowing in his mind where the ball was going to end up.

And that is the crucial lesson that I learned and focused on all the way through my golfing career, and it is the lesson that I share with everyone I coach. If you want to turn your game around from this point onwards then bear in mind those words that Cliff Thorburn said: never hit the ball until you know where it is going.