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The Four Rs for golf.

Of every sport there is, golf gives you the most time between shots and the most opportunity to waste it. The walk to the ball is a two to four minute gap. Multiply that by 70 to 90 shots in a round, and the round is mostly a walk with a few swings inside it. What a golfer does on those walks is where the Four Rs lives.

Golf is not won by the swing. It is won by what happens in the four minutes before it.
Where the pauses are

Built into every hole

Micro pauses

  • The pre-shot routine itself
  • The address position before takeaway
  • The moment after a poor shot, before walking off the tee
  • The walk from the green to the next tee

Medium and macro pauses

  • The walk to the ball (the flagship reset window)
  • Waiting on a slow group
  • The turn at nine
  • The drive home after the round
How each R translates

The cycle in a golf setting

1
Reflect
What was that shot?

A quick, honest read of the shot just played. Good strike, bad strike, good result, lucky result. Three seconds. Then start walking.

2
Relax
Is my body settled?

A slow walk. Long exhale. Soften the shoulders and the hands. The walk between shots is the physiological reset window most amateurs skip by replaying the last shot the whole way up the fairway.

3
Reset
Can I let that last shot go?

A cue at a fixed point. Ten paces from the ball. Choosing the club. Putting the glove on. The signal that the previous shot is closed and the next one is starting.

4
Refocus
What is the shot?

The pre-shot routine is a full, structured Refocus. Yardage, wind, club, target, commit. One swing thought. Step in and play it.

Scenarios

Two Four Rs routines worth building

The walk-and-pre-shot routine (the flagship)
Medium-cycle reset · 2 to 4 minutes

A full Four Rs cycle fits comfortably inside the walk to the ball, and the pre-shot routine itself is already the last piece of it. Golf gives you more time for a clean reset than almost any other sport. The discipline is in actually using it.

Reflect
Walk off the tee with a short, honest read of the shot just played. Thirty seconds, then let it go.
Relax
The middle of the walk. Slow the pace. Long exhale. Notice the course, the weather, anything that is not the previous shot. Genuine decompression.
Reset
As you arrive at the ball, a deliberate cue that starts the next shot: looking at the target, pulling the glove on, choosing the club. The same cue, every shot.
Refocus
The pre-shot routine itself. Read, pick, commit. One swing thought. Play.
After a blow-up hole
Mistake recovery · the next-hole problem

You made a double bogey or worse. The round is not over, but your ability to keep it together for the next three holes is. This is the single most important scoring moment in amateur golf.

Reflect
Name it honestly as you walk to the next tee. "Bad swing." "Unlucky bounce." "Bad decision." Two sentences. Done.
Relax
Longer exhales than usual. Slow the walk. Step away from your partners if you need 30 seconds of quiet. The body is carrying frustration that will go into the next swing if you do not release it.
Reset
The same cue as every other hole. Same routine on the tee. Do not change what works because one hole went wrong.
Refocus
The next shot. Not the scorecard, not the finish, not what your handicap will look like. The next shot only.

More content coming. Position-specific patterns, putting routines, competition-day preparation and post-round review protocols. If you would like early access, or want the Four Rs embedded in a golf programme, get in touch.

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← Back to the Four Rs pillar Tennis · 20-second resets Cricket · between deliveries

Bringing it to a golfer

The Four Rs is the spine of the individual performance work The Coaching Nexus runs with golfers from elite amateur through to professional tour level.

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