HOW TO PREPARE FOR a career round.

Whether your pre-round warm-up time is an hour (ideal) or 15 minutes (typical), you have time to get ready for one of your best rounds. Here's the sequence to follow:

1. Walk briskly to the driving range to gat your blood moving, then warm up. Hold two clubs together and swing them in circles, doing 10 reps with each arm. This prepares your shoulders for demands of the golf swing [left].
2. Rest the clubs on the ground and hold them vertically, securing your hands on top of the grips [left, below]. Keep your hands there and do 10 squats to warm up your knees, calves and hips.
3. Hit your short irons for about 10 minutes. Start with slow, three-quarter length swings and gradually build to full swings. Now you can stretch your arm, leg and core muscles however you like without risking a visit to the chiropractor the next day.

Even if you don't hit another ball after this last step, your body will be primed to hit a good drive on the first tee and sustain high performance throughout your round.

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By Dave Phillips

EDITED BY Dave Allen and Greg Midland

Dave Phillips is director of instruction at the Titleist Performance Institute in Oceanside. Calif.