Week 18: Pre-round drills

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Many golfers get to the course with everything on their mind except their golf game. You need to find a parking space, sign in, pay your green fees, change into your golf cleats, load your clubs onto the cart, and maybe even have some breakfast. But even the best pros include a little practice in their pre-round rituals. Before your next round, try visiting the driving range first to work on a few things before you tee off.

The driving range should be a key portion of anyone's pre-round routine.

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Warm up with your driver -- You want to start loosening up the muscles you will be using for the day. Take your driver and start with slow, steady swings. Just concentrate on hitting the ball squarely. You do not have to worry about distance yet. The beauty of starting with the driver is that the ball will carry well regardless of how hard you strike it. Focus more on your swing. Does your grip feel comfortable? Are you properly aligned with the ball? Your driver shots will give you the best evidence on what adjustments need to be made. It will also give you confidence that you will be successful off the tees today.

Iron out your irons -- Once you feel comfortable, it's time to start working your way down the irons. Now is the time for you to take some target practice. Get a feel for the distance of your clubs. Most ranges have large wooden yard markers on the range. Let those serve as temporary targets. You want to leave the range feeling like you can control the ball. Imagine it as though it were a real hole. Can you hit a 200-yard, 150-yard, and 100-yard shot in succession? If you can do it here, you can do it on the course.

Bunker Mentality -- If your course has a practice bunker, now is the time to use it. You don't have to spend much time in it, nor do you have to sink a magical shot from it. Practice flicking the ball cleanly out of the bunker and on to the green. If you feel like you can walk up to any bunker on the course and loft the ball out of it without an issue, you're ready to move on. You'll be able to concentrate on getting it closer to the hole when the real game is underway.

Finish at the cup -- Every course has a few practice putting greens. End your preparation by getting a feel for your putting stroke. By sinking a few putts on the practice green, it will help your visualization on the course. It can also give you a few clues as to how slow or fast the greens on the course may be due to the weather. Try sinking three different putts before you head to the first tee a fairly long putt, a mid-range putt and a four-foot gimme. It will give you the confidence you need for a great round.

Some basic pre-round practice can do wonders for your scorecard, but knee pain is a sure way to destroy your golf game. If knee pain is preventing you from having fun and excelling on the course, you might be suffering from osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Various treatments for OA do exist, such as ORTHOVISC®, which provides up to six months of knee pain relief. Made from ultra-pure natural hyaluronan, which is found in healthy joints, ORTHOVISC® is injected into the knee joint where it acts to replace your natural joint fluid, to help cushion, protect, and lubricate your knee.

ORTHOVISC® is a proud sponsor of PGATOUR.com. Talk to your doctor to see if ORTHOVISC® is right for you. Or visit our Web site at www.orthovisc.com for more information on how to maintain your knee health to help you keep playing the game you love.

Follow us on Twitter for up-to-date information on maintaining joint health and the prevention/treatment of knee pain due to sports-related injuries or the early symptoms of osteoarthritis.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

ORTHOVISC® is indicated in the treatment of pain in osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee in patients who have failed to respond adequately to conservative nonpharmacologic therapy and to simple analgesics, e.g., acetaminophen. In clinical studies, the most commonly reported adverse events were arthralgia, back pain and headache. Other side effects include local injection site adverse events.

ORTHOVISC® is contraindicated in patients with known hypersensitivity to hyaluronate formulation or known hypersensitivity (allergy) to gram positive bacterial proteins. ORTHOVISC should not be injected in patients with infections or skin diseases in the areas of the injection site or joint. Strict aseptic technique should be used. The effectiveness of more than 1 course has not been established.