Why this major winner likes to keep his warmup short

Most Tour players have a set routine when it comes to their pre-round warmup. Some like to start on the range and end on the putting green, while for others it’s the opposite. Or some will putt, hit the range, and then come back to the green before striding to the first tee.

It can be a lengthy process. Tiger Woods has said that early tee times can be tough for him because it takes such a long time to get his body prepared to play.

For 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry, not so much. The 35-year-old Irishman likes to keep his pre-round prep short and sweet, and on this week’s episode of Off Course with Claude Harmon, he shared the reason why.

“When I’m practicing, the first shot I hit is always my best one, because I’m more in tune with what I’m doing,” Lowry said. “When I keep hittin’ ’em, hittin’ ’em, hittin’ ’em, I get bored. I think I’ve got maybe a bit of a short attention span or something.

“But when I have one shot and I focus in on that and do it well and move on and do a different one, that’s the way me and [Lowry’s coach] Neil practice. We go around the green or we go play golf and hit different shots.”

Lowry says that he doesn’t consider himself to be a typical professional golfer, but that he’s comfortable being himself.

“When you get comfortable in your own skin, and you get comfortable being you, I think you’ll play better golf because of it,” he said.

For more from Lowry, including what he learned from watching Tiger Woods make a 10 at the Masters, and how his devastating U.S. Open loss at Oakmont fueled his victory at Royal Portrush, check out the full interview below.

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As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.