The Pre-Shot Routine Every Brand Needs

“Good process.” Those words were said by a golf caddie to his boss before every shot the champion golfer took at this year’s U.S. Open.

I became fascinated by this routine Sunday afternoon as NBC mic’d the exchange between caddie David Pelekoudas and pro golfer Wyndham Clark, who was closing in on his second U.S. Open championship trophy and a $4.5m paycheck.

The process, according to Yahoo Sports, was Clark’s pre-shot routine of picking the correct club, trusting the choice, choosing an intermediate target, committing fully and clearing mental clutter. It’s part of Clark’s mental game work with sports psychologist Julie Elion. She helps him build a simple, structured mantra to deal with the pressure of the moment and remind him of what really matters in the moment: the next shot.

If the best golfer in the world on June 21, 2026, followed a verbal mental checklist mantra 73 times in one round of golf, how beneficial would something similar be for other performers and brands?

On-air performers can relate to this head-game when they get silent before executing a live break. Key the mic, collect your thoughts, run through the rhythm silently before you open your mouth. In the era of pre-taped breaks for electronic media performers and social media influencers, the routine includes simply doing it as many times as possible to get it right.

However, what about the process that happens before (sticking with the golf theme) we line up the shot? 

The managers, the presidents, CEOs, CFOs, CMOs and the other acronymed leaders responsible for envisioning and creating the brand’s plan: Is this team repeating the process out loud before it asks the team to execute a plan?

Do vision and mission statements simply reside on websites and official documents? Or do those sayings become part of the pre-shot process before every marketing, promotional, and content creation decision we make?

If the caddie of one of the best golfers in the world walks his golfer through a quick verbal checklist 64-73 times a round, would a restaurant, grocery store, landscape company or radio station benefit from a mental or verbal execution to ensure the product is delivering its best experience in the moment?

Let’s use Clark’s checklist to re-evaluate our own:

1. Choose the right club. Every golfer understands the purpose and distance expectations of each club in the bag. However, the six iron used in the rough may have a different result than the six iron on a smooth fairway. A simple question may be, “What is our mission at this moment and does it align with our purpose?”
2. Pick an intermediate target. In golf, it’s a small target that keeps us aligned with the main target. Can your team verbalize the purpose and goal of the marketing decision with clarity about the steps to achieve success? More practical: Can everyone explain how and why we’re doing this promotion or campaign?
3. Commit fully. This is my favorite. If the golfer is thinking, “I should’ve used a five iron,” during the backswing, it’s likely the shot won’t be successful. Is your team committed to the plan? Conviction often outperforms perfection.

The biggest challenge to our simple plans and mission is redundancy. Those feelings of perceived fatigue from repetition are amplified in group situations when we interpret lack of enthusiasm as evidence the routine has lost its value. In reality, the routine is protecting the value.

I’m certain Clark never looked at his caddie, rolled his eyes, and said, “I know, I know! You don’t need to repeat the process anymore.” He understood there was a greater chance of collecting $4.5m with that rote, simple, well-planned and verbalized process.