July 28, 2000 -- Chez Reavie looked calm and confident coming down the stretch in RBC Canadian Open. His swing stayed rhythmical and his pre-shot routine never wavered - not an easy feat when vying for your first PGA Tour win. A common remark I hear from many amateurs when talking about the best players in the world is how easy they make it look. Their swings look smooth, putting stokes confident, and there is even a rhythmic pace to their walk. I like to say that their rounds of golf "flow" very well. Chez's sure did on Sunday.

All golfers would do well to emulate Chez Reavie's consistency in his posture and his attention to detail in his equipment. (Photo: Getty Images)

A big part of this phenomenon is the consistency and repeatability of not only their golf swing, but also pre-shot routine and set-up throughout every club in the bag. Have you ever noticed that some of the best putters on Tour set-up to hit a 10 foot putt much in the same way they set up to hit a 150-yard approach shot, or even a tee shot? Repeatability comes from doing the same thing over and over again, so it would make sense that trying to be in similar set-up positions with every club in the bag would help with producing a more repeating stroke, regardless of the type of shot. As a result, your round becomes easier and more efficient because the player's conscious mind doesn't get involved as much. If you noticed on Sunday, Chez Reavie's posture when putting, as well as Anthony Kim's, is near identical to the way they set up to hit a full shot with a wood or iron. Their body angles remain the same, which allow them to get into different shots with hardly any mechanical thought.

Two things will better your chances of repeating your mechanics in order to get your round "flowing":

1. Streamline your pre-shot routine to lead to consistency in set-up. It is very common to see someone's pre-shot routine on the putting green very different then their routine for a full-swing shot. Isn't the end goal the same? Are not you trying to hit a ball at a target? If you go through the same, simple process before every shot, your chances of setting-up properly to hit the shot are greatly increased, which in turn will increase your chances of repeating a good swing!
   
   
2. Insure that your clubs match not only your swing, but each other! I firmly believe that a player will swing around his equipment, and if each piece of equipment varies in weight and flex you'll be fighting an uphill battle. Remember when Tiger Woods first switched to a graphite-shafted driver? All of a sudden he started hitting his steel shafted three-wood poorly. Once he went to a graphite-shafted three-wood, all was well again. He had said that the weight difference between the two made it difficult to transition between clubs, thus making slightly different swings with each.

Focusing on these two concepts will begin to make the game a bit easier for you. I'm not sure if it will be as easy as Chez made it look Sunday, but it's definitely something to shoot for!

Scott Szymoniak is the Director of Instruction for Canongate Golf Clubs in Atlanta, Georgia. He has coached professionals on six different tours worldwide who have combined to earn over $4 million in prize money. He has also led players to collegiate victories at the Division I and II levels. Scott created and developed the Learning Center at Country Club of the South in conjunction with the Mizuno Test and Research facility before joining the Canongate group. Scott can be reached at sszymoniak@canongategolf.com.