Why does Jason Day close his eyes?

Jason Day has had a huge amount of success since he turned professional in 2006.

In addition to winning the US PGA Championship in 2015, he has bagged 13 PGA Tour titles and spent 51 weeks as world No.1.

Whilst the Australian’s form and come and gone in that time, one thing has remained a constant: his distinctive pre-shot routine.

Day has an unusual idiosyncrasy that, if you’ve watched him enough, you’ll almost certainly have noticed.

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He shuts his eyes before addressing the ball.

As you would hope, there is a very clear method to the apparent madness.

Day closes his eyes to visualise the shot he’s about to play.

“It’s the most efficient way for me to feel comfortable going into a shot,” he explained.

“When I close my eyes, I see a picture of myself. I visualise my swing go back, and go through, and I see the ball land and how it goes, where it lands, and how it bounces.

“I make sure I don’t hit the shot, or don’t stop visualising, until I’m fully comfortable with the visual.”

The idea to incorporate the move into Day’s pre-shot routine came from his former coach and caddie Colin Swatton.

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“I used to struggle visualising with my eyes open, really trying to pick a shot, whether it was a fade or a draw, high or low” added Day.

“One day, Colin said, ‘Why don’t you just close your eyes? Aaron Baddeley does it.’ So I started closing my eyes at a very young age – like 14 or 15 years old – so I’ve been doing it from a very young age.”

Day visualises his entire swing, from taking the club back to where he wants the ball to finish up. He always takes two practice swings before doing it.

Try incorporating this into your own game and see how it pays off.