Conquering the Driving Range

How do you convince yourself that going to the driving range is a good thing when all you want to do is go out to the course and PLAY?? It’s the age-old battle of practicing versus playing your favorite sport.

It goes without saying that practicing is needed to hone your skills, develop muscle memory and instill a sense of confidence that should translate to the golf course when you go to play. Of course, practicing for practice sake isn’t the end-all here. What I mean is if you are just on the range to put in time but not plan the best use of that time you are simply wasting your time!

There are many methods offered up by golf gurus that are worth trying. Making sure you hit every club in your bag at some point during your practice time can be beneficial. If all you want to hit are 7-irons you could ‘master’ the 7-iron on the range but find you only need to use that club 3 or 4 times on the golf course. What about the rest of the clubs? Unless you plan on playing an entire round with just one club make sure you work on getting the feel and the average distance of each club in your bag.

Another technique suggests that you play an imaginary round while on the range. To do this you take a score card from a course you normally play or one you plan to play. You look at the yardage from hole to hole and the par score. Pull out the club you would use on the tee box for the first hole, figure or guesstimate the distance it traveled and then choose your next club based on the yardage remaining. Do this all the way to the green and ‘move’ to the next hole. Putting practice will take place later in your practice session over at the putting green. This gives you an ‘on-course’ experience at the range.

Of course, there are specialty practice sessions where you are only working on one aspect of your game. For instance if you are struggling with a certain shot or with a specific club it does make sense to spend more time on that particular element. Of course, it is always advisable to have a golf professional point out areas for you to work on and provide you with targeted drills designed to improve your performance. Let’s face it! As amateurs we typically have tons of things to work on. Don’t overload

your brain or your body. Make a plan and track your progress before adding more thoughts or drills to any one practice routine.

Something to avoid is standing in the same spot and hit ball after ball like a machine without taking a break and stepping away for a few moments. Repetitive motion over a prolonged period of time can do more damage than good. The range is a good place to work on your pre-shot routine, your alignment and your balance. Back-off, pick a target and line yourself up are ways to give you a break from continual swings and possible injury.

The common sight at most driving range is seeing golfer after golfer pounding ball after ball with their driver until they have exhausted their bucket of balls. Occasionally they may switch off to a 3-wood or even pull out a hybrid but you rarely see them spend time with their irons or wedges. Granted some driving ranges do have ‘set-aside areas’ designed to practice the short game complete with bunkers and rough-height grass along with a green. But even on the driving range it is a good idea to include hitting short irons and wedge shots aimed at intermediate targets. What’s that old saying “Drive for show and putt for dough”?? You’ll never get your scores lowered if you don’t work on your short game.

My one word of caution is to make sure you don’t become a driving range golfer. That is someone who can hit great shots there but can’t seem to take it to the course. The whole purpose of the range is to improve your confidence and help you to enjoy the game by reducing tension, frustration and mechanical swings. Keep your expectations in check. If you are not earning your living playing golf, cut yourself some slack. After all, it’s just golf!!

There are many other approaches to making the most of your time on the range. You just need to find out what works best for you. If you are just beginning this is a great way to ‘get your groove on’ under guidance of your favorite golf professional. No matter what your level of play is the bottom line is to enjoy the game and don’t overlook some of these techniques to make the game even more fun.

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