Getting the Most Out of a Visit to the Driving Range

You go to the range to learn how to play on the course better, not to hit range balls better.

That sounds obvious, but from what I see at the range, and what I catch myself doing there, range golf and course golf are two different things. They shouldn’t be.

As you stand over a range ball, remember how you hit the ball on the course, with the club you’re holding, when you have one chance, and it has to count. I’ll bet you make a careful, controlled stroke. That’s the kind to make with this range ball.

Back on the range, seeing how far you can hit it, or trying a new swing thing just this one time, all that moves you backward in your progress, not forward.

Use your golf course swing at the range. Which one is that? When I’m hitting the ball well during play, I have the feeling that I’m just chipping the ball around the course. It’s that effortless and that controlled. I get into trouble when I try to do more. More than perfect isn’t perfecter.

You’re there to perfect that controlled swing. By that I mean learn to do it over and over, the same way every time. Don’t try to keep getting more out of it. Teach yourself to get the same thing out of it every time.

Have you ever seen a good player at the range hit one great shot after another, with the same easy swing? That’s what those golfers are doing, learning how to repeat THAT swing. That’s what I want you to do.

So on the practice tee, take your time between shots. Pick a target, line up the shot, go through your pre-shot routine, every time. Then use your golf course stroke.

Around the green, whether chipping or putting, go through all the preparations you make on the course, before every chip or putt. Hit the shot like it’s on the course.

There will be more time between shots, so don’t get impatient. You’re learning how to make quality shots, and that’s the way to improvement.