Different game range to course

[rob_golf1]

I had the same problem a year or two back. The trouble with the driving range is that you can't gauge as well as to what is a good shot. It might appear fairly straight to you, but put yourself on the first tee, with OB on your right, and thick tree lines on your left, and it becomes a whole different story! Nothing better than practicing off the real thing, so grass bays etc!

 

[Deleted member 16999]

I will back this logic everyday of the week. Over the last couple of years I have made some major changes to my game and have come down from 9 to my current handicap.

The main things I have done are the these. With the driver I have concentrated more on a good strike rather than a hard one, strange thing is I am hitting more fairways and have got my previous distance back. The other is to take one more club and hit it smoother. I am now hitting far more greens and making a lot more pars because of it. 100% swing from 150 is a PW, so my choice was always a nice 9i, now I punch an 8i and can't miss, or do not miss by much every time.

The main thing I am finding is if I get a poor contact I end up on the front of the green, or if I hit it full I'm on the back. Either way I'm 2 putting for par and that definatly makes the game easier, a couple of weeks ago I had 13 2 putt pars, has to have been the most stress game I've ever had.

Should put the above in the advice for a beginner threads, as yourself and bob are saying when we are learning and striving for lower handicaps a mishit shot being 10 yards short of the back of the green is way way better than 10 yds short of the front of the green.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Knowing I have too much club can lead me to decelerate into the ball.

To be honest though Gary, you're a much better player and are probably more consistent with your irons, as I improve I am more confident I have the right club from 110 in, 120 -170 I still tend to club up, mainly through the fear of the mishit or coming up short.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Plenty of good golfers at the range. I'll hold my hands up and say I hit the ball great there and it's had no resemblance to what I produce on the course. It's about practicing what you are going to do on the course and plenty of advice out there on drills and tips. I'm working on tempo and shortening the swing but after thirty years of swinging at supersonic speed and lifting because of an overswing its proving a hard habit to break. The good ones are so much better and fine in practice to a point but simply no trust on the course yet

 

[MadAdey]

Should put the above in the advice for a beginner threads, as yourself and bob are saying when we are learning and striving for lower handicaps a mishit shot being 10 yards short of the back of the green is way way better than 10 yds short of the front of the green.

Its definatly something worth doing. I did it at a range near me that has real golf balls. If you use the centre bays then there is a green at 150. I stood there and hit 10 balls as hard as I could while keeping control and found that my PW was dropping at this distance, although not very accurately. I then hit 10 balls with my 9i at it and the accuracy was obviously better. So I then hit my 8i with a nice steady 3/4 swing and the ball was peppering the marker post, some of them bouncing off it.

The main thing that got me to do this was watching Rick Shiels out on the course and he was grabbing his 8i from 150, now this is someone who is a big hitter 300+ yarder off the tee. But he takes plenty of club and hits it so smooth he is in total control of it.

I think because the contact I am now getting is more consistent, I can pretty much gauranteed hitting it a consistent distance with accuracy most of the time. So now when a pin is tucked tight behind a bunker 150 yards away, I can go at it knowing it isn't going to drop short, if anything I might go a bit long, but then it is not in the bunker.

 

[Sweep]

I maintain that if anyone saw me on the range they would think my handicap was about half of what it actually is. I believe the reason I hit the ball so much better on the range is because it provides the opportunity to hit one ball after another and I think your body kind of works out what it needs to do to make a good shot. Obviously this is something you can't do on the course, when you get to hit a drive for example once every 10 mins or so. Also, when you do get it going well on the range, it's hard not to keep hitting the same shot over and over, just to admire the flight and feel it coming out of the middle. Add to that flat lies, alignment aids, no penalty for bad shots, swinging loosely because there is no card in your hand etc and the range is a whole different game.
Now I have to force myself to buy smaller baskets and take longer breaks between shots. This makes practice less enjoyable but, I hope, more effective.

 

[delc]

Dunno about specifics, but range matts can be very forgiving! turf reacts very differently to a matt and often the club can bounce and still give you a decent strike

Actually I have just the opposite problem. I normally hit pretty good shots out on the course, but find it difficult to hit good shots off range mats. I always practice on grass if I can.

 

[13Aces]

I maintain that if anyone saw me on the range they would think my handicap was about half of what it actually is. I believe the reason I hit the ball so much better on the range is because it provides the opportunity to hit one ball after another and I think your body kind of works out what it needs to do to make a good shot. Obviously this is something you can't do on the course, when you get to hit a drive for example once every 10 mins or so. Also, when you do get it going well on the range, it's hard not to keep hitting the same shot over and over, just to admire the flight and feel it coming out of the middle. Add to that flat lies, alignment aids, no penalty for bad shots, swinging loosely because there is no card in your hand etc and the range is a whole different game.
Now I have to force myself to buy smaller baskets and take longer breaks between shots. This makes practice less enjoyable but, I hope, more effective.

Exactly!!! Well worded, this is just as I attempted to say earlier in the thread. Practising and playing are different games.