Practise Areas at Clubs

[Orikoru]

I was just lamenting again about how there's no driving range near me, and started thinking about the practise area at my club.

There's a 200-ish yard practise area at my club which is essentially a range, but you'd presumably have to bring your own practise balls and then have to collect them at the end. My club is only 5 minutes drive away so would be convenient for a mid-week practise when I'm working from home, but I just cannot picture myself wandering around the practise area afterwards picking up 30 odd practise balls to take them home again. Does anyone actually do this?? I can't recall that I've ever seen someone just practising down there at my club - if people are there they're usually having a lesson with the pro I think.

The only time I used it I took about 6 balls out and practised my pitching to the nearest flag - I really can't imagine smashing 30 full shots in all directions and then picking them all up afterwards.

 

[GB72]

I was just lamenting again about how there's no driving range near me, and started thinking about the practise area at my club.

There's a 200-ish yard practise area at my club which is essentially a range, but you'd presumably have to bring your own practise balls and then have to collect them at the end. My club is only 5 minutes drive away so would be convenient for a mid-week practise when I'm working from home, but I just cannot picture myself wandering around the practise area afterwards picking up 30 odd practise balls to take them home again. Does anyone actually do this?? I can't recall that I've ever seen someone just practising down there at my club - if people are there they're usually having a lesson with the pro I think.

The only time I used it I took about 6 balls out and practised my pitching to the nearest flag - I really can't imagine smashing 30 full shots in all directions and then picking them all up afterwards.

I used to do it occasionally but then I would remember how much of a faff it was getting anyone else there to stop, trying to find you practice balls, working out which were yours if there were a couple of people there etc and then would give up going until I had forgotten how much of a pain it was and would repeat the process. They are not for me, just way too much hassle.

 

[Mandofred]

I was just lamenting again about how there's no driving range near me, and started thinking about the practise area at my club.

There's a 200-ish yard practise area at my club which is essentially a range, but you'd presumably have to bring your own practise balls and then have to collect them at the end. My club is only 5 minutes drive away so would be convenient for a mid-week practise when I'm working from home, but I just cannot picture myself wandering around the practise area afterwards picking up 30 odd practise balls to take them home again. Does anyone actually do this?? I can't recall that I've ever seen someone just practising down there at my club - if people are there they're usually having a lesson with the pro I think.

The only time I used it I took about 6 balls out and practised my pitching to the nearest flag - I really can't imagine smashing 30 full shots in all directions and then picking them all up afterwards.

Oh jeez....this is exactly what I need. The club I am likely leaving has a shortish field like this....but not wide enough to get more than a couple of people on. The other club has a pathetic little 70yd thin strip of land...big enough for 1 person. 30 balls??!! I quite often will hit two shag bags....about 90 balls to a bag. I don't mind picking them up at all...gives me a break to think about the world.
I'm able to hit the balls that got scuffed up....I have tons that I take out of play. Better than hitting a range ball that may or may not go anywhere near the distance a "normal" ball would go.

 

[Albo]

My club has a similar practice area, about 190/200 at a guess but it’s between the 16th (to the right of the range) and 18th (to the left), and in all honesty it’s a pain having to wait for people teeing off on 16 -the tee is next to the practice tee area running the same way, or watching for people coming towards you on 18. Then you have to go collect the balls after you have hit them, it’s just a pain and not too many people use it.
They have recently installed a couple of practice nets (though the recent storms have put them out of order at the moment) and that’s good for pre round smash’s a few balls and get the muscles moving, but not great for actual practice.
All that said, we are currently undergoing a redesign of our 18th which will utilise the practice area and thus remove it. We will use the old 18th green as a good practice green but there will be no long game practice any more.
No great loss in my opinion

 

[Orikoru]

I used to do it occasionally but then I would remember how much of a faff it was getting anyone else there to stop, trying to find you practice balls, working out which were yours if there were a couple of people there etc and then would give up going until I had forgotten how much of a pain it was and would repeat the process. They are not for me, just way too much hassle.

Yeah, that's a point. Even I did bring myself to give it a go, I'd only want to do it if no one else was there. If I turned up and the pro was giving a group lesson or something I'd just turn around and go home again.

 

[Orikoru]

Oh jeez....this is exactly what I need. The club I am likely leaving has a shortish field like this....but not wide enough to get more than a couple of people on. The other club has a pathetic little 70yd thin strip of land...big enough for 1 person. 30 balls??!! I quite often will hit two shag bags....about 90 balls to a bag. I don't mind picking them up at all...gives me a break to think about the world.
I'm able to hit the balls that got scuffed up....I have tons that I take out of play. Better than hitting a range ball that may or may not go anywhere near the distance a "normal" ball would go.

I wouldn't even hit 90 balls at the range when I don't have to pick them up. Far too many, I just get bored.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I've been at a couple of clubs, including current one, where they have a practice area as described. I've never used those areas, except when I have had lessons there. As soon as there are 2-3 people there it becomes a nightmare. Who does this ball belong to, what is the etiquette for when you collect etc? Last time I was having a lesson an absolute plank decided to go collecting right in front of me (they were shanking a lot). Muppets.

I'd far rather go to a range or an indoor simulator. I should add, I am not one of golfs avid practicers. Whether a club has a practice area or not really does not affect my choice of club.

 

[Bdill93]

We have a small practice area adjacent to our first hole. I see one member using it regularly but he is literally the only one I've ever seen. Takes down a tube of balls and hits them all then collects and repeats process.

Max yardage could be about 85 or so.

I've often thought our club could make one of these really modern practice areas and charge a separate membership rate for people to use it, there's no club within 20 miles or so with brilliant practice facilities.

 

[rudebhoy]

We have a practice field which is at a guess about 170 yards long. No good for driver, but apart from that, I like it if you can get it to yourself. It's wide enough for 3 at a push, but as above, the issue then is picking your balls up without getting in the way of others.

It also has a decent sized chipping green with a couple of pins, so you can have a practice there while waiting to get on the field proper.

edit - I should have added the field has absolutely no drainage, so it if it's been wet, it's plugged and lost balls aplenty!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

We have a driving range around 220 yards. Drivers are not permitted as many can get to the end of the range and there is also a property to the far right and they get very moody if balls appear in their garden. Range balls so not great for judging accurate distances but sufficient for my needs. We have a newly renovated practice bunker and a very small short game area on the putting green. I do look on in envy at places like East Berks (geographically nearer to me) with their own specialised short game area, although they lack a decent range or The Caversham with a decent short game area and a practice area albeit a long uphill walk from the clubhouse.

I am lucky that the Downshire driving range is only 10 minutes in the car which now has Trackman in the bays so I can utilise that.

All in all I am happy with the facilities I have at my club given the restrictions on space and there is swing studio in the pipeline to be built that members will be able to use so a case of staying patient and seeing what the future holds

 

[nickjdavis]

Our club used to have a limited distance range...the longest club you were allowed to hit was a 4 iron (maybe a 6 iron in today's money) otherwise you would bring the 17th fairway into play (there were nets at the end of the range but that's no protection from an idiot who decides to pull out a wood).

Most folks just used it as a means of hitting a couple of dozen balls (dispensed by the club machine) as a warm up before playing.

I occasionally used it for club gapping measurement at quiet times (i.e. the evenings)where i'd hit ten balls with a club, walk out to the main bulk and laser my bag next to the tee. I'd then collect the ten balls and return and hit the next club. I used to have a bag of second hand medium range balls (AD333, NXT that sort of standard) and it didnt bother me too much if I couldnt find one or two after each club...i'd just pull another couple out of the bag.

This range has long gone but we do now have three practice par 3 holes...I'll usually just take two balls and a gap wedge round once as a way of warming up...allows me to hit around half a dozen full shots, three or four partial wedge shots and a few chips.

Recently the club has built a couple of permanent net enclosures and will hopefully further enhance the practise facilities to include a proper chipping green....but that would be long term, however there is a rough area that has been set aside as a chipping area nearish to the first tee.

Nothing we have really counts as a proper practice facility though...for that I go to a local range at another club where they have a TopTracer style (its called InRange) tracking system. Its pretty good and the ball tracking is damned accurate. It gives you basic data such as ball speed, launch angle, carry, flight apex...pity it doesnt give clubhead speed. Doesnt do spin or anything like that but with range balls would be irrelevant anyway. Has a few challenges built in and also some courses that you can play. The only downside is that at the weekends the range is utterly mobbed and even in the evenings is pretty busy....still...will be raking in the money as the ball prices went up big style after the system was installed!!!!

 

[Mel Smooth]

Collecting balls used to be the standard practice for most, often on a sports field rather than land at the club.

Our club has decent facilities
Range - Red
3 hole Short Game area - Yellow
Practice Green / Bunker - Blue

I need to make much better use of all three. The place is ten minutes from my house.

 

[Swango1980]

We have a driving range. Members get a discount on balls (pro can prop up credit on your driving range card), although as course is a bit out of the way, not really many non-members that would use it.

We've a pretty big practice putting green next to car park, where you can chip as well. Then a smaller practice putting green near first tee.

We've a couple of practice nets

We've a small green with a bunker alongside it to practice short game

And then we've a reasonably sized field with about 5 or 6 greens, to practice short approach shots.

I always tell myself I'll get to club early and use the practice facilities. In reality, a flaff about at home, and then normally turn up at club 2 minutes before my tee time.

 

[Slab]

Pretty lucky the home club has a 300 yard all grass practice/warm up area I use before a round or just as a range session

It fits up to about 30 players and you can have a mat if you want one but not usual

Balls are the clubs and quality can be questionable sometimes which is a pity

It's staffed most of the time to keep balls topped up and collected
Toilets, seating area, coffee machine and the teaching pros office

No covered area though but it's supposed to be fitted this year

Next to it is a short game area with bunkers, slopes, banks, fairway, rough etc to a large green with three pins that move every couple of days

Then there is two large putting greens betweenthe 1st and 10th tees, one flat and one with slope

 

[Kilbey]

We have a great course, but only 2 nets and a very small practice area - about 70 yards too, that I never use. We do have a nice short-game area though.
However, I only live 10 minutes from a range. I prefer to play not practice, even if it's just 2 or 3 holes. I'm too old/ill to take golf that seriously. It's fresh air, exercise and a break from "real" life for me.

 

[Orikoru]

We have a great course, but only 2 nets and a very small practice area - about 70 yards too, that I never use. We do have a nice short-game area though.
However, I only live 10 minutes from a range. I prefer to play not practice, even if it's just 2 or 3 holes. I'm too old/ill to take golf that seriously. It's fresh air, exercise and a break from "real" life for me.

I usually dislike the driving range too, find it boring without having the proper target of a green to aim for and no consequence to missing. But I just had a lesson for the first time in basically forever so it would be handy to hit a few balls this time.

Nearest 'range' to me is TopGolf which isn't designed for serious practise. Wife and baby come with me and I end up just trying to smash driver into the black target up the back.

 

[patricks148]

Most of the clubs here you bring your own balls and collect when you finish. Nairn has free balls so you dont have to pick them up.

i use the Kings Practice ground occasionally and its not very busy and i only tend to use a couple of wedges and a 8 iron, ive had guys steal my balls before, but im not short of practice balls by any means.

When i play at Tain or Fortrose and want to hit balls before i take a bag full and just leave them there.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

We have a range, it's about 250yds long, but severely up hill, so all but the longest fellas can hit driver safely.
We have range balls (so they don't go too far), for which we get credit at the start of each season, so we don't have to pay for them for the most part. Just visitors tend to pay.
For collection we have a robot which just drives round picking them up and then feeding them into the system. We also have a robot for the mower, so the green staff don't have to spend much time on there.
We also have an area where you can hit your own balls alongside the main range.

 

[Springveldt]

I've been at a couple of clubs, including current one, where they have a practice area as described. I've never used those areas, except when I have had lessons there. As soon as there are 2-3 people there it becomes a nightmare. Who does this ball belong to, what is the etiquette for when you collect etc? Last time I was having a lesson an absolute plank decided to go collecting right in front of me (they were shanking a lot). Muppets.

I'd far rather go to a range or an indoor simulator. I should add, I am not one of golfs avid practicers. Whether a club has a practice area or not really does not affect my choice of club.

We have a practice field which is at a guess about 170 yards long. No good for driver, but apart from that, I like it if you can get it to yourself. It's wide enough for 3 at a push, but as above, the issue then is picking your balls up without getting in the way of others.

It also has a decent sized chipping green with a couple of pins, so you can have a practice there while waiting to get on the field proper.

edit - I should have added the field has absolutely no drainage, so it if it's been wet, it's plugged and lost balls aplenty!

3 people? How much space do you lads need, it's 50 yards wide according to Google Maps. I only use it sparing before a round on a Saturday morning so never really anyone else there but I'd have thought you could get 5 or 6 on it at a time without an issue.

I was just lamenting again about how there's no driving range near me, and started thinking about the practise area at my club.

There's a 200-ish yard practise area at my club which is essentially a range, but you'd presumably have to bring your own practise balls and then have to collect them at the end. My club is only 5 minutes drive away so would be convenient for a mid-week practise when I'm working from home, but I just cannot picture myself wandering around the practise area afterwards picking up 30 odd practise balls to take them home again. Does anyone actually do this?? I can't recall that I've ever seen someone just practising down there at my club - if people are there they're usually having a lesson with the pro I think.

The only time I used it I took about 6 balls out and practised my pitching to the nearest flag - I really can't imagine smashing 30 full shots in all directions and then picking them all up afterwards.

What I used to do was mark all my practice balls with a big red marker, initials on each ball and 3 big lines around them and used one of these for the balls which makes it easy to collect them at the end. I'd hit some into the trees at the end of the session with driver but any balls I'd find on the course would go into this bag to replenish them.

 

[Imurg]

We have 2 practice grounds and neither are compatible with drivers unless you're sub 200 yards.
We have 3 practice greens, 2 with bunkers and the 3rd a chipping area
I've never been on either practice ground for the exact reasons stated above - what a PITA having to walk out and collect all your balls....plus I don't practice anyway
I use 2 of the practice greens on and off, the 3rd is too far away to be of use unless you're making came there for a few hours.