Driving range appreciation

[anthony]

The range I go to is nothing extravagant. A flat piece of land down a dirt road, a little hut filled with clubs and balls, mats and grass to hit from. What it does have is character. The guy who runs it loves golf, plays the game well & has gave me great tips over the years. Everytime I go, there are a couple of retired guys sitting around by the hut(for lack of a better term) just shooting the breeze, hitting a few balls and hanging out. Whenever I go without my wife, they always ask where she is.

Well, nothing made me appreciate it more than today. For the first time ever, it was closed when I arrived. His part time help didn't show up and he was playing golf somewhere. So, I went to the "other range" today. I've never been there, but had an idea where it was. The building is nice, the parking lot paved, and there is a roof over all the stalls. There are greens to hit to, a chipping area and putting area. There's a cute little pro shop or whatever you want to call it to. There are even trays to put your balls in for easy access. But, I couldn't get out of there fast enough. For one, the woman working, could obviously care less about golf. Also there small is $2 more than large at my usual range. I don't know what prices are everywhere else, but $7 for a small is a lot of cash. Especially when I pay $5 for a large. Plus, they had these nike "range balls". At first I thought to myself, "These look new, they'll probably be nice to hit". Wrong! They were like hitting rocks. Even when I struck a perfect shot, it felt like shit. My range has old balls, not those piece of crap rock balls. Plus their mats sucked and the grass was off limits. Even the people hitting balls there rubbed me the wrong way. I'm used to talking to people, being friendly, etc. That place was very sterile, for lack of a better word. It was really weird. Finally, all the shots were downhill, which is no way to gauge distances. I didn't even finish my bucket.

I ended up going back to my range. I told the guy that runs it I didn't have time to stay, just give me a small. He filled up a large and said "3 bucks, you need to keep working on that swing, dinner will still be there when you get home. Bring the wife with you next time". Moral of the story...not sure exactly. Just wanted to share this.

[jdub]

moral of the story... avoid nike balls..

or he wants your wife

[sumo]

moral of the story go where you go and nowhere else

[Bubba_13]

It's great to find a place where you feel at home. I have been teeing it up at a small course just outside the city. Nothing fancy, no glitz, no frills but I can walk in on a given night and the pro shop manager knows me by name, the owner of the little deli will say hello and ask if I want my usual. There is something to be said about the atmosphere of a place and how it makes you feel.

Keep going back to that range, it will give you more back than an improved swing.

[flap]

In todays economy we all need to support the "Mom and Pop" stores.Small bussiness runs America's economy.

[Dub]

Keep going to your home range....sounds like a great spot.

Be glad the other place is open, too, for emergency use only.

[Supermanwoot]

The range I go to they basically just leave you alone but I dont mind that much. I got a member key so I don't have to go into the pro-shop. If I do enter the clubhouse, there is this one guy there who I swear they need to fire immediately. He has zero personality, doesnt say hi, just walks up to the counter and looks at you until you say what you want. The only thing he has ever said to me is the price of whatever I'm getting (and he mumbles that, at best). Then I say "thanks, have a nice day" and get no response. He makes a really bad image for the club.

Sorry just wanted to vent. My club has 2 driving ranges. One has a bunch of nice targets, bunker, and chipping/putting green. The other has limited targets, bunker, and the chipping and putting green is way far away. Still, their price is reasonable for a bucket and hitting off actual grass is nice although its always different than the course's fairway.

[O.B. Right]

Places like you're talking about don't even exist in Southern California. When I lived in Green Bay, WI there was a cool driving range like that. Out here everything is more fancy/sterile/expensive/lame . whatever you want to call it.

[FHopper]

I go to several ranges.
One is so easy to get to, parking is easy, lots of room, good buckets, but with arbitrary posts for distance markers so not a lot of feed back on club gaps. It has several large putting clocks but no dedicated chipping area.

Another is 30 miles but like a small club with a wonderful feel, cheap buckets, great parking, and good distance markers, a nice putting green but no dedicated chipping area.

The best is close, a double ended range with great yardage marking, but it is in the middle of the course between holes. It is a serious walk from the proshop, probably 500 yards. However, on the way you pass the large putting clock, a good sized chipping green with putting, and a 140 yard pitching range with a non-putting green. Therefore you are parking a long way from the action. You can target and work on any part of your game here and then play on a Robert Trent Jones course.

The common thread in all of my favorite ranges is GRASS, if it ain't grass it's crap. I might hit off a mat in the dead of winter but I cannot imagine doing it anytime else.

[deronsizemore]

Sounds like you've found a great place to go hit balls.

I actually prefer to not speak to anyone while I'm on the range (unless I know the person). Been too many "watch this" type moments on the range with people I don't know and honestly couldn't care less that they can hit driver 230 yards.

[steve8820]

What is the point of this thread? One thing I noticed is that the dirty old guy is leering at your wife. I can almost hear the retired old guys now chatting it up about her under the "hut"....

[NormH3]

What is the point of this thread? One thing I noticed is that the dirty old guy is leering at your wife. I can almost hear the retired old guys now chatting it up about her under the "hut"....

I understand the point of the post, however I find your post pointless as mine is pointing out that yours is.

[steve8820]

I understand the point of the post, however I find your post pointless as mine is pointing out that yours is.

Huh?......I had to read you post at least 8 times to try and interpret that sentence. Are you saying that my post is pointless? If so, I agree. Pointless posts.....it just goes with the whole theme of this pointless thread.

[NormH3]

Huh?......I had to read you post at least 8 times to try and interpret that sentence. Are you saying that my post is pointless? If so, I agree. Pointless posts.....it just goes with the whole theme of this pointless thread.

So your point is that by adding to a pointless post that you are somehow making a valid point?

[sean_miller]

Huh?......I had to read you post at least 8 times to try and interpret that sentence. Are you saying that my post is pointless? If so, I agree. Pointless posts.....it just goes with the whole theme of this pointless thread.

The driving range is a necessary evil for people who aren't lucky enough to have the time or disposable income to do their practicing at a private (or even semi-private) club. The old guy running the range did seem a bit preoccupied with the OP's wife, but most people would rather I show up with my wife than alone as well. She's a much nicer person than I'll ever be.

This thread may not offer insight into the golf swing that is typically recylcled via copy and paste from another website. There are no golf swing related epiphany that a lifelong hacker just made while parring 2 consecutive holes. No hard empirical (or anecdotal or completely fabricated) data on why at your particular handicap, height, weight, age, you should buy X, Y, or Z golf club/ball/bag/shoe/etc. It's a story that does not need critique - a guy thinks bigger and newer isn't always better. Should he have cited the Golf Digest article which profiled Bob Torrance and the old crappy range he still calls home?

[cougar978]

My range consists of a trailer, about 25 astroturf tees, and the rest grass (the owner doesn't care if I go in front of the astroturf tees as long as there's no danger of getting nailed by a shank from someone else). Anyway, it's $5 for a large bucket, and $45 for a 10-bucket card - I go there every Tuesday and Thursday on my lunch to hit a bucket (I have a mini-fridge in my office and pack my own food, so I just eat whenever I please).

Last week, my wife and I went to NYC, and I went to Chelsea Piers Golf Club (the driving range with the 200 ft tall nets that's right on the Hudson River). For the same size bucket at my range (about 100 balls), I'm stuck for $30.

Chelsea Piers does not even have buckets, you buy a swipe card in the 'pro shop', swipe it in a card reader they have in each station, and you can select your tee height for drivers, it tells you how many balls you have left, etc. I guess since they have limited space, that's the most effective delivery mechanism.

One thing I never realized about that place is how difficult it is to get a ball over the back nets - I never tried to just hit one over the right or left net, but the center net was fair game - the range is only 200 yds deep, so I figured I could nail a driver over top of it, but I realized that my driver doesn't get much more than 50 ft off the ground, no matter what. The closest I came to getting one over was with my 4-wood - opened the face up and played a balloon fade, almost got it over a few times, but ended up just getting really tired and developing a nasty snap-hook for whatever reason. Perhaps if I got up on the fourth floor of the range, I could have put one over into the river, but I never thought of that until we were back on the road.

[shankapotamus]

The range I go to is nothing extravagant. A flat piece of land down a dirt road, a little hut filled with clubs and balls, mats and grass to hit from. What it does have is character. The guy who runs it loves golf, plays the game well & has gave me great tips over the years. Everytime I go, there are a couple of retired guys sitting around by the hut(for lack of a better term) just shooting the breeze, hitting a few balls and hanging out. Whenever I go without my wife, they always ask where she is.

You should never use any range to gauge distances.

[FHopper]

Shank,
Do you see a problem with identifying gap distances on a range? I am still wrestling with my modern club gaps. I went from early 70's clubs with "real" lofts to "distance enhancing lofts". Basically every '09 Burner iron club is 5* stronger than my old set.
It also seems a good place to gauge the changes in distance for different swing strengths.
Am I really just going to the range so I can show off all my new clubs and pose after the occasional good ball?