Driving Range Routine? What Should You Do at the range? (Recommend drills and routines you do)

[akammerer]

So i posted a thread several hours ago about how i was feel strained at the driving range and a couple people were telling me routeens they did at the driving range. So i would like some advice and feel like it would he helpful for all. I dont really have much of a routeen i just dont try to hit the same club more than once or twice in a row. But can you all tell me your driving range routeens and how to get the best out of your bucket of balls? 

[theChestnut]

I like to visualize a course, and try and hit targets, and play the range like a course.

Other times I just focus on certain clubs

[saevel25]

So i posted a thread several hours ago about how i was feel strained at the driving range and a couple people were telling me routeens they did at the driving range. So i would like some advice and feel like it would he helpful for all. I dont really have much of a routeen i just dont try to hit the same club more than once or twice in a row. But can you all tell me your driving range routeens and how to get the best out of your bucket of balls? 

Depends on what I am working on. If I am working on my swing then I will do 4-5 swing movements without the ball wand then do one hitting the ball while video taping it. Then I will review the video to see if I am getting the movement I want in the swing. Then it's back to working on getting what I want to work. I can go through 50 range balls and make 200 swings and get more out of that than a guy who buys two large buckets and just hits ball after ball. 

If I am before a round. I'll typically hit wedges to short irons to mid irons to hybrid to driver. Just try to get a feel for how the swing is. Maybe if it isn't feeling good I might try to work on a feel that works for me in the past. I just want to get a good idea of making good contact. 

[phillyk]

Before a round, I like to hit about 50-60 balls.  10 are wedges, 10 8 irons, 5 driver, 3 3wood, 3 driving iron, and then mix everything else in until I'm comfortable.  The key to this warmup is to not rush it. Going too fast will wear me out.  My goal in warmup is to go from thinking about what the swing is doing today to making swings with minimal thoughts with the same ball flight.  

I don't like doing a practice session at the range very much, because it's so easy to over hit.  When you make a bad shot, the tendency is to hit 5 more as fast as you can to fix it... bad idea. But it's hard to stop.  I try to take my time when just practicing and work with a very singular goal in mind, otherwise I'll go into hitting as fast as I can.  It can be starting the draw at the flag and ending at the mound 5 yards left or working on my 3/4 wedges and getting their distance and accuracy control better.  Just trying to hit the same shot every time.  

[Patch]

First and foremost I am always aiming at at a target.  I usually start with my wedges, and work my way to my driver. I am always working on my alignment with each club. I carry two 3' metal yard sticks for that. The last 20 or so balls, I will hit driver, 5i, wedge. at a target. Sometimes it's 3w, 8i, wedge. Sometimes I will give my 5w some extra time. I always take my time. Once I am done at the driving range, I will move to the short game area, and from there to putting green. I am fortunate to have a very decent practice facility I can use. 

[mvmac]

So i posted a thread several hours ago about how i was feel strained at the driving range and a couple people were telling me routeens they did at the driving range. So i would like some advice and feel like it would he helpful for all. I dont really have much of a routeen i just dont try to hit the same club more than once or twice in a row. But can you all tell me your driving range routeens and how to get the best out of your bucket of balls? 

What is your priority piece? What are the faults in your swing you're trying to improve?

It's ok if you don't know the answer to these questions right now, I would suggest finding out. Just going to the range and hitting balls "aimlessly" is only going to ingrain your bad habits. Start a swing thread on here or find a qualified instructor.

I posted the "5 S's of Practice" thread in the other thread you started, also suggest you take a look at this.
http://thesandtrap.com/forums/topic/58816-652015-practice-ratios-where-to-devote-your-practice-time/

And this.
http://thesandtrap.com/forums/topic/84275-tst-instructional-content/

Edited October 5, 2015 by mvmac

[DrvFrShow]

Right now I'm doing some special work. But my typical range session is like this.

1) Identify my priority piece. (Ninja'd by Mike) Well this is easy. My pro told me. Right now it's setting my wrists - this is a specialty fix. But let's say it's getting my weight forward. That's Key 2 of the 5SK system. I think I spent a ton of time on that. I'm always working on that regardless of what I'm doing. This is my main priority piece.

2) Warm up and stretch.

3) Divide up the bucket. Say I have 100 balls. Normal session is GW, 9 iron, 6 iron, Driver. The reason I pick these irons - There are target greens at my 95 yds, 124 yds, 170 yds. Some days I'll leave the 9 iron at home and bring an 8 iron and hit to the 145 yd target green.

So I'll start with 15 balls with my GW. Easy shots in groups of 5 with gradually increasing intensity until by 15 I'm hitting just about a full shot. Then I'll hit 20 shots in groups of 5 to the 124 yd target with my 9 iron. Then I'll go to 30 shots in groups of 5 to the 174 yd target with my 6 iron. Then 20 shots at a center pole at the back of the range with my driver trying to keep it within 15 yds either side - you want to hit your driver. Now, I'm at cool down, 15 more shots with my GW to the 95 yd target - it's really a partial GW shot for me at that distance. 95 is a half club too long for my full SW and a half club too short for a full GW, so it's a good cool down. Then I'm done and time to putt.

So it's:

Easy GW: 15 balls

Full 9 iron: 20 balls

Full 6 iron: 30 balls

Driver: 20 balls

GW: 15 balls

And on each one I'm working on my priority piece.

When the drill is over, it's over. You're done. A former touring pro told me to do this. Let it go. It teaches you to move on because on the course you will hit a bad shot and you will have to forget about it and move on. There are no do overs and mentally you can't hang onto it either -  you have to let it go.

When the weather is nice you want to do some chipping and putting too and devote about 35% of  your time there. Maybe you go to the range and do your drills two days a week and on the third day you chip and putt.

 

Edited October 5, 2015 by DrvFrShow

[rkim291968]

I like to visualize a course, and try and hit targets, and play the range like a course.

Other times I just focus on certain clubs

I do the above, too.   I go through my home course hole by hole.  If I hit a bad shot, I will hit it a few more times with the same club.  Then on to the next hole until I finish all 18 holes. 

About every other practice, I go through all the clubs to see how I am doing and work on weak spots.

I also do a lot of mirror work at company gym.  

[Golfingdad]

As others have already mentioned ... your routine should basically be defined by whatever it is that you're working on.  Just hitting balls with various clubs isn't doing much of anything other than warming you up.

[ncarlsongolf]

So i posted a thread several hours ago about how i was feel strained at the driving range and a couple people were telling me routeens they did at the driving range. So i would like some advice and feel like it would he helpful for all. I dont really have much of a routeen i just dont try to hit the same club more than once or twice in a row. But can you all tell me your driving range routeens and how to get the best out of your bucket of balls? 

Practice Sessions-   Go in with something in mind to accomplish,  for example, if it it getting your aiming figured out.  I would practice setting up to an alignment aid, no ball, just aiming at a target and taking an inventory how everything feels. Next, Align to another alignment stick and perform the shot.  Lastly, align without an alignment stick and see how it goes.  Going through this three step process will not only transfer the information faster but it will not let you get dependent on the training aid.

Relevant Practice-   Go though a typical round and visually play holes on the range.  (hitting 75 5-irons hardly ever helps you)  Plotting out a fairway between flags or trees on the range and then grading that swing will help you more.  If you accomplished that swing then you would hit a PW shot to the green, if you didn't accomplish it very well you might have to hit a cut 8-iron.  Grade that one and give yourself a score.  This type of relevant practice is far more helpful than just mindlessly hitting ball after ball

Edited October 8, 2015 by iacas
deleted extra returns

[Pendragon]

So i posted a thread several hours ago about how i was feel strained at the driving range and a couple people were telling me routeens they did at the driving range. So i would like some advice and feel like it would he helpful for all. I dont really have much of a routeen i just dont try to hit the same club more than once or twice in a row. But can you all tell me your driving range routeens and how to get the best out of your bucket of balls? 

I don't hit balls very often, but when I do I just work through the bag, starting with the most lofted clubs and finishing with the driver.

Also, I don't enjoy correcting the spelling of others, but please forgive me for pointing out that it's not "routeen", it's "routine". As an English major in college, somestimes I just can't help myself. 

[Lihu]

Priority piece and drill swings with LW 60-80 balls and takes about 1 minute or more for each swing. I spend about 2 minutes a swing for the first 2 swings to get the right positions. Then I do the same with the 52W- for 20 balls.

10 to 15 balls each of PW, 9i, 8i, 7i, 6i, 5i, 4i (no more than 5 balls), 3i (no more than 5 balls), 3H, 3W (off the deck), 3W off a 1/4" to 1/2" tee, Driver (10 shots), then I pyramid back down. Another 50 or so shots with PW to 8i trying to hit specific targets. If I hit more balls then it's usually a play scenario (Driver/ 52W to 6i/LW). Then I practice putting for 10-15 minutes or so. Chipping is something I need to practice a lot more than the 2 hours per week on Sunday afternoons.

[rkim291968]

BTW, my ball striking practice is always followed by short game practice: chipping, bunker shots, and sometimes putting.   I try variety of shots, clubs, distances, and lies.  Some days, I will practice a shot that isn't working in field.

[nevets88]

If you use video, imho, there's a art to using it most efficiently and catering it to fit what you're working on. How I use it when I first started and now is light years apart. There's some technical (especially if you're range hopping) know how involved, geometry, etc... If I ever get a chance, will put it down somewhere here, but still lots more to learn and evolve.

[CJK]

After years of being a range rat, I learned to practice short game and putting with equal time on hitting golf balls. Scoring improved.

[sirhacksalot]

I have just read that random practice teaches more than repetitive practice.  And differential is bettter than preferential.  So that being said i made flash cards that have all of my clubs and another set that has shapes, ball positions, high, low, chip / bump run, pitch flop, etc.  So next range session i am going to spend half the time playing the flash cards(one club and one shape) and the other half drawing a line down the middle of a wedge, mid iron, wood, and driver and practice hittiing heel and toe.

Here is the excel file tor the flashcards if anyone wants

golf flash cards.xlsx

Edited October 9, 2015 by sirhacksalot

[nevets88]

I have just read that random practice teaches more than repetitive practice.  And differential is bettter than preferential.  So that being said i made flash cards that have all of my clubs and another set that has shapes, ball positions, high, low, chip / bump run, pitch flop, etc.  So next range session i am going to spend have the time playing the flash cards(one club and one shape) and the other half drawing a line down the middle of a wedge, mid iron, wood, and driver and practice hittiing heel and toe.

Here is the excel file tor the flashcards if anyone wants

golf flash cards.xlsx

I've read about this from Mike Hebron, Dr. Tim Lee, some others,  I'm iffy on their exact strategies, but I basically purposely don't follow a fixed routine at the range, always changing things up w/the exception of practicing the priority piece. OTOH, I've never really stuck to a fixed routine, I eventually got bored after while and changed it up regardless.

 

Edited October 9, 2015 by nevets88

[JoeSeaton]

Put a headcover under your left armpit it helps create so much lag it's one of few drills you can do in a comp round (in your practice swing)