Good at the driving range, crap on the course...

Hey guys,

I just started playing golf again after about a 5 year absence. I'm 23 now and I played pretty much every day from the ages of 15-18.

I've always had a good swing. My old club pros would always comment on how good my swing naturally looked.

A week ago I decided to take up the game again and went to a driving range. For three days I've been hitting about 5 buckets of balls. In other words, a lot.

My swing feels great. I'm hitting the ball quite well. I'm not hitting it perfectly every time, but overall I was happy with the results after being out of the game for so long.

Today I decide to go to the course for the first time. My practice swings feel good. I'm pretty excited to play.

The entire day I played like crap. I did not make solid contact with any shot. I was either lifting my head, or over-swinging on pretty much ever shot. When I did have an ok shot, it still did not feel right.

In other words, my swing feels good, I just feel out of it mentally. Im over-swinging and lifting my head. Making retarded mistakes. I feel like I can play very well, but just failed to do it. On the range the one thing I never did was lift my head. I just didn't do it. When I did hit a bad ball, its because my hands were late and I sliced it. On the course, I was jumping up on nearly every shot.

I know its only my first time playing in a long time. But still, I really thought I was going to have a great round today.

The only part of my game that feels extremely good is my short game.

Anyways, what tips to do you have to try and calm myself mentally? How can I bring my driving range results to the actual course?

Same problem here man, until I started doing two things differently.....

1. When I go to the range now, I focus on a specific target/situation/shot as if I were on the course....I put pressure on myself to make the shot as If I was playing a scored round.

2. I realized that a big part of why I was awesome at the range, and junk on the course...is because I never really focused on what I was doing at the range to make myself hit the ball well. Basically I went to the range and started swinging until shots started going where I wanted, I never focused on specific mechanical things that I could replicate on the course. So now when I go to the range I develop mental checkpoints in my swing that I can duplicate on the course....this has been tantamount to my improvements so far!!

Hope that all helps!!

-Tony

i did the same thing. it's been about 4 weeks since i've started up again after 6 years of not touching a club. i would do fine at the range, but on the course i would shank and shank again.

on the course, i was thinking too much. i was thinking "am i swinging right?, i need to get it there; don't miss hit this! "

so now, i tell myself, thinking about your swing is for the range. i get all those questions answered at the range and make sure it gets grooved into my brain. then when i play on the course, i focus mainly on strategy and not so much on mechanics.

just be patient and it will come. i think your range sessions need to be more focused and always done with a purpose or "goal" in mind. ie: pick a flag and hit a whole bucket there.

it's good that your short game was ok, because those are the clubs we use the most in a round.

I've had this issue before. A couple of things to note.

- Were you hitting off of grass or mattes at the ranges. Unless you're working on a specific part of your swing, stay on grass as long as it's in good shape. Much better feed back.

- As mentioned above, pick a specific target but also pick boundries on each side. Imagine that if you hit it past that boundry than you lost your ball. Many hits at the range you think would be good, you would lose your ball at a course. Fairways are a lot narrower. :)

- Step away after each swing and treat it like you were on the course. Pick your target line, address and swing. Don't just mindlessly hit balls.

- Take about 15 or 20 balls and play an imginary course with them. Start out with your driver and then your iron on the next shot. try to mix up the yardarge. The will help getting used to switching clubs after every shot.

- I've started hitting the smallest bucket available (about 50 balls). It makes me focus on every shot. Plus after 100 balls I'm pretty worn out and not swinging as good anyway.

Good luck!

Welcome to the wonderful world of golf my friend.

Let me ask you this. Have you ever seem anyone real shot that looked as nice as his practice swing? I doubt it. The reason is the same as the driving range to the course.

Because it doesn't matter. No pressure. The practice swing and the range ball, you don't have to go find it.

You want to improve? Step up and hit the ball. Don't over think. Concentrate on where you want the ball to go. If you think lake it goes in the lake. Think green, 150 yard marker, bunker you can't reach. Play faster play better stop thinking about your elbow and your press.

Remember if you shoot 100 and you take 2 practice swings on each shot you swung 300 times.

I hate the range. I usually play my best golf after a really crappy warm up.

You want to practice? go to the bunker or putt or chip.

It is really easy to groove a bad swing at the range that will hit the ball straight. On the course you only have one chance to hit that particular shot. kfowler gave some good advice. Hit less balls, perfect your setup and preshot routine. Yeah, I know it is kind of boring but it is much more productive.

I used to have that problem. I realized I didn't overthink my shots at the range because once I got in the groove I would step up hit it straight, and another and another. At the course I would stand over each ball for 30 seconds set up 2 or 3 times, doubt myself, set up again and then swing. All the over thinking really screwed me up.

I started stepping up to the ball, lining up my shot, 1 practice swing, step up and hit it and I'm playing better than ever. Also I noticed on the range you don't swing as hard because you're not looking at a flag 200+ yards away that you want to reach. On the course you're looking at a target far away and you just want to kill it and get there. I started swinging 1/3 as hard as I think I needed to and it's generating ball flight that's straight and decently long. In reality what I think is a 1/3 swing ends up being probably more like a 8/10ths swing but a full swing in my head. With a smoother easier swing you automatically keep your head down, transfer your weight forward and keep your hands ahead of the ball, I don't even have to think about any of it.

I had exactly the same problem. People were probably tired of playing a round with me when I couldn't hit one clean shot but all the time I would tell them I'm awesome on the range.
I used to hit anywhere from 1000-2000 balls a day, 6-8 hours.

The problem with the range is that you can groove your swing to a particular club, your body can adapt amazingly well.

If you study your performance closely you may discover that you'll pick up say a 7i hit a few duff shots and then hit the next 20 clean, pick up a 6i, hit a couple of duff shots and then hit the next 20 clean etc etc etc...

What you must practice is hitting different clubs one after the other... I hit a driver, then a 3 wood or 3i then a pitch.... then i'll hit the driver then a 7i or a 5i then a pitch.... just like you would on a course.

Ultimately you're doing exacly as you would do on the golf course.

At the range you groove a tempo and rhythm that doesn't change much from shot to shot.

At the course there are constant, destructive influences on your tempo. Take one of the new electronic metronomes with you to the course and use it for every shot. They look like a cellphone or wristwatch and can be put on vibrate so nobody will know that you are using one on every swing. With one of these babies, your tempo and rhythm will be consistent the entire round.

I totally agree with this post....and many others!!! There are some great tips here for taking your swing from the range to the course, but in my opinion it boils down to the TEMPO.

For me, the main difference is that I rush my swing on the course. I think a lot of these posts are very related because they are geared toward the tempo. The main goal of the pre-shot routine is to keep your same, natural RHYTHM. Believe me, as I am writing this I am taking a mental note to remember to keep a smooth tempo on the course. It is easy to forget when you are actually standing in front of a ball on the course.

i'll be doing the same thing.

i tend to rush my pre-shot and my shot on the course.

For the first time in a very long time, I had a session at the driving range before a round. I mean I have hit a small bag of balls at the course before a round but I went to a driving range across the street from the course because I had some time to kill and got a bucket of about 80 balls. So I work on my swing, not just hit balls and was hitting the ball pretty good. I was just tweaking things a bit. My main effort was keeping the arms in front of my body and a good cup in the right wrist while maintaining a flat left wrist. I was hitting solid but actually pulling the ball a bit. Result: The worse round in about three months. I am hitting weak fades and slices all day, something I never do and something that really drives me nuts. I didn't do any of that on the range. Just a pisser when you think you've done yourself some good and are ready to play a good round.

I injured my back and couldn't do anything but practice pitching and putting for three weeks.

I went to the course last weekend and hit every single fairway with my driver. Before that, it was a 60 yard slice.

I'm the reverse, bad on the range. Better on the course. The range feels like torture to me. But on the course I'm focusing on my target, placing the ball and grinding for the most important thing in golf.....score. It's not how, but how many. I firmly believe that once you hit the first tee, you have to play the game you have that day. And few driving ranges have conditions that simulate the course, i.e. rough, sidehill lies, hardpan, recoveries under trees...etc