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I have trouble making the same swing on the range & the course


gibbous
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I'm sure this is completely psychological and not at all unique to me, but as soon as I leave the range and get out on the course, my ballflight changes from a gentle fade to a pronounced draw/hook, and formerly decent ballstriking becomes much more erratic.

When I'm on the range my focus is aligning myself to the target then making a complete, balanced swing and accepting the result as they come. I try to take this same approach to the course, but somewhere in between the bottom of my bucket and the first tee I seem to forget all about the balance and tempo that gets results on the range. I go back to my old habit of trying to consciously square the face to the target, basically flipping my hands to try to steer the ball toward the target. At impact, I'm suddenly all hands and arms which is exactly the opposite of how my swing works best. I'm more a feel player so I try to capture and repeat what I feel on the range, it just rarely seems to work.

I understand why flipping my hands at the ball will produce the poor ballstriking and the right to left flight, I'd just love to hear if there are any armchair sports psychologists out there with ideas on how to help overcome this as it's been bothering me for years.
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Sounds to me like your to concious of the distance ahead of you on the course.... when you see that your a certain yardage away you go into this state of "I have to hit the ball hard to get the distance" it happends to alot of people, I call it trust.. next time your out on the course try to take 1 club l less and sweet swing ... it might sound like your giving a stroke away but youll watch the ball land just off the green and you will get into a better rythm on the next hole... you will then believe that you dont have to kill the ball with the correct club, most players tend to be way to optical when they play such as hitting there drive over a 250 yard carry all they wanna do is kill the ball and it comes up short every time you have to go into the shot thinking the distance is short and until you can trust that the ball will go the distance then you will be hitting the same bad shots over and over and over,

ps
your welcome

Driver Tit 907D2 9.5 aldila spec grid 67s
HybidTit 585H 19* s flex
IronsTit 775cb 3-pw
WedgesTit vokey 52* 56* 60*
Putter Rife Barbados 35" winn mid pistol gripGolfballBridgestone B330-s/taylormade tp black/titleist prov1x
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......but somewhere in between the bottom of my bucket and the first tee I seem to forget........

How much "practicing" are you doing? Is all of your practice immediately before a round? Here's what we teach.....

PRACTICE is just that. It's practice. When practice is over, we STRONGLY recommend that our folks get in the car instead of the cart. Swing thoughts and techniques must be ingrained by repetition and going from the range to the course is a death sentence. Set aside 2 or 3 days in a row that you can only practice without playing. Do this weekly. You'll see the results. PLAYING time is NOT practice time. Range time spent before the round is for two reasons: (1) To see what your dominant ball flight is for the day, and (2) To get your muscles warmed up to avoid injury. If you arrive at the range before a round and suddenly your usual fade has become a straight ball, then go to the first tee with the straight ball in your pocket. Don't go there and wonder what you're going to have to do to get your fade working again. Odds are...it will return after a couple of holes and then you'll be ready to complete the round with confidence, and you didn't wreck the first few holes by fighting something that you had NO CHANCE of fixing on the course.
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play more rounds...
i agree with the other posts...
warm up is for warming up and getting an idea of what your tendencies are for that day... practice is a completely different animal...
recently ive noticed exactly what you are experiencing and my warm ups dont translate to the course... my rounds have gotten so much better by hitting the practice green and a quick stretch before my game... but thats just me... when i warm up i think swing lesson thoughts and thats not good for me
RUSS's avg drive - 230yrds and climbing
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My thoughts....

1. Dont just hit one ball after the other on the range. Step back off the shot, line up and then make the swing. Go through your on the course routine on the range.
2. Check your allignment. True, you could be "steering" the shot a bit. However I have seen cases were poor on course allignement can cause that. Its easy to get lined up on the range.

I hope that helps,

-Beane
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Thanks so much for the input so far, good stuff.

Sounds to me like your to concious of the distance ahead of you on the course.... when you see that your a certain yardage away you go into this state of "I have to hit the ball hard to get the distance"...try to take 1 club l

Totally true, it seems to be that effort to swing at a certain speed and control the strike that kills me. Last time I played I did something similar to what you suggest except I took one more club and let it go long. I'll try it short a bit when there's not much trouble to get into.

warm up is for warming up and getting an idea of what your tendencies are for that day... practice is a completely different animal... when i warm up i think swing lesson thoughts and thats not good for me

I guess I should have been a bit more clear about this part. I practice a few times a week and try to keep that as separate as possible from play. When I warm up I only hit enough balls to get loose and see how the ball is flying, as suggested. I can't help but go through a few swing thoughts when warming up, but they're the big ones that I'm trying to make automatic. My ballflight when warming up is usually pretty consistent with my practice sessions, it only gets weird when I play.

1. Dont just hit one ball after the other on the range. Step back off the shot, line up and then make the swing. Go through your on the course routine on the range.

You may have hit closer to the root of the problem than you think. I've never been able to stick to one specific pre-shot routine throughout a round, and if I could it seems like it could be the thing to tie this all together. I didn't really think of it that way before, but it seems pretty obvious now. Maybe I just haven't tried hard enough to find a comfortable routine I can stick with.

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If your trying to groove a new "move", and your working on muscle memory. Hitting shot after shot isnt bad at all.

At the end of a work out, I always make time to practice the routine. It takes me out of the driving range rythem and puts a little pressure on the shots I'm hitting. Its how I test to see if what I am working on is actually working.

Its all part of a well rounded workout.

I hope the ideas help,

-Beane
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Everybody is better on the driving range than on the course. That's just golf.

Sure, but I'm a LOT better on the range than I am on the course. No reason not to try to narrow the gap a little bit if I know I'm capable of playing better.

Thanks again to everyone for the suggestions. I guess I've always been resistant to incorporate strict routine and discipline into things I do for fun (and that includes practice) but I'm beginning to think that might be the best way to solve my problem.
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http://cameronsgolfblog.com/secret-golf/
Thanks to artfulgolfer. I found this link through his webpages. The ideas on this particular page derive, I believe, from the work of Carey Mumford. You can search him, too. He suggests a way to practice that research has suggested is the best way to take the golf swing and put it under control of the subconscious, which is more effective at directing compicated movement patterns than the thinking mind.

I have your problem, and I'm giving it a try. First attempt was today. I was trying to groove a fairly complicated swing improvement after my lesson. Once I got the feel of it, I followed the suggestion and interspersed hitting a handful of balls while singing a song in my mind, along with the ones where I focused on my swing. I was surprised at how good the singing shots were. At first, not so good as the thinking shots. Toward the end of the session, equally good.
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Everybody is better on the driving range than on the course. That's just golf.

Thats not always true I think everybody here has played better on the course than a certain day at the practice range... not to mention when Im out on the course my focus is so narrowed down to one spot on the fairway or green where Im tryin to land my ball it can get crazy...

Driver Tit 907D2 9.5 aldila spec grid 67s
HybidTit 585H 19* s flex
IronsTit 775cb 3-pw
WedgesTit vokey 52* 56* 60*
Putter Rife Barbados 35" winn mid pistol gripGolfballBridgestone B330-s/taylormade tp black/titleist prov1x
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On the driving range, most golfers are hitting multiple shots with a given club and tend to get better as the swing gets grooved for that club. One drill I do toward the end of practice is to pretend that I am playing holes. So I hit driver, then 5 iron, then pitching wedge. Next hole, driver, 5 wood, 9 iron. Next hole 6 iron, lob wedge. And so on. Constantly changing clubs puts more pressure on your swings because, no matter what people might say or think, the swing is somewhat different for different clubs. This drill helps to approximate what you will face on the course.
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I would take a look at your swing on video. If your swing is off on the range you can still get away with a little bit. On the course there's really no forgiveness.

T.M. O'Connell

What's in My Bag
Driver - 909 D2 9.5 degree
3 Wood - 909 F2 15.5 degreeHybrid - 909 H 19 degreeIrons - AP2 w/ Rifle 6.5Wedges - BN 60.04 & 54.11Putter - Pro Platinum Plus

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My personal observation is that your range swing results is better than your course swing results. And for most people, your range swing is not that great.

Great is 99 out of 100 hits are just the way you intended to hit it. My range swing is really good if I get over 60%. Many days, it is less. And my standards for "making the shot" allows for a big target/fairly large miss. As I am getting better, my target is getting smaller.

Try tracking how well you hit your range shots -- pick a target, record each shot, length, how close to the target, etc. Try hitting a different club and target with each shot. You might be surprised.
Michael Krolewski

In the Bag Boy Revolver Pro on a Clicgear 2.0 cart:
Acer Mantara XL Driver 10.5
Acer Mantara S.S 3 Wood; 3DX DC 15* Hybrid (3w/1h); 3DX DC 17* Hybrid (4w/2h); Acer XP905 Ti Hollow Core WS 4-9i; cg14 48* 2dot; cg14 54* 1dot; cg14 60* 1dot
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Note: This thread is 5495 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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