From range to course. Sean Foley makes sense.

I was browsing around Youtube and came across this.

Forward to 16:30 if you don't want to listen to the whole thing. He describes "range players with low handicaps". Not a Foley advocate but he really makes a great point of how grooved in I can get at the range after hitting 5 and 10 balls with the same club and then puke on the course with the same club.

Because I'm trying to learn the 5sk system, I've become more selective on which YouTube videos I'll watch. If I'm watching a PGA instructor and he says something like "it's ok to have lateral movement of the head" or "restrict your hip rotation", I'll usually close out the video.. Foley's philosophy seems similar to 5sk - at least to my uneducated eye. Any way, I like him.

As far as practicing with a different club after each shot as he describes, I started doing this early on in my first year because it just makes sense. If I were to coach any sport, I would try to instill the idea that you practice with the same intensity as you'd have in a game, and you try relax as much in competition as you would during practice. At least close the gap a bit between the two.

I've played in enough men's softball leagues that I see the same thing at every practice. The pitcher will throw BP with very little arc and the team will hit line drives all day long at practice. Then when they face a pitcher during a game throwing pitches with arc and spin, they'll pop the ball up. Go figure,

I'm certainly not Sean Foley, but I absolutely disagree with spending 70% of your time practicing 110 yards on in.......

I do like the advice to mix up the clubs on the range and not just work with a single club......at least in warm-up before the round.  My last handful of shots on the range before a round replicate the first three holes from tee to green.

I have played competitive billiards for over 25 years and one of the mental things i have not been able to carry over from pool to golf is that rhythm you could develop while playing pool. I mostly played 9ball and Straight Pool. Straight is prevalent up in the North East. Either way a player has an ability of catching a rhythm or tempo shot after shot. I've have seen players, including myself, get into 50-60 ball runs and clear them out in less then 30 minutes. There is little time between shots and if your "on" you can really get a nice game going on. There is even a tactic of trying to control the table so the opponent gets "cold" which is from sitting there and not being able to shoot for a few minutes.

So when i go onto the range and start hitting ball after ball with the same club i get back into that rhythm that i was used to. While this might look great as Foley describes, its not something conducive to learning how to play on the course. I think this is a similar reason why i don't bother with lessons. Unless they are on the course discussing proper approach to each shot getting really good on the range really proves nothing.

I've read much of the http://thesandtrap.com/t/58816/65-25-10-practice-ratios-where-to-devote-your-practice-time

thread and figured many would disagree with him on that. At my level, I just prioritize where I think the most improvement would be the most beneficial and devote more practice towards that weakness. But my methods haven't exactly paid off... yet.

Even hitting into my net last winter, I'd take a scorecard out with me and "play a round" (minus the putting). I can't tell 100% how well or poorly a shot is struck, but I'd play the next appropriate club and type of shot based on where I believed the previous shot would have landed. In any event, it got me into the habit of practicing more as I would have played.

This year, I'm focused more on fundamentals and specific keys. So I mostly use a 5 iron and a pitching wedge while trying to develop what I'm working on.