Whats the deal with the driving range?

[QWKDTSN]

Reminds me of the range scene in Tin Cup.

"Look at this! Brand new Titleists! Never been hit! Sneak some into the bag!"

Not only do the ubiquitous Top Flite range balls not go as far as a premium ball, they also spin a lot less off the driver, which makes it really hard to work on my persistent slice.

[lucky7]

A few weeks ago we had a long drive contest in our golf camp. To track the distance they had this $35,000 computer that can track missles. So on my second chance at the long drive i pured a ball right up the center. The moment i hit it i knew it was good. So the guy looks at the computer and says 247 yards. I stared at him for a few seconds in disbelief because i know i can hit the ball 280 when i really hit it and that sure felt like it. After the contest was over everyone was complaining that the distances were definetly too short. the coach said that everybody hits the ball farther on the course. Whether it be adrenaline or anything else it seems that people just hit the ball farther on the course than they do on the range. Sorry for the long story once i got going i just kept going haha.

[tjy355]

To go along with the bad balls, the yardage signs at driving ranges are universally wrong.

(check it out with the rangefinder)

[ks8829]

I would ask the guys at the range if they experience the same distance discrepancies. I hit the range balls about the same as on the course.

I notice some course uses very hard golf balls that I don't like at all.

[Soup Fan]

What's the deeeaaaal with Corn Nuts?!?!?

[Ben]

What's the

So I'm not the only one that read the title of this thread with a Jerry Seinfeld voice? hahaha.

Back on track: As many have already said, the majority of ranges, mine included use limited flight range balls. Most made with a 70 compression rate, where a regular ball is either 90 or 100 compression. When I hit balls I hand-pick only the good brand new ones for my bucket.

[Garthmo]

1- Range balls suck
2- distances on the range are not correct
3- Redbull before the round? It gives you wings...

[Ceej]

A few weeks ago we had a long drive contest in our golf camp. To track the distance they had this $35,000 computer that can track missles. So on my second chance at the long drive i pured a ball right up the center. The moment i hit it i knew it was good. So the guy looks at the computer and says 247 yards. I stared at him for a few seconds in disbelief because i know i can hit the ball 280 when i really hit it and that sure felt like it. After the contest was over everyone was complaining that the distances were definetly too short. the coach said that everybody hits the ball farther on the course. Whether it be adrenaline or anything else it seems that people just hit the ball farther on the course than they do on the range. Sorry for the long story once i got going i just kept going haha.

What kind of golf camp is this? 35,000 dollar computer that tracks missiles? People usually like to think they hit it a lot further on the course than they actually do.

[lordhamster]

What kind of golf camp is this? 35,000 dollar computer that tracks missiles? People usually like to think they hit it a lot further on the course than they actually do.

My guess is it is tracking more Hosel Rockets than missiles these days :)

[Harry Longshanks]

My guess is it is tracking more Hosel Rockets than missiles these days :)

Groooooaaannnnn . . . (good one. )