Driving Range Pro to Golf Course Idiot?

[tm22721]

When this happens simplify your swing to that of a 9-3 exercise. Works for every club even driver and you still get 90% distance.

[misty_mountainhop]

I really tried to do this last round out. I analyzed the ball's flight path, determined I was coming way over the top by the ball flight and my divot pattern, and tried to tuck my rear elbow into my hip to help stay on plane. That didn't seem to work. So I tinkered with everything else over the course of the round, and nothing but awful shots ensued. The worst part was, I couldn't FEEL a difference in my swing between the awful shots and the good ones. Takeaway felt the same, but once I hit impact, I knew it was awful just by the feel.

That sounds like a _lot_ of things to be concentrating on during a swing. I'd like to bet that you're swinging with a quicker rhythm on the course than the practice range (even if you don't feel like it); slow it down and hit it easy. Deliberately take a club too much on approach shots and hit easy/half-shots in to the target.

A daft(ish) tip I heard once was you want a rhythm to the sound of the name "Alistair Keduggan" in your head - start backswing as you start to think the name and you want the ball strike on the "dug" syllable of "Keduggan". Alex Hay was the guy who suggested it so it may not be so dumb. Ernie Els is my go to imaginary tempo (he's a pretty good Keduggan guy) when I'm striking it bad as it's almost always a tempo issue - get quick and all sorts can/will go wrong. Sounds like your setup method is pretty classical so I would just simply concentrate on a slow takeaway over the first 12-24 inches, nice and easy tempo and just concentrate/focus on making the best strike of the ball while on the course. Don't over-complicate with too many swing thoughts while on the course; that's what the practice range is for after all. Worth getting a lesson? Might identify an issue and give you a simple, single fix that you can work on. Keep at it; it'll come right in the end.

[jambalaya]

It is really difficult to live up to your driving range standard. You expect to go to the course and do the same thing, a reasonable expectation, and a couple of bad shots makes you tense, pissed off, angry, perplexed and round is shot. I say no long range sessions right before a round. Go to the practice greens and practice putting and chipping. If you can get a small bag of about 20 balls you could a few shots with several different clubs to warm up but don't over do it. If you are going to the range a lot and working on your game take the day off when you go play a round. "Play" being the operative word.

[smith5606]

Please remember that any advice you get from me is worth exactly what you pay for it. With that said, I have found that the less I think after I have set up (during a real round) the better off I am. I try to completely clear my mind, focusing only on the ball. Then, I let my "natural" swing take over. NOTE: That natural swing has been honed through hours of practice, hopefully practice enough to engrain the swing into my hands, arms, back, sholderss, and legs. If I have done my job on the practice tee, I don't have to think about anything except hitting the ball. If and only if all of the about is true, I have a repeatable swing,, just like Mr. Hogan said I needed.

If all of the above fails to help, see a teaching pro. Then you'll get advice that means something.

[og512]

I have the same problem recently. What I have done is start my round with a cautious approach.

Instead of going to the practice range, I just warm up real good by hitting tees with not ball and stretching. Every now and then, I will hit the range but no more than 10-15 shots. being on the range makes me want to swing for the fences without focusing on accuracy and sometime causes bad habits. So I do just enough to get my muscles warm.
Then I go to the practice green to bring the heartrate and adrenaline down.

I tee off with an iron to put the ball in the fairway and get my coinfidence up. After that, everything mentally is ok. And I have found that good mental translates to good physical.

Good luck.

[golf_junkie27]

Just something else I wanted to add. Some advice given by Chi Chi Rodriguez. He said that when he's on the golf course, all he sees are fairways and greens. He does not see bunkers, OB, rough. He looks for everything good the hole has to offer and plays to that.

Think about that the next time you are on the course. Are you looking at everything that can cause harm and carry that over to when you are over the ball? Do you swing the club with that in mind?

[MCFung]

Honestly, my swing thoughts have nothing to do with the course itself. My thoughts are more focused on staying on plane, hip rotation and weight shift. I know if I make a good swing I can get it to where its supposed to go. I guess I just worry so much about my swing itself and making it a good one, that I fall apart.

[worst_shot_ever]

Caveat: I'm no instructor, and have a long way to go. I'm subject to the same problem you describe. That said, the advice I had in mind when I read your original post has already been mentioned above, which makes me think maybe there's something to it:

(i) don't play full shots off matts if you're about to play on the course (in my experience, matts artificially resist chunks, or in my case "digging to China," which is my typical miss ... and trying to avoid a chunk can spell skull), and/or

(ii) warm up with the 9-3 drill instead (or in the case of a Lefty, the 3-9 drill). It forces you to focus on your turn, holding your angles, getting the clubhead square at impact in a leveraged position, and as someone mentioned, you can do it on every club.

[gogolfing]

Sounds like a mental issue to me. I'm just finishing up a coaching series of 12 lessons and a few lessons back we worked on finding a target on each hole and really concentrating on it. If the target is more than 150 yards out, then I pick a target up high like a tree top. It has made a real difference for me, and has allowed me to get away from having a bunch of swing thoughts on the course.

A couple of good books around this topic are Fearless Golf and Every Shot Must Have a Purpose .

[ieatfood]

I had the exact same problem. Fine at the range--then nothing but skulls, shanks, slices, etc. on the course.

It took me a while, but I figured out my problem--exactly. Now you may not have the same problem. But I thought I'd share:

1. I get "afraid" on the course. When I get "afraid" i tend to have trouble releasing the club--I hit the ball with a wide-open face with horrid results. My solution--work on exaggerating the release. It will actually feel like my clubhead is extremely closed at impact, when in reality, I'm hitting it square.

2. When I get frustrated, I tend to overswing, and I end up hitting shanks. I have to remind myself to keep my hands near my body on the downswing. If that doesn't work, I'll start to intentionally try and hit the ball with the toe of my club. It sounds crazy, but that works for me.

SO my two pieces of advice: 1. hit the ball with what feels like an extremely closed clubface (in reality, it will be square). 2. Hit the ball with what feels like the toe of the club (in reality, it will be on the center). Just goes to show you--sometimes, what it "feels like" and what actually happens, are two different things.

That's my two cents (btw, I suck at golf, so don't be surprised if my advice doesn't work!!)

[drewdown]

Just have to relax and enjoy it man. Try not to be perfect or over analyze, just have fun!

[sonicblue]

It's easy on the range to have no targets, no expectations, you're just swinging away and it flies "out there," and you think, "boy, what a great shot," while bad shots are quickly dismissed as, "huh, weird, let's just try it again..."

You get to the course, and now a ball that drifts 15 yds left is OB, or you have to play the one you topped. Worse, the bad shots yields a bad lie, and that swing on a smooth mat has no relevance.

It's fine to having driving range practice to warm up your swing, but you then need to prepare mentally to manage the course and your game with whatever that swing is. If I had to guess, you focus completely on "swing" at the range, but get to the course and start thinking "shots," only to find you didn't practice those at the range, and "swing" simply will not carry you.

[og512]

This is VERY similar to me. I warm up great but and even play the first few holes good but as the round progresses a hook creeps it's way into my wood and hybrid swing. I can't make it hook at all when on the range. I wonder if I get loose and lazy once I am warmed up?

Same here. I think my swing breaks down over the course of a round. As I get started, my confidence is high because i making good shots. Then I think I start getting lazy and not concentrating and bad things start happening. it's a vicious cycle mentally.