(sigh) my driving range is ridiculous

[Chipper]

let me paint you this picture. i'm trying to improve my iron game after work and this driving range is in the middle of a pasture (no trees to block any wind) and the best i can hope for is 10-15 mph head wind on a good day. now this doesn't translate to the course very well. the course does have wind blockage and my shots on the course go a heck of a lot further than they do on the driving range. so, to get to the question...how do i know i'm improving my distance at the range?

[deronsizemore]

Most range balls around here are terrible and a some even 80% balls meaning that they are only intended to fly 80% of their actual distance. Maybe your range balls are better?

For me, when I'm at the range I'm worried more about contact, ball flight and trajectory; not distance.

[ham_man]

Easy. Use your own balls.

[NotAStick]

Most range balls around here are terrible and a some even 80% balls meaning that they are only intended to fly 80% of their actual distance. Maybe your range balls are better?

Agreed. Range balls suck and don't fly the proper distance anyway.

Range targets are often poorly measured and inaccurately placed. Range turf is often chunky and sandy. Frankly, unless you're at a Pinehurst or Cherry Hills that uses massive bentgrass tee boxes and ProV1 practice ballls, and plaques all over the teebox with exact laser yardages to each flag, you won't have much luck. I use the range for contact, accuracy, ball flight, etc. I use practice rounds on the course for distance. Even on a good range, it's hard to get a +/- 5 yard accuracy of where you're landing and how the ball is releasing, etc. Next round, drop a ball at yardages for each of your irons on various holes and hit a few shots and see where they're ending up. It's hard to "work on" the yardage on a poor range, but isolating swing fundamentals that will help and working on those and then going to the course to try it out is about all you have.

[Zeph]

I never use the range shots as indication og distance, the balls on my course are not meant to fly as long as real balls.

If you play the course a couple of times, surely you should quickly see how far you hit each club. If you're alone, you could do some practice even. When playing, stop at the 150 yard mark, drop down a few balls and hit some clubs to see which lands on the green. Do the same around the 200 yard mark maybe between those and you've got some distances.

[Sherlockian]

After figuring out that my local range has limited distance balls, I am like mentioned above; contact and direction. My biggest clue was when my 4-5-6 irons were landing in a 5 yard area at the 163 flag. My normal distances with these are 190ish, 180ish, and 170ish respectively. I have a pretty high trajectory and with each of these irons the ball would reach the peak and drop like a rock.

[CG031]

Most range balls around here are terrible and a some even 80% balls meaning that they are only intended to fly 80% of their actual distance. Maybe your range balls are better?

I agree same with me....being a driving range member, I hit about 200 a day. I never worry about my distance anymore...simply work on my contact and playing different shots (draws, fades, punches, etc.) My range has those Srixon range balls, which don't compress like a normal golf ball you'd use on a course would.

I only hit my 7 iron about 140 yards carry on the range, and my PW about 100 yards carry. I've found the distances are usually 10 yards off at my range.

[Zeph]

It's also noteworthy that the range balls have different characteristics than your playing ball. Range balls don't spin well, so a medium slice on the range could become a huge one on the course.