how long is too long at the range

[mtsalmela80]

I just bought a $60 one month unlimited range pass at a local club. It was a fairly hot afternoon, and I hit about 3 bags of balls. Felt tiresome after 2 and half, ended up using the rest of the last bag at the sand trap.

Anyone with unlimited range passes have longer practice routines? How do you divy it up?

The cool thing is they take anyones old balls, so you are mostly hitting decent non-range balls.

[CG031]

I have an ulimited membership to a driving range, and I try to hit around 150 balls a day...but I'm a kid, so I probably have more energy and time than an adult. Usually hit about 75 in the morning/afternoon, and 75 at night.

I'd say one large bucket a day will help you improve plenty. You don't want to strain yourself. You have to build up a tolerance. At first, I was getting tired after hitting 75. Now I would have to hit 200 to start to feel a real stamina and energy effect.

[opie]

I don't think you can really hit too many less than 100 yd shots to be honest. I work on those A LOT. I think you can overdo longer shots though. If I'm working on something I like to use a club i'm comfortable with for 20 to 30 balls and then if it's going well move to longer clubs. I really don't hit a lot of woods on the range. I'll work on them but no more than 15 to 20 swings probably b/c I get tired and lose my focus

[CG031]

I don't think you can really hit too many less than 100 yd shots to be honest. I work on those A LOT. I think you can overdo longer shots though. If I'm working on something I like to use a club i'm comfortable with for 20 to 30 balls and then if it's going well move to longer clubs. I really don't hit a lot of woods on the range. I'll work on them but no more than 15 to 20 swings probably b/c I get tired and lose my focus

Agreed. Working on 7-W will improve your scores the most. I'll hit, maybe, 5-10 drivers per 300 balls, and about 3-5 3 woods per 300 balls.

[flopdarock]

didnt haney have barkley hit a 1000 balls a day?
to me thats wayyy too much and it still didnt help him... lol

[ControlJunkie]

I spent roughly 2 hours per session and hit 2 large buckets of balls. Normally this is my routine 4-5 days per week, barring any bad weather. I go after I get off of work, which means I usually dont start until 5 or 5:30 PM. I know everyone doesnt have the amount of time that I do, but that's one of the benefits of being single!! :)

To avoid wearing myself out, I really try to treat each shot as if it were a shot during a round, so after each, I'll step back for a sec and think about what I did on the previous shot, and pick my target out for the next shot. Then I run through my normal pre-shot routine. Hitting a ton of balls in rapid fire succession will wear you out really quickly, and that mimics absoultely nothing in a real round. I'm not saying that's what you're doing, just throwing it out there... Also, each session, I'll start by hitting 4-5 balls with each club. Once I'm done with that, I go through a routine where I try to mimic a round. So for example, first hole - 1 driver shot to a target, then one 9i or PW to a target. Next is a par 5, so I hit driver, then off the deck with either 3W or 3 hybrid, then 8i or 9i. I think you get the point :)

[CG031]

didnt haney have barkley hit a 1000 balls a day?

I agree that is too much. After a while, I would get far too tired, bored, and just start losing my tempo and rhythm, which is only going to engrain bad swing habits if I'm exhausted.

Have any of you tried hitting 300 balls in one day by yourself? I did it one time and it gets so boring, you don't even feel like going to the range ever again. It lasts forever and you run out of shots to practice, which club to use, etc. It's mentally and physically draining. I'm convinced 100 or so is fine for each time you go to the range.

[patath]

I try and hit 100 balls or less even with unlimited balls. I practice as if playing a round on the course as mentioned above. So once I am warmed up I hit driver, iron, short chip. Driver , FW, iron, etc through the rest of the bucket.

[ControlJunkie]

I'm the opposite of this. I put my earphones in, and I lose track of time. I can pretty much stay out there and hit until they kick me out. I was the same way back when I was in high school when it came to baseball and basketball. I could stay in the batting cage for hours, and I was a complete gym rat as well.

I guess this makes sense now that I think about it, but back when I was swinging with much less hip movement and shoulder turn, I would get more tired, I guess because I was making my arms do more work. Now that my entire body is firing correctly in my shot, I find that I'm far less tired when I'm done. Most of the time, after I get home and eat dinner, I really get the urge to go out and hit more balls. I got this thing where I love experimenting with different shots and slight differences in my swing, and I'll try all sorts of random things, just to see how it changes my ball flight.

[David in FL]

The idea that "practice makes perfect" is something of a fallacy IMHO.

Perfect practice makes perfect. If you hit so many balls that you get tired or lose concentration and as a result your swing breaks down or gets sloppy, all you're doing is ingraining bad habits.

I prefer to keep fresh and find that a couple of range sessions hitting fewer balls is much better for me than one marathon session.

[lumpuckeroo]

The idea that "practice makes perfect" is something of a fallacy IMHO.

Totally agree, I have noticed the older I get the less I need to hit to get my swing in shape.

[flopdarock]

i used to practically live on the range when i was a kid... loved smashing balls to see how far i could hit them... plus i never had the money most of the time to actually play a round at the courses that were behind our houses...
now i cant stand ranges for some reason... especially in the middle of the season... id much much prefer being on the course no matter how badly im scoring... i have unlimited range balls and i hardly even warm up besides a few chips and putts on the practice green...
i say if you wanna break a hundred... hit less than 80 full shots as pure as you can then take the last 20 balls and chip and putt them like an actual round... any more than 100 balls gets you in an over 100 scoring mentality... ionno... it worked for me

[DavidFehertysBike]

I try not to spend more than 2 hours at the range at a time. And even then im practicing specific things. But on the other hand, i belive there is no such thing as too much time on the practice green. Ive spent 5 or 6 hours just chipping and putting. My typical practice green session goes at least 2 hours. Usually after work when its pretty cool outside. I make games out of it.

[ks8829]

Its great to have unlimited golf balls to hit at the range. I would try to have a goal or purpose with your time at the range and think quality of practice rather than quanity or how many balls can I hit in a day.

If I had unlimited access to golf balls I try not to hit more than one bucket of ball and would work on the following:

1) solid ball contact
2) distance control know the distance of each club
3) pitch shot of from 100 yards and in
4) Pitch shot of 50 yards and in
5) full shots and 3/4 shots and know the distance of taking some distance off each club for inbetween distances during a round
6) learn to work the ball with a draw or fade, high and low,
7) practice tempo in my swing

remember to go easy and listen to your body when you are tired or starting to hurt. If you hit to many balls at one time you will have blisters or hurt yourself so be careful to pace yourself and hit half or a bucket at a time and walk off to the putting green or short game area for a couple of hours and come back later or the next day

[ControlJunkie]

I make games out of it.

Details!!!

The only thing I really do is kind of an "around the world" type thing, where I'll have balls spaced out about 5-10 ft., starting from on the fringe. I get each chip/pitch from that level to within 3 ft and then I move backwards 5-10 feet and line them up again, and repeat. It was a cool way for me to work on the short game, but I've been looking for different ways to mix it up. Please share!!

[Bump-n-MI]

I'll take 20-25 swings before a round…and that is the only time I'll spend on the range. All my practice is done on the course. I once thought a 2 hour range session was beneficial, now I think it instilled negative swing thoughts and carelessness. I guess my problem was not approaching it as "one ball at a time" but rather "I'll get it right next time". That may (or may not) make sense to some of you. My practice sessions now consist of 1/2 dozen balls and on course situations. I'll hit 3-5 tee balls and play the worst shot each time (again hitting 3-5 balls) until I'm done with the hole. Practicing this way has allowed me to get myself out of tough situations and has improved scrambling. If I hit every fairway and had perfect/flat lies each time then I may spend more time on the range.

[Greg]

I usually will get 3 small buckets of balls, which is about 110 or so, takes me about 40-45 min to hit those, I'll go through every club in the bag, starting with the wedges and working up to the driver, been trying to concentrate more on the short irons, 6, 7, and 8 specifically as I really need to get better with these and the driver still as I am still somewhat erratic with it sometimes, biggest problem lately is i just cant seem to tee it up the right height, been popping them up and not hitting them very far, prob my swing too, probably lifting the club too much, seems i can correct it at the range after a few swings but at the course you cant hit it a bunch of times in a row until you get it right so just have to go with it, i should go to the range as a warm up every time i play but some course i go to dont even have a range. I was not aware you could get an unlimited pass at a driving range, I might have to inquire about that next time I go, though I dont currently have a membership anywhere so it might be for members only. $60 a month is pretty reasonable, going even twice a week at 3x$3 a bucket for balls costs more than that.

[imtomtomim]

I hit about 150 balls every morning as well as either spending 25-30 min on either the chipping green or putting green. I found out that I get a good enough feel on speed control doing either so I just switch those up to which one is weaker.

I start with my sw, shots to the flags at 60, 80, and 100. Then I start switching up my shot shapes to the 100, nailing one and then repeat, and then switch so I get used to setting up for different shots. That's usually 40 balls or so. Then I start moving up into a higher iron. If I'm not swinging well, I'll go to a 7 or 8 and just work that to regroove my swing plane and tempo. If I'm doing alright, I'll go up to a long iron. Then I'll put a couple shots on my fw and then driver and I'll finish up balls changing targets and choosing a shot shape. It seems like I go through really quick but I just don't really take breaks. I just pull the ball, routine, swing away.