How many balls do you hit at the range?

[B-Con]

About 110. I spend about 50 on long chips and on pitches, then about 70 go to full swings distributed over the 3 or 4 clubs I want to work on.

[Young_Phenom]

It depends on the weather, if it is hot and humid get a small-medium bucket 50-80 balls and take it slow. If it is cooler outside then I can do 100+, until I feel comfortable with what I am working on.

[WUTiger]

Also, does anyone else actually stretch before and after? I mean legit stretching. Not just swinging a club back and forth or twisting your spine around.

If I ever joined the country club, I would jump on the elliptical bike for about 12 minutes to get the overall body warmed up. Then, some basic leg or arm stretches, partial swings and full swings.

Right now I do pushups, sit-ups and leg exercises to get the body warmed up. Then - unless it's really hot - I drive to the range w/o using air conditioning. At the range, I do what's called "purposeful motion" exercises which mimic parts of the golf swing. Then, I go with some chips and putts, and usually some partial swing drills. Then, I hit a few half shots, and then start hitting full shots. A friend where I teach is an experienced marathon runner, and he subscribes to a strength and conditioning research journal. He shows me articles on warm-ups and athletic performance. And, the ournal has several articles a year on golfers. One article compared golfers on shot accuracy depending on type of warm-up. One group did 12 slow swings with a heavy Medicus driver, and the other group did a full gymnastics-style stretching routine. Results: The G-routine crowd has a much wilder shot pattern, while the Medicus crowd had much better accuracy. Explanation given was that a vigorous stretching routine during warm-up actually overstretched the tendons, causing wobbles in the swing motions. ---------------- Caution: This was just one study, and the participants were competition golfers under age 35. The ideal guidelines might be different for me, an 19 HDCP who will turn 60 in November. ---------------- I would suggest that golf flexibility has two parts: overall flexibility from regular workouts, and spot flexibility related to your warm-up routine. A fair amount of phys ed and physiology research is done on golfers, it's just a little hard to find.

[WUTiger]

Oops!

As to OP's question, I generally do a medium bucket - 40 - or sometimes a large - 80. With my time schedule and personal preferences, I get more out of 40 balls twice a week than marathon hitting sessions.

And, I sometimes will just chip and putt for 20 minutes with my own balls.

Last four weeks, I'm lucky to hit 20-yard pitches behind the house. Chopped up schedule with school starting.

[tristanhilton85]

When I go its either a medium or large bucket (medium I'd say is 90 balls for $5 and the large is double that for $10). I don't take all full swings though, especially with the large bucket. I warm up hitting some wedges and move up through my irons, usually to the 9, 7, and 5 and then hit my 3h or 4h, and then driver. After that I play a few "simulated holes" on the range, hitting driver, then an iron and a wedge. I usually finish up pitching to the 50 and 75 yd markers.

[nevets88]

It depends.

If I'm working on something, I hit about 120-150 balls. I did that this Sunday around 3pm, in the full force of the Long Island summer heat, and I don't think I would try and hit any more full shots than that. When it cools down, I'll hit the same amount.

I learned from other pursuits that too much practice sometimes isn't productive. You need time for whatever you learned to consolidate.

[David K]

I usually hit about 110 (jumbo bucket) golf balls at the driving range. I have hit 440 one day while trying to really burn a swing change into my brain so it would finally stick (it didn't work). It used to wear me out until I learned how to use my legs, hips, and abs to power my golf swing. After learning that I have more distance, consistency, and it takes much less effort compared to swinging with your arms.

[mobosecomin]

usually hit over 200 but i guess i do it over maybe 2 hours and im usually hitting pretty fast and stopping and maybe chatting with my friends or setting up rods or something. i only hit maybe 30 drives in a session though.

its pretty good in the range i go to value wise 10e for a big bucket . i usually go with a 2 friends and we all get big buckets and then when we go for seconds the guy never charges and just hands out the buckets. its really great but in spring we did practise like 3 or 4 times a week so i guess we were his best customers

[Radford Wooly]

Usually 50-60 balls is what I hit!

[kurisu]

Depends if I play the next day or not. If I'm in training mode and don't play next morning, then about 200~250 balls, 50% of which will be wedge/approach shots. If I play the next day, I go loosen up and just get a feel of my swing, I limit myself to about 120~130 balls, again 50% of which are short stuff. Only a couple of driver/4W shots, all the rest is irons.

[Mattplusness]

Usually a large, unless I'm pressed for time.

[soloredd]

I always go in 50 ball increments. I start with a 50 bucket and will focus on my 9-7-5 irons. My range has targets with greens so I have something decent to aim for. If my swing is good and ball flight is acceptable, I won't grab another bucket and move onto putting. If I need to work on something I usually grab another 50 and do what I need to do and I finish with the driver (only about 5 though, just to get some work in).

This has worked good for me this year.

[chef35ca]

Also, does anyone else actually stretch before and after? I mean legit stretching. Not just swinging a club back and forth or twisting your spine around.

Do yoga. It's boring, but it'll stretch you out like you wouldn't believe.

[EasyGolf]

I shoot usually 75-100 or until my grip is getting weak and all my shots are garbage

[tracker]

I'd say 100-150 less if my hands start to hurt.

[right handed phil mickelson]

I get a small bucket of balls to warm up usually (around 35 balls). I'll hit two buckets of balls if all I'm doing is just hitting on the range. Sometimes 3. If I'm feeling super duper rangey, I'll hit 5, 6, 7. Heck even 8.

Sometimes 9.





When I get crazy its 10.

[Dave H]

It all depends on how good I feel, but almost every time I go to the range I reach a point where I feel like I can't hit a quality shot and then I know it's time to quit. This is generally after 40 balls and I rarely hit anywhere close to 100.

[mazzamouth]

My range has buckets in 40's... so I always hit tow buckets unless i'm playing then I will hit just 1... I will also go and chip and put as well.