Horrible Range Session

[mattshaver]

After breaking 100 for the 2nd time, I've really been excited about my game, especially my irons, since I've been swinging them pretty well as of late, so I wanted to go to the range to really try and work on my consistency.  The past few times I've gone, I've been really trying to work on hitting a nice little draw, but this time I told myself I was just going to work on distance control, a repeatable swing, and a straight ball flight.  But when I went last night, it was like I had never touched a club before.  Fat contact, thin contact, coming out of my swing too early, losing my balance, etc.  It was a nightmare.  I was tempted to just leave the rest of the bucket there after the first 20 balls, but I wanted to stick with it and try and work it out.  The problem is it just never got there.

Does anyone have any advice for when this happens?  It just seemed like whatever I did, I couldn't get that "feeling" going where I know I'm going to hit a solid shot.  In my last round, my iron play was miles better than my putting or driving, so I know I can do it.  I just couldn't do it last night, no matter what.  It's just so depressing taking what seems to be like a huge step back in my ball-striking.  Is it normal to have practice sessions like this?

[BostonSully]

I had a similar range session 2 weeks ago.

I had just been rearended by a drunk a driver the night before and didnt get much sleep because of it. My dad was determined to get a range trip in that day so I went with him against my better judgement.

I think I hit about 200 balls, and maybe about 20ish good ones. My knees were moving head was coming up etc.. it was probably the worst ive looked in 2years now.

The next day I went out and played 18 and shot an 88 after getting a good nights sleep, and letting myself calm down and remember what it is I do well, not what it is I do poorly.

I would say the only solution is to get right back at it!

[JetFan1983]

Originally Posted by mattshaver

After breaking 100 for the 2nd time....

I struggle more on the range than I do the course as well.

Originally Posted by mattshaver

Does anyone have any advice for when this happens?

Yea: have a bunch of go-to drills that you know (and what their function is) and start to do them. Here are some I like:

Essentially, I just go to very small swings -- close enough to call them pitch shots -- and I just focus on my hands working correctly and getting solid contact. I increase certain variables from there depending on what I want to work on -- whether its getting my weight forward or maintaining the flying wedge, or whatever.

From there, build it up as you progress during your session. Sometimes that just never comes though, and you gotta understand that it's a really hard game.

This drill here is essentially the same as above, but you'd be surprised how hard this is to consistently execute. At least for me. Preset the hips forward and the correct axis tilt. You should be able to hit solid contact baby draws that go maybe 30 to 70% of your normal distance:

Those are just a couple examples of stuff you can do. There are endless drills out there, each designed to polish or build a certain piece of the swing, of which there are many.

[mattshaver]

Thanks for the advice guys.  I'm planning on hitting up a par 3 course tonight after work to see if my bad range session was a fluke.

[walk18]

Make sure you are gripping the club lightly and not strangling it. Then make an easy swing with a goal of solid contact. Tension can cause all sorts of problems.

[mattshaver]

I realized towards the end of my session yesterday that even though my hands were nice and light, my shoulders were stiff as boards, so tonight I'm going to be concentrating on keeping it ALL relaxed.

[ControlJunkie]

I've had that happen a couple of times, but I take a completely different approach than those above, one that probably settles my mind more than focusing on anything overly technical. I'll leave the bucket of balls and my bag where it is, grab either my wedges or putter, and go work on either short game or putter. Your time spent will still be productive, and it will make you think about something else.

If the issue is due to fatigue, muscle soreness, or something else physical, maybe work on half and three-quarters swings. Possibly develop some sort of go-to shot that doesn't require a ton of effort. You can always take that shot to the course as well. Just make sure it's something that you can almost hit without thinking, where you know you'll get the same result like 8 times out of 10 at least.

[senorchipotle]

sounds to me like you're struggling with proper swing sequence and balance more than anything. try to keep a constant, steady rhythm to your swing whether you're swinging fast or slow, the rhythm should stay the same. this keeps you in balance and keeps you in sequence.

[mattshaver]

Went to the range last night. It was better than before, but still not good. I noticed that all the good shots I hit were when I wasn't actively thinking about what my hands were doing. I think I'm being too handsy, and I'm somehow getting things out of sequence....

I have a lesson scheduled for tomorrow.  I was going to have him help me with my driver since I've struggled so much lately getting off the tee, but it looks like we might be looking at something else instead. I'm thinking of not touching a club again until the lesson.   Maybe I need a mental reset....

[soloredd]

Take this for what it's worth: Monday morning I played a 9-hole par 3 course and shot a +4. Hit my wedges and 9 iron solid, little light on the putting but whatever. I use that course as a short game practice. After the round I wanted to hit a bucket so I started with driver and worked it pretty good. Pulled out my 8 iron and...SHANK. Reset myself and...SHANK. For the next 25 minutes or so I couldn't hit a club. I ended up hitting driver way more than I wanted to just because I wasn't shanking it. I'm a stubborn SOB when this happens, I want to swing myself out of it.

Anyway, had a tee time for Wednesday morning and I texted my friend saying it's going to be miserable, I can't hit a iron to save my life. I show up early and hit a couple balls. Pure. Shot an 86 for the round, 2nd lowest career score. I guess what I'm saying is, it happens. What helped me in between the range and the course was to feel confident again. There wasn't one shot during the round where I felt insecure about club selection or if I was going to shank it or not. Not one time. Make every shot count, even on the range. Too many times we want to rush, we want to get to the next ball because there is no penalty on a driving range for hitting bad shots.

[Ernest Jones]

I hear you brother! I was on a 3 week streak where I could do no wrong at the range. A bad shot would be a slight push or pull, maybe 10 yrds off target. This was a heated dome. Last week the outdoor range opened so I swung by one morning before work to hit a bucket. First shot was a 7i, felt like a good swing but hit hit the deck at 100 yrds, fairly straight. I started hitting more balls and never got comfortable and all of a sudden - BANANA SLICE-A-RAMA. A whole buckets worth! totally felt like walking a way and leaving the bucket there but like most, I'm tenacious and stubburn so I hit 'em all, one banana slice at a time.

After leaving in a funk and borderline depression I've had a little time for reflection and it's all becoming clear to me now, or at least I have a solid theory. You see, it was friggin' frigid that morning (around 7:30am) and the first couple of balls I hit were pretty straight albiet very short, in retrospect I believe my first few swing that felt ok were short because the range balls were frozen rocks. SO now I'm swinging harder that usual because (at the time) I don't realise the lack of distance is probably more related to the balls being near frozen (not to mention my body which certainly didn't help). Well its pretty obvious that the combination of swinging harder than my norm coupled with a chilled body results in all kinds of problems most notably TENSION!

I haven't had an opportunity to hit the range since but I know biggest hurdle will be to be confident in my swing and disregard that session as an anomoly that should not affect my approach to swinging the club.

[Ernest Jones]

One more observance on tension, the enemy of all good swing methodologies.

The real danger with tension is that when it creeps into your swing you start to doubt your mechanics and start tinkering and manipulating when in reality your technique may be fine its just the tension that is preventing you from executing freely and properly. Once you start to fix what already works who knows where you'll end up but I'm guessing its not a good place to be swinging from.

If there is doubt in your mind your chances of making a good swing are a crap shoot at best. I find when I have doubt I become very handsy in the forward swing and that is a receipe for disaster!

[Mark5]

>

Too many!  Thats more then 10 balls per hole for 18 holes!   Even a first time beginner gets to walk a few feet between shots.   Slow down and let your muscles (and thoughts) recover.

[mattshaver]

Update!  I had my second lesson on Friday, and we mainly worked on fixing my driver swing, but we looked at what I was doing with my irons and putting alignment, too.  Basically, I couldn't hit my driver for the life of me because I was so steep on the downswing, and I'm still over swinging by A LOT.  We also worked on taking the club back more inside and coming back on the downswing from the inside more.  He showed me what I was doing with a DTL video and he traced this huge loop my hands were making.  I was so high and outside with my hands that it was almost impossible for me to get back on plane on the downswing, and even harder to be consistent like that.  The good news was my putting alignment was almost dead on!

Fast-forward to Sunday, and the front 9 were great, in terms of getting off the tee.  By far the best day of driving the ball I've ever had.  Irons felt weird, since shallowing out my swing and the inside path seem to make my swing at least feel more upright, so it felt like the ball was shooting from my feet, instead of more like my thighs beforehand.  Sounds weird, but I don't know how to explain it.  Unfortunately, the back 9 were a mess, since we averaged a 5 minute wait on each tee box, so I wasn't really about to get in a rhythm or stay loose.

Long story short, I'm no longer depressed about my ball striking and I'm excited about my game again!  After only 2 lessons, I don't know why this isn't the first thing any beginning golfer does.  I guess I'm lucky to have a good instructor in the area (Matt Swanson, supposedly a Golf Magazine or some equivalent industry magazine top-100 instructor) who has a practice center and a bunch of good instructors with him.