Range Practice Doesn't Transfer to Course Please Help!!

[DaveP043]

I agree with @Patch, its a lot easier to get "grooved" for a range session than it is to be grooved on the course.  Sometimes I try to imagine playing an entire round on the range.  Play all of the full shots for your normal course in order.  for me, I might have driver-120 yards, driver, 90 yards, driver, long iron layup, 60 yards, 180 yard par 3, ....  By switching clubs for each shot, you're not just grooving one club, but trying to make the same swing with many different clubs.  This isn't the say to make serious changes to your swing, but to me its not a bad way of practicing once you've started to ingrain a swing change.

[Kalnoky]

One thing that works well for hitting off mats is to lay a rag down (flat) a few inches behind the ball. If you hit the rag then you are swinging fat. You also have to listen for the sound. The sound of hitting the mat first is different than the sound of hitting ball first. If it sounds like you hit a wooden board, you hit the mat first.

I hate the mats, but that's all I have right now. It is hard going from the mats to grass. You don't usually see a perfect lie like that on the course!

Edited December 5, 2016 by Kalnoky

[Hategolf]

Practice not transferring to the range is also a problem for me. 

One thing that i'm working on, and I am enjoying is to go to the course and play a few balls late twilight when there is no one around. I work on my swing and I make every swing count. 

That gives me the opportunity to work on Tee-shots, approach shots, short game and such on a real course.

The reality is that for people who do not have a very well established swing like me, the range is a comfortable place that allows us lots of room for error. So I try to put myself under a little pressure at the course when practicing. If my swing fundamentals and moves can hold up then, they will most likely hold up when playing a true round. 

When I practice at the range, I force myself to slow down and simulate 9 holes like others have mentioned. Then I start to identify my misses and errors on my swing. Like most, how ever, many times, I just don't have enough information. 

 

[Marty2019]

It's funny, I am having the opposite problem.   I'm shooting in the mid-to-low 80s, which is pretty good for me, and finally taking lessons.   So I go to the range thinking my lessons are going to make me hit the ball a lot better, but instead, I'm hitting it worse.   I just can't seem to make solid contact on the range.   I hit the ball fat, I hit it thin, I get no distance.   It's pathetic.   But out on the course, I play pretty well.   I hit a lot of good shots.   Still in the mid-to-low 80s.   Back to the range, can't hit a thing.   Back to the course, totally opposite, play pretty well.  

I'm thinking maybe the range balls are kind of dead.  Or maybe I'm trying too hard to implement swing changes.  Or maybe I'm swinging too hard.  Or maybe the way I hit the ball on the range really is good enough to shoot mid-to-low 80s on the course.   Maybe I'm fooling myself about the difference.   Bottom line, it's pretty baffling. 

 

 

[The Recreational Golfer]

1. Pick a target for every shot. Not a direction, but a spot on the ground where you want the ball to land.

2. Go through your entire pre-shot routine before you hit the ball.

3. For the next shot, pick a different target.

4. Change clubs after every three shots.

[Marty2019]

I agree with almost everything that's been said so far.  It's possible that you feel pressure on teh course that you do not feel on the range.   So maybe you need to feel more pressure on the range, and less pressure on the course.   Like some previous posts have said, on the range, change clubs, go through pre-shot routine, pick targets.  Don't just bang away.  Put some pressure on.  

And on the course, try to relax.  Have one swing thought at the most. 

Overall, for most people, it takes a lot of practice before the results are shown on the course.  You just have to keep at it. 

[Hatchman]

I've done both.   But now I don't mix "range", sand, chipping, putting, etc, work with course work.   If playing, I like to take an gap to an 8 iron to see its flight and loosen up with a few balls.   If I nub a handful of balls might stay a little longer.   

Edited December 9, 2016 by Hatchman

[Piz]

Learning to play a song is prerequisite to performing it for an audience.  Being on stage, however, is an experience unto itself.  Were you to hit a bucket of balls off the first tee; I am certain you would do just as well there as you do on the range.

[saevel25]

On 12/5/2016 at 0:14 PM, DaveP043 said:

I agree with @Patch, its a lot easier to get "grooved" for a range session than it is to be grooved on the course. 

I agree. People get into rapid fire mode on the range. They can get into a groove with their key 4 and key 5 control to actually hit halfway decent shots to target. A golfer is not going to make so many shots in a short span of time on the golf course. 

[Marty2019]

On 8/5/2011 at 4:02 PM, jshots said:

There was a point where I thought I was hitting them really great on the range and I was probably hitting like 75% good. I realized that when I got out on the course that meant 1/4 shots were bad, and that that one bad shot can easily lead to another and another.

This is a great point, and it leads to another thing I've been thinking about.   If 1/4 of your shots are bad, that means at least 1/4 of your shots are going to be recovery shots.  Getting back in the fairway, going under a tree limb, hitting out of heavy rough, or off the side of a hill, or out of a fairway bunker.  But how many of us practice those shots?

A bad tee shot leads to a recovery shot that we haven't practiced, so we hit another bad shot, and pretty soon, we're mentally down on ourselves, mad at ourselves, mad at the golf gods, all angried up and tensed up.   And we have a lousy round of golf, and we wonder why our range practice doesn't translate to the course. 

So maybe if we're at the range doing random practice, simulating our play on the course, hitting a drive, then hitting a 7 iron, so on, maybe if we hit a bad drive, we should think about where that drive would have landed, and our next practice shot should be a low punch shot, or some type of recovery shot, like when you need to hit a low hook or slice that never gets more than 4 feet off the ground and goes about 100 yards, for instance. 

I've been thinking a lot about how to get more out of practice, and I have come to realize how many shots I hit on the course that I never ever practice.  

I recognize that there are two kinds of practice, and at my stage,I have devote a lot of time to hitting one club, concentrating on one move, maybe hitting 7 iron over and over to get the muscle memory ingrained, but I should also add some random practice that simulates a round of golf, and that doesn't mean driver followed by 7 iron followed by driver followed by 3 wood, etc.   It means driver followed by low punch under an imaginary tree limb, followed by a short pitch with a short iron, etc.  How great would my round be, how good would I feel, if during actual play, my recovery shots actually worked?  

Edited December 10, 2016 by Marty2019