Complete TOOLS at the Range.

[Paiste]

I have had a few of these guys at the range. They are usually about a legit 15 handicap and don't hit the ball very far, did you happen to see your "pros" swing?

Yes I did see him swing. He looked very awkward and he miss hit his driver a couple of times before he hit a decent one. Not much distance, maybe 220 yards. His irons were much of the same. Low ball speed, not much distance at all. I know distance isn't everything but he was talking like he pounds the ball a mile. He wasn't very consistent either.

I have an R9 Supertri 11.5 degrees and he went on and on about how my driver has way too much loft and I need an 8.5 degree like his and blah, blah, blah. I love my driver and I hit it well. I really want to run into this guy again so I can tell him to mind his own business and back off. He's the type of guy who will approach me again acting like he's my coach or something. I guarantee he'll ask me why I'm not doing what he told me to do and shit like that which will present the perfect opportunity for me to tell him to politely f**k off.

I go to the range to mind my own business and work on my swing. I don't need idiots like this guy approaching me pretending to be something they're not.

[dfreuter415]

Thanks. He kept harping on my wrist hinge... He told me to use a weak grip with my left hand... He said, "No, no, no, ALWAYS interlock." I just laughed it off but at this point he was about to eat a 7 iron.

When will people realize that a swing is completely individual? Look at Lee Trevino or Alan Doyle. What works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. Certain basics have to be observed, like squaring your clubhead at address, but how you arrive at that point is allowed to be different. The real test of success is how you feel about your game after playing 18 holes.

I play weekly with my friend John, who is admittedly a high handicapper, and I try to avoid giving unsolicited advice. But when he is struggling and is not enjoying the game, I will  give him a swing tip without giving instruction. Words like, "shoulder turn" or "I really liked that pre-shot routine," get him thinking what have been successful for HIM in previous rounds.

You know what YOU want to accomplish, not some stranger who gives unsolicited advice after seeing your swing for the first time. Keep the course, know YOUR game, and best of luck getting to a single digit handicap.

[Valleygolfer]

I keep pyramid scheme brochures in my bag and when they stop talking for a minute I try to push them into signing up for a small fee of $600. Thank you I s o g e n i x rep!

[iacas]

When will people realize that a swing is completely individual? Look at Lee Trevino or Alan Doyle. What works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. Certain basics have to be observed, like squaring your clubhead at address, but how you arrive at that point is allowed to be different. The real test of success is how you feel about your game after playing 18 holes.

I don't know about squaring your clubhead at address. I point mine to the right most of the time.

I would suggest that there are roughly five things that golfers should strive to do… the rest is just window dressing. :)

[nevets88]

Some people are just lonely. Humor them, and zap everything they said out of your brain with that make you forget thingy from that movie I don't even remember the name of anymore.... Men in Black

[Mr. Desmond]

In my Hank Haney method taught by his guy's swing years, I saw some range golfer go down the range line and comment on everyone's swing... he did not like mine, but then, I did not like mine either... but he did not have to be so crass about it.

I have a lot of opinions, and I like other people who do, too, but ...

Ask me about the Haney teaching method, and I will reel off pages of criticism ) ... lol ... breathe in, out, deep breath...

[Zeph]

When will people realize that a swing is completely individual? Look at Lee Trevino or Alan Doyle. What works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. Certain basics have to be observed, like squaring your clubhead at address, but how you arrive at that point is allowed to be different. The real test of success is how you feel about your game after playing 18 holes.

I have no problem seeing millions of casual golfers out there believing this. They don't read forums, maybe not even magazines, and pick up some stuff here and there. I'd say most of those who act like the one OP met haven't delved into the matter as thoroughly as members of TST. They can also pick up stuff from magazines. "This is the secret", "How to play better golf", "Tiger does this, so you should too", "The key to hitting better shots", "Get rid of the slice forever" etc.

Haven't had a lot of these encounters, but I did meet an elderly fellow in jeans who was really insisting I take one of his work gloves (he was also wearing one), because he saw me hitting balls without a glove. He got them for "free" from his job, so he didn't mind sharing one with me. It was a plain leather glove. I told him I'd used a glove before, but stopped at some point and didn't want to use them anymore. He disagreed, but didn't push it. He did however notice a non-rangeball in my bucket of balls, quickly picked it up and put it in my hand, telling me I should always take those free balls that happen to end up in my bucket.

[isukgolf]

I wear headphones and have that don't bother me look ... And I never look at or watch anyone else ... Unless she is hot :-)

[Pretzel]

I wear headphones and have that don't bother me look ... And I never look at or watch anyone else ... Unless she is hot

I will say that headphones will deter just about anyone (besides friends or others who know you) from talking to you. Even if they don't, you could probably just ignore the person who's talking and not seem like a total jerk since you have an excuse.

[Dave2512]

Fortunately I don't look like the approachable type.

[scorpion12]

I can't say that I've ever been approached like that. The only tip I got helped some. I was stuck in a sand trap and not getting my ball out. After like my third swing, one of the guys that had joined me and my buddy offered me a tip and then showed me exactly what he was talking about. Thankfully it worked.

If I'm playing with my buddy and he's mishitting shots, I'll encourage him to check his fundamentals and see if he's doing anything differently... "has your grip changed, stance, distance from the ball?" kind of stuff. I'm not qualified to do much else when it comes to instructing the golf game.

OP, I hope you can run into him again... so you can "take him up on his advice" and you can demand that he show you exactly what he means. "Show me the proper grip, wrist hinge, and drive that ball 300 yards... oh, you can't? Then get lost!"

[Kieran123]

Only advice given to me at the range was when I had the shanks, the guy came and told me to 'turn my hands over at impact'

Being on the verge of an absolute mental meltdown because of my session of shanks, his poor advice could not have come at a worse time.

Many scenarios played over in my head, all of them including a shaft replacement on my 8 iron I was clutching

[Paiste]

I was at the range today but unfortunately, he wasn't there. It was a good day nonetheless. I was working really hard on eliminating tension from my swing and working on some tempo drills as well. All I can say is wow!! It is so much easier to make a proper shoulder turn when you completely eliminate any kind of tension that prevents you from having a fluid swing. That was one of my biggest problems was tension. I wasn't overly tight but there was some tension that would leak into my swing.

The human brain tries to convince you that swinging as hard and as fast as you can is the only way to hit a golf ball far and high. Training your brain to do the exact opposite takes time and effort. I always knew that tension was bad but I never thought that I was slightly tense until yesterday. I watched a couple videos on how to relax during the swing and realized that I had some work to do. Well, today was amazing. I removed every ounce of tension, rotated my shoulders to swing my arms back, got a nice coil, then nudged my hips forward to start the downswing, then rotating my hips therefore dropping the club into the slot, square at impact with a nice finish. What a different feeling!! I still had some tightness leaking in here and there and when it did, I topped the ball. I knew what to fix right away. A couple of practice swings and I had that fluid swing back again.

It felt great today. I broke through a plateau and definitely improved. I wish that prick was there to see me today dammit!!

[Hammer 4]

Only advice given to me at the range was when I had the shanks, the guy came and told me to 'turn my hands over at impact'

Being on the verge of an absolute mental meltdown because of my session of shanks, his poor advice could not have come at a worse time.

Many scenarios played over in my head, all of them including a shaft replacement on my 8 iron I was clutching

Wow...I also had a bad case of the S word to. One of the PGA teachers felt sorry for my dumb a$$ and came over and corrected on the spot. My problem was swinging to far from in to out, i.e. I wasn't dropping my hands in the slot. First try, and the S word hits were Gone.

Hope you got yours fixed.

[JP golf]

I was at the range one day and had a guy came up to me telling me this and that about my swing... He said "us lefties need to stick together"...   All I was hitting was a 6 iron, it's the only club I had with me on the range and it was a ping demo (I worked at the course at the time)...  I let him talk for a few, I even played into it for a minute...    Then a friend of mine walked up and I asked him to hit his right handed 3 iron....    well I'm right handed and I crushed the &$*# out of it... I told the guy -  yea, us righties stick together too, but thanks for the tips...  I'll remember that when I go play lefty...    I joked with him a little, I was just out there goofing off, but his advice was actually pretty good ironically.

[Lihu]

To the OP the guy was an idiot. No instructor is going to point out that many things to you for a reason. Guys like that I would probably just try to tell him what I was actually working on to confuse him and make him walk away. Maybe ask him what the ball flight laws are and laugh when he gets them wrong and tell him to go research somewhere.

I had a pro at a range come up to me one time and give me advice on how to fix my push I was hitting. He quickly walked away after I explained I was aiming that way because that's where the markers were and I was on the very left side if them.

On this I am confused on how number 2 would cause a shank.

Maybe if you don't get a full weight transfer?

@Paiste TOOLS like that are very strange. Especially since you appear to be doing fine on your own. I feel bad this encounter soured your range session.

[Paiste]

Maybe if you don't get a full weight transfer?

@Paiste  TOOLS like that are very strange. Especially since you appear to be doing fine on your own. I feel bad this encounter soured your range session.

I'm starting to recover now, ha, ha, ha. Anyways, yep, he was definitely a strange one. Like I said, I welcome a tip once and a while, as long as it's a tip and not a swing change!!!! I never, never solicit swing advice to complete strangers. I find that to be extremely offensive and irritating.

Range sessions are meant to be practice sessions. I know that when I go to the range I know beforehand what drills I'm going to do and what I'm going to work on. When I get there, I grab a couple of buckets, try to isolate myself and get to work. Most other golfers are doing the same thing as me. This guy was staring at everyone one, watching them hit balls.

What's funny is that there was this big dude hitting balls a few tee blocks away from me and his backswing was great but his legs almost collapsed on his downswing and it looked very awkward and uncomfortable. "Oh well", I thought to myself, that's his swing. He seemed to be hitting the ball ok, with a handful of topped shots here and there. But he seemed like a guy who was having fun, not out there to be Joe Golfer. The OP actually said to me, "If I had this guys size with my knowledge, I'd be on tour." No joke. I just nodded my head and replied, "For sure, man." Hilarious.

[3putter]

I've had good and bad. Started the season with little confidence with my ball striking, and I met another member at the range who just adjusted my grip. Best golf advice I ever had.

An old guy walked up to me at a range in Philly, and decides to give me the whole overhaul. I politely smiled and immediately forgot everything he said