Can't take my range ball striking to the golf course.

[cnl390]

During my lessons, and practice at the range I strike the ball and hit decent shots about 80-90% of the time.  But when I get on the course I would guess that average drops to 50% at best.  I can't seem to get past this, and I am getting frustrated.

Any suggestions?

[newtogolf]

Take solace in knowing you're not alone.  We've had a number of threads that have already discussed this topic in great detail that you might find helpful.  The range, especially ranges with mats, do not properly simulate what we experience on the course.  Mats are great at covering up swing flaws and bad techniques especially on shots hit a bit fat.

In addition, mats are always level, have a perfect lie and look out onto a wide open range where there are no obstacles or distractions to get into our head.  It's also been my experience people tend to have selective memory at the range.  We like to remember the few good drives we hit, in golf we don't get 10 swings to count 1 drive.  Most people also tend to use the same club repeatedly and work through their bag in succession which is not how we play the game on the course

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[trickyputt]

During my lessons, and practice at the range I strike the ball and hit decent shots about 80-90% of the time.  But when I get on the course I would guess that average drops to 50% at best.  I can't seem to get past this, and I am getting frustrated. Any suggestions?

Work on your stance off unlevel lies. This is sort of being open on downhill, closed on uphill, fadeing off ball above feet and drawing off ball below feet. Effectively the swing doesnt change, but you have to shift about a bit to get through the ball without hitting 1)fat into a hill, 2)behind the ball on downhill, 3) hooking when its above your feet, 4) slicing when its below your feet. Then there is sand....

[mchepp]

I sometimes have this problem as well. Thing is you need to consider each shot individually. What I found is that I was having 5-6 shots a round that were outliers and on the whole my shots were getting better. I suggest taking a more macroscopic view of your round, looking at every shot and not only the bad ones. Golf is hard. A good range swing will become part of your golf DNA and then over time you will see the improvement.

[Golfingdad]

Doesn't everybody have this problem?  I mean, on one hand you're relaxed and not stressing about a score, and you have the exact same lie and stance and target every single time, and usually you use the same club several times in a row, whereas on the other hand, you're hitting a vastly different shot every single time, the score matters so you're stressing out a bit, and you have to wait a few minutes between each shot and think about it.  (I also think @newtogolf is dead on when he says we have selective memory at the range.  When you don't have to chase down the errant shots, its very easy to pretend they never happened.)

So, maybe that answers your question right there.  Try treating the range like the course.  Change clubs every shot, change targets every shot, go through a pre-shot routine for every shot, and if possible, also do as @trickyputt suggested and practice off different lies as well.

[BanditGrip]

I sometimes have this problem as well. Thing is you need to consider each shot individually. What I found is that I was having 5-6 shots a round that were outliers and on the whole my shots were getting better. I suggest taking a more macroscopic view of your round, looking at every shot and not only the bad ones.

Golf is hard. A good range swing will become part of your golf DNA and then over time you will see the improvement.

I agree. The main thing to try to do is think about the swing being worry free during both practice and on course. It really is a state of mind. It's the same issue baseball players have...they crush the ball during batting practice, but just can't seem to perform the same during a game. Try not to over think it....I remember someone telling me "you can't think and swing at the same time"