Practice Range vs. On Course

[J M Brown]

Why is it you can go to the range and hit shots just the way you envision them, but you step on the course and you hit only that "one" shot that keeps you coming back?  I guess the challenge is what makes me love the game of golf so much through all the frustation.  

[SavvySwede]

Different perception really. We still love that absolutlely pure 7iron on the range even if we push it 10y right. Hit that same shot on the course into a greenside bunker and you feel like a dope.

[uitar9]

10 hours ago, SavvySwede said:

Different perception really. We still love that absolutlely pure 7iron on the range even if we push it 10y right. Hit that same shot on the course into a greenside bunker and you feel like a dope.

+1- my perception of width is f------ on the range. Flat wide open space, no landmarks. Even distance-do I trust those flags? nope. Other than a duffed shot, they all look good. The only shots I can trust are wedge pitches to a specific target.

[ScouseJohnny]

Not to mention that the bright green, plastic grass is a great deceiver! Hit it fat off the green mat, and it still goes well. If you'd put the exact same swing on the ball off turf...well, a big clumsy divot, a shot that goes one third of the distance you'd hoped for, and probable cursing.

[Mike Boatright]

It's all about percentages golfers only think they do well on the range when in realty they do not. You get a bucket of 100 balls you warm up hit some tops wild slices then you get in a groove and happen to hit 5 nice shots. This continues on until the bucket is gone. Humans have a difficult time at pattern recognition and only remember what they wanna remember. If your are good enough to hit 85% of those balls perfect and the rest playable misses then you should expect reasonably similar results on the course. Most golfers are in the 20 percentile range and out of 40 fulls shots on the course they hit five to ten that keep em coming back, They then wonder why I was so good on the range and act like it's some mystery when the answer lies in the fact that your hitting a 100 ball sample,and it's flat and perfect lies everytime.

Edited April 1, 2016 by Mike Boatright

[Marty2019]

It's also because people tend to hit the same shot over and over at the range until they hit a few good ones.  

I have read recently, that it is very instructive to practice at the range as if you were actually playing a round of golf.  Warm up, then hit a tee shot, then based on that shot, and based on the first hole, what shot would you have from there, and so on, as if you are actually playing the course.   I did this yesterday, and guess what?   I hit the same number of good and bad shots that I usually hit during a round.   Whereas my usual practice is to hit one club until I hit some good ones.   If I decide to practice that way with my 7-iron for example, 10 straight shots withe the 7-iron, the first few shots will be erratic, just like when I play a round.   Then the next few shots will be nice.  

Too bad when I play I don't get mulligans on every shot. 

That's the difference. 

Edited April 1, 2016 by Marty2019

[jkelley9]

3 minutes ago, Mike Boatright said:

It's all about percentages golfers only think they do well on the range when in realty they do not. You get a bucket of 100 balls you warm up hit some tops wild slices then you get in a groove and happen to hit 5 nice shots. This continues on until the bucket is gone. Humans have a difficult time at pattern recognition and only remember what they wanna remember. If your are good enough to hit 85% of those balls perfect and the rest playable misses then you should expect reasonably similar results on the course. Most golfers are in the 20 percentile range and out of 40 fulls shots on the course they hit five to ten that keep em coming back, They then wonder why I was so good on the range and act like it's some mystery when the answer lies in the fact that your hitting a 100 ball sample,and it's flat and perfect lies everytime.

I don't disagree with you, but this is not the case with me. I'm working with a pro and getting my shots to where they are looking really good, really consistent (relative to before working with this pro) and I get excited thinking that I'm going to shoot a lower score on the course (think going from a 43 to a 40 or something)... then I start choking over the ball. It's very clear to me now that my mind on the course does NOT trust my new swing, despite proving it at the range (with real targets, real distances every single shot) - and good, quantitative high percentages. I start getting tense and even though I'm telling myself to calm down and relax my muscles and make a full turn, my body wants to sit over the ball and "muscle it forward" by default on the course. That's the most frustrating part to me; it's not the same swing.

I totally agree with you on the whole getting in the groove with a 100-bucket. But when I go to the range now I have maybe 35 balls max and I take a solid 30 minutes hitting them, switching out clubs in-between, getting out of my stance, even doing a couple stretches and such. 

Something I'm working on though. 

[Mike Boatright]

2 minutes ago, jkelley9 said:

I don't disagree with you, but this is not the case with me. I'm working with a pro and getting my shots to where they are looking really good, really consistent (relative to before working with this pro) and I get excited thinking that I'm going to shoot a lower score on the course (think going from a 43 to a 40 or something)... then I start choking over the ball. It's very clear to me now that my mind on the course does NOT trust my new swing, despite proving it at the range (with real targets, real distances every single shot) - and good, quantitative high percentages. I start getting tense and even though I'm telling myself to calm down and relax my muscles and make a full turn, my body wants to sit over the ball and "muscle it forward" by default on the course. That's the most frustrating part to me; it's not the same swing.

I totally agree with you on the whole getting in the groove with a 100-bucket. But when I go to the range now I have maybe 35 balls max and I take a solid 30 minutes hitting them, switching out clubs in-between, getting out of my stance, even doing a couple stretches and such. 

Something I'm working on though. 

Well sometimes it's harder to get lined up on the course otherwise yes relax it's just golf.

[paininthenuts]

11 hours ago, J M Brown said:

Why is it you can go to the range and hit shots just the way you envision them, but you step on the course and you hit only that "one" shot that keeps you coming back?  I guess the challenge is what makes me love the game of golf so much through all the frustation.  

I have had a recent driving problem. For some reason in the last two weeks I have been slicing everything. I realised that I hadn't been following through with my hips, so I went on the range prior to a game and hit a bucket of balls. 25 went dead straight, 4 faded a little, but were OK, and I hooked one. All in all very good. Got out on the course and sliced 8 out of the 9. Infuriating 

[uitar9]

I've been trying to use maximum 7 balls per club (my OCD decided 7 was the right number lol) and go into a routine like Marty 2019 said; use  clubs in the order you use them on a specific hole  i.e. driver-5 hybrid-nine iron. Finish it off with 15 or 20 wedge shots

Max 75 balls

3 minutes ago, uitar9 said:

I've been trying to use maximum 7 balls per club (my OCD decided 7 was the right number lol) and go into a routine like Marty 2019 said; use  clubs in the order you use them on a specific hole  i.e. driver-5 hybrid-nine iron. Finish it off with 15 or 20 wedge shots

Max 75 balls

For me, going through 200 balls kills me-I don't do that on the golf course

[Dave2512]

Perception and lack of consequence. Range is wide, flat and people hit off perfect lies, that's why grass ranges are hacked to bits from people using every fluffy spot. You hit it decent towards a vague target and it feels like victory. Reality is that same shot may have disastrous results on the course. 

[Yukari]

I don't think perception plays that much of a factor.  I too remember when I first started out playing golf that I would hit great shots on the range, but when I got out to the course I couldn't hit a decent shot.  It is the same with pros.  Just look at Tiger.  Last couple of years his swing on the range was beautiful, but when he got on the course he played like a bogey golfer.

Golf is hard.

I think primarily because you hit the same club on the range until you feel good.  More importantly, you don't have the pressure of having to hit a good shot with just one ball.

[Dave2512]

Tiger trying to make a comeback is a more daunting task than first tee jitters for the weekender. But amateurs don't hit successions of pro quality shots on the range. Their course game is their range game they simply don't have to follow those range balls and try to get it in the home with the least amount of strokes.

How many times do you hit what should be a great shot but it's two feet short, rolls back and hangs on the lip of a bunker leaving a terrible lie and stance. It's the same shot you hit on the range that looked and felt good but ithat one landed on flat ground kinda sorta by a target flag. There are no score related results on the range. 

[jkelley9]

15 minutes ago, Dave2512 said:

Tiger trying to make a comeback is a more daunting task than first tee jitters for the weekender. But amateurs don't hit successions of pro quality shots on the range. Their course game is their range game they simply don't have to follow those range balls and try to get it in the home with the least amount of strokes.

How many times do you hit what should be a great shot but it's two feet short, rolls back and hangs on the lip of a bunker leaving a terrible lie and stance. It's the same shot you hit on the range that looked and felt good but ithat one landed on flat ground kinda sorta by a target flag. There are no score related results on the range. 

Yea I don't know about the rest of the golf world... but I'm shooting mid to high 80's with 10+ rescue shots per round, a ball in the water or two, and a heavy stack of nGIR over any true GIR's. So when you say people are making decent shots that look fine but end up in bad locations/lies... that's really not my problem; I'm blading wedges over greens, hitting irons stupid fat, completely duffing or slicing my driver and then "getting myself out of trouble." I'll shoot an 88-89 with this type of round. Which kills me... because I should NOT be freaking almost whiffing a driver swing. I just don't get it. I'm all over the place on the course. Nowhere near my concentrated, focused range experience.

[DaveP043]

14 minutes ago, jkelley9 said:

 I just don't get it. I'm all over the place on the course. Nowhere near my concentrated, focused range experience.

For most people, when they're on the range, they focus on the process, checking their set up, a swing key or two, but not particularly worried about the outcome of the shot.  On the course, however, the outcome becomes the most important thing in their minds.  That becomes the issue, the focus has shifted from process (which you CAN control) to outcome, which you really can't control.  The better players are still primarily focused on process when they're on the course.  Yeah, they game-plan for a specific result, but once they have a plan, its all about going through the process correctly.  I don't like anyone to feel really technical when swinging on the course, but you DO need to use the process that produces good shots during practice.

[Dave2512]

50 minutes ago, jkelley9 said:

that's really not my problem; I'm blading wedges over greens, hitting irons stupid fat, completely duffing or slicing my driver and then "getting myself out of trouble." I'll shoot an 88-89 with this type of round. Which kills me... because I should NOT be freaking almost whiffing a driver swing. I just don't get it. I'm all over the place on the course. Nowhere near my concentrated, focused range experience.

You would see and do the same things if while hitting your large bucket it included hitting from bad lies on uneven ground with funky stances. The range has no real consequences for not hitting specific landing zones and you don't have to chase that ball down and try to hit it again to that just right spot on the way to holing out. Anything that's not a total duff looks good and to accomplish that you get to hit it off a tee, mat or roll the ball to a nice piece of turf that makes good contact easy. Next time you're there try hitting all the balls from the divots and scabby areas and see how well you do.

[PhxHacker]

Had a set back at the range today,  last Saturday I had a very positive confident session, today not so much. Last week I was pulling everything and hitting nice lofted shots. Today things were thin, my pulls turned into straighter shots and my straight shots turned to heavy fades. My Irons are usually always a push shot and that remained consistent but the amount of thin shots today overpower some of the positives I should be taking away from some of my successes. 

I worked alot on ball position  so maybe I wasn't always necessarily at the correct distance at address and may have been reaching for the ball a little. 

The good news is towards the end of the session I was back to straighter shots and a couple with pulled. I've noticed that I have begun to have a better frame of mind when hitting a bad shot, actually trying to analyze the symptoms of the mechanics that lead to the error. In the past I would just hit another mindless range ball.

I don't want to feel like I am hijacking a thread here, so is there a place on the forum to post personal progress or regression?

[pumaAttack]

6 hours ago, Marty2019 said:

It's also because people tend to hit the same shot over and over at the range until they hit a few good ones.  

I have read recently, that it is very instructive to practice at the range as if you were actually playing a round of golf.  Warm up, then hit a tee shot, then based on that shot, and based on the first hole, what shot would you have from there, and so on, as if you are actually playing the course.   I did this yesterday, and guess what?   I hit the same number of good and bad shots that I usually hit during a round.   Whereas my usual practice is to hit one club until I hit some good ones.   If I decide to practice that way with my 7-iron for example, 10 straight shots withe the 7-iron, the first few shots will be erratic, just like when I play a round.   Then the next few shots will be nice.  

Too bad when I play I don't get mulligans on every shot. 

That's the difference. 

Isn't that a good pre-shot routine and visualization is for?