Driver - range vs. on the course

[ChevDog]

I'm relatively new to golf - been playing seriously for about a year now.  My handicap has dropped from 36.4  - to 26.8, and it looks like I may get it into the 25's by the next revision.  My typical scores are right around 100.  A few pars, some bogies, and a lot of doubles with a few triples.  Took lessons last summer and played 62 rounds last year to get where I am now.  I am gaming a 2017 M2 driver.  My total lack of consistency with this club led me to cutting it down to three wood length (43") in an effort to find more fairways.  From going over my stats, the biggest area for improvement in my current game is hitting the fairway.  When I do this, I can score well (for me).  When I miss the fairway, it usually puts me in enough trouble that I don't even have a decent shot at bogie (which I would be perfectly content with).  Yesterday my driving was so bad that I put away the driver at #8 and just used my 3 wood.  Shot a respectable 48 on the back.  What is concerning/confusing me is that I can hit the driver on the range, but not on the course.  After cutting it down last week, I took it to the range at lunch on Thu and Fri and hit 100 balls with it each day.  Played around with the loft and lie angles until I was getting pretty consistent drives down the middle.  Went to the course on Sat, and hit dead pulls left on 50% of my drives.  

Do any of you have tips on how to bring your range swing to the course?  I'm willing to take more lessons, but I'm worried that I still wont be able to hit it straight when it matters.

[mdl]

Even without current lessons, do you have things you know you're working on at the range, or just pounding balls?  What I mean is that most of us have been guilty of going to the range, seeing what our miss that day is, tweaking this or that feel, or setup this way and that, or in your case, adjusting the driver, until we can settle in to hit a good string of shots to finish.

One key for me was realizing that this kind of feel tweaking was never going to get to the kind of swing that gives reliable good results on the course.  When you go out and play, your psychology and such changes a bit, and often the feels you grooved over 100+ swings last time on the range don't work, and you go back to your typical miss.  For you it sounds like that's a big pull.

So the short version of what I'm saying is, unless you're a real head case, which it doesn't sound like you are, you need to be specifically fixing the issues causing your biggest problems in order for them to carry over well to the course.  It sounds like maybe you're not doing that.  Rather, you're tweaking equipment and feels.

[ChevDog]

I have been taking my notes from my instructor to the range with me and working on the tips that he gave me last summer when I was working on the driver.  So I'm not just pounding balls.  I perform my pre-shot routine every time, settle on my one swing thought for that stroke, and then swing.  If I have a bad shot - I try to analyze what caused it, and then correct it on the next swing. My typical miss is not the big pull that I had this weekend.  It's normally a slice.  I think that the work I did last week may have changed that to the pull I was seeing on Saturday.  

The biggest problem I have in my game right now is having too tight of a grip, and then over swinging.  Of course this his the most impact with the driver.  I have a very competitive personality, and really tense up sometimes during a game.  My best round ever was last December when I played a solo round and kept my grip light and my swing easy.  Broke 90 for the first and only time.  In fact, I think that all of my best scores have been while playing alone.  I haven't been able to replicate that feel and tempo since.  

I see that you are a fellow Portlander!  What courses do you usually play around here?

[Kalnoky]

1 hour ago, ChevDog said:

I have a very competitive personality, and really tense up sometimes during a game. 

IME nothing on the range can simulate the pressure of playing a live round (and esp. in competition). And no club will pimp-slap you for mishandling it like the driver will. Two things tend to settle me down: 1. getting that first really good drive, and 2. making that first par. If I get those two early on, I tend to drive well the rest of the round. 

[criley4way]

One thing I would suggest is that you shouldn't hit more than 3 of any one club to a single target. After several shots you are auto-correcting the shot. That is not the way that you play so you are practicing something that will not represent the way you play.

[ChevDog]

4 minutes ago, criley4way said:

One thing I would suggest is that you shouldn't hit more than 3 of any one club to a single target. After several shots you are auto-correcting the shot. That is not the way that you play so you are practicing something that will not represent the way you play.

Interesting theory - I will give this a try at my next range session.  I don't normally hit so many with one club, but it is currently the one giving me the most trouble, so I assumed that it would be a good idea to hit it over and over until I had grooved a decent swing with it.

[mdl]

I moved up here right after my kid was born.  So I haven't played a ton of courses.  Heron Lakes (mostly blue), Eastmoreland, RedTail, Quail Valley, and Pumpkin Ridge are the only courses I've played.  Yourself?

On the original question, @criley4way basically said what I wanted to say in one sentence instead of three paragraphs!  The only caveat I'm make if you're doing drills, or if you're doing alternating video yourself.  Like, video three driver swings trying to work on something specific.  Review the swings.  Do some dry swing/position stuff/whatever, film three more, etc.

I'll admit I don't stick always to no more than three swings.  But I definitely agree that 100 with one club probably isn't the right way to practice.

Edited April 23, 2018 by mdl

[ChevDog]

1 minute ago, mdl said:

I moved up here right after my kid was born.  So I haven't played a ton of courses.  Heron Lakes (mostly blue), Eastmoreland, RedTail, Quail Valley, and Pumpkin Ridge are the only courses I've played.  Yourself?

 

I play most of my rounds at Quail Valley - it's a 5 minute drive from my house.  I also get in a number of rounds at The Reserve, Pumpkin, Broadmoor, and Tri-Mountain.  During the summer we play quite a few rounds at Black Butte.  Eastmoreland is only a few minutes from my office, so it is where I have been hitting balls at lunch.

[Patch]

For some golfers hitting their driver down the middle of driving range, is considerably different than hitting a driver down the middle of a fairway. The range is so much wider than a course fairway. What looks good on the range, could be way left or right on the fairway. 

When on the range, I use the existing flags to make up my own fairway. Alot of times I will use the hitting station on either end of the range. The range side fence, and a flag will give me a fairway. 

Another option it to pick two of the farthest flags down range, and use the width distance between them as a landing areas for all my clubs. 

Another thing is once warmed up, I never hit one club, more than 5 times in a row. Sometimes even less. Sometimes I might go driver, 5i, and pw in that order. Then reverse that sequence. 

The OP mentioned his higher scores came when playing with others, and/or his lower scores came when playing alone. When I play with folks I don't know, I just forget about them. They could be better, or worse than me. I just don't care about other golfers' games. I'm focused on the grass, dirt, water and shrubs in front of me. 

[Buckeyebowman]

Some great ideas above. Here are some of mine. I hope you took the swingweight of your driver before you shortened it.Shortening a club automatically lowers the swingweight (the "heft" of the club), and stiffens the shaft slightly, It's like you're swinging a whole new driver!

Also, the idea of the range being so much wider than a fairway is very valid. I was engaged in archery for years and am very familiar with the term "target panic". The smaller the target, the greater the panic.

I also agree with hitting too many of the same club in a row. What I do is try to play a "round of golf" on the range. I'll imagine I'm on a local course that I know well. I'll hit my drive, and depending on how it comes off, I'll choose a club for my approach. Then maybe a pitch or chip.This keeps me changing clubs, just like in a real round.

After all, it's the first shot that counts, right?

[Moxley]

One (perhaps obvious) point is that range balls are going to react differently with sidespin than the balls you may use on the course. 

If you are using a high spin ball (such as Pro v1 , Chrome Soft etc) then it will have a tendency to curve a little more. It doesn't necessarily mean you would benefit from changing to a 2 piece , but it could be a factor. 

 

[ChevDog]

I did adjust the swingweight of my driver when I cut it down.  Added weight to the head.  I did not take it all the way back to D3, which is where it was stock.  It is probably about a C8 now - I like a lighter swingweight on my driver, it just feels better to me.  My previous driver was even lighter.  I also went to an A flex shaft to try and get the flex closer to R after being shortened.  I tried both shafts back to back and I definitely hit the new one better.

Moxley may be on to something with regard to balls.  The range that I was at had very worn Srixon limited flight balls.  Probably no spin left in them.  Interesting ball flight with those.  When I absolutely striped one, it would scream out to about 200yds, then drop like a stone.  Looked like it hit an aerodynamic  wall.  When I hit a similar shot on the course on Saturday with a project (a), it went much further.

Edited April 24, 2018 by ChevDog
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[criley4way]

Be careful of thinking that equipment is the solution to your issues. properly fit equipment will make things easier but will not fix a faulty swing or a poor mental process.

On 4/23/2018 at 7:25 PM, mdl said:

I moved up here right after my kid was born.  So I haven't played a ton of courses.  Heron Lakes (mostly blue), Eastmoreland, RedTail, Quail Valley, and Pumpkin Ridge are the only courses I've played.  Yourself?

On the original question, @criley4way basically said what I wanted to say in one sentence instead of three paragraphs!  The only caveat I'm make if you're doing drills, or if you're doing alternating video yourself.  Like, video three driver swings trying to work on something specific.  Review the swings.  Do some dry swing/position stuff/whatever, film three more, etc.

I'll admit I don't stick always to no more than three swings.  But I definitely agree that 100 with one club probably isn't the right way to practice.

This is totally right. There are several types of practice. Block practice is great for working on specific feels or moves. Random practice is much closer to playing golf. If I am working on a technical piece I will hit dozens of balls in a row to a single target and with a single club. I will hit balls as long as I can stay focused on the specific thought or move. I also advocate making the same move 2-4 times per swing. 

When I do random or other practice I will hit no more than 3 balls at a target with any club with a single flight or trajectory. I always have a line and a target to aim at. I always go through the whole process of picking a target, finding an intermediate spot, getting my feel and hitting the shot. I then assess the shot. I will often play golf holes from memory. I hit a shot then determine where it would end up and hit the next shot to the green. If the range is close enough to the green I'll even putt. I also try to take 30 seconds between shots to change the feeling.

[Buckeyebowman]

10 hours ago, ChevDog said:

I did adjust the swingweight of my driver when I cut it down.  Added weight to the head.  I did not take it all the way back to D3, which is where it was stock.  It is probably about a C8 now - I like a lighter swingweight on my driver, it just feels better to me.  My previous driver was even lighter.  I also went to an A flex shaft to try and get the flex closer to R after being shortened.  I tried both shafts back to back and I definitely hit the new one better.

Moxley may be on to something with regard to balls.  The range that I was at had very worn Srixon limited flight balls.  Probably no spin left in them.  Interesting ball flight with those.  When I absolutely striped one, it would scream out to about 200yds, then drop like a stone.  Looked like it hit an aerodynamic  wall.  When I hit a similar shot on the course on Saturday with a project (a), it went much further.

 

That's a point. Once I came across a range ball that was nearly as smooth as a Ping Pong ball it was so worn! It knuckled out there about 180-190 and fell to the ground like a gut-shot snipe!

On the other hand, I went to range that featured brand new Callaway range balls that took off like rockets! I tried like mad to find out if I could buy some since I wasn't going to steal them from the range, but to no avail. Those were definite ego builders! Probably wouldn't pass USGA muster for balls in official events.

[ChevDog]

Last night, I decided to see just how much my driver was hurting my game.  Played 18 using my 3 wood in place of the driver.  Hit more fairways, and managed to post my lowest score ever to GHIN (I have only had one round lower, and it was after posting closed here last winter).  Looks like some driver lessons and a fitting may be in order.  At least I know I can put up a decent score wityhout the driver until I can get it figured out!

[HJJ003]

47 minutes ago, ChevDog said:

Last night, I decided to see just how much my driver was hurting my game.  Played 18 using my 3 wood in place of the driver.  Hit more fairways, and managed to post my lowest score ever to GHIN (I have only had one round lower, and it was after posting closed here last winter).  Looks like some driver lessons and a fitting may be in order.  At least I know I can put up a decent score wityhout the driver until I can get it figured out!

Driver fitting is not a bad idea for sure. However, do you own a gamegolf or Arccos device? I highly recommend one so that you can truly see where you are losing strokes and can even compare to specific handicap levels? 

[ChevDog]

I track every round on Golfshot.  From my last 20 rounds:Fairways hit = 41%, GIR= 9%, 1.86 putts per hole, 2.6 putts per GIR, 0% Eagles, 1% Birdies, 11% Par, 36% Bogey, 51% 2 Bogey+.

When I have compared these stats to those I have seen online (TST forums) for various handicaps, it appears that I'm doing better than my handicap would predict for putting, but that I need to hit more GIR, which also requires that I hit more fairways.  Shelving the driver last night gave me 7 fairways, 3 GIR, and 4 Pars, for a gross 92/Net 64.  All of my stats last night ended up better than my averages, except for putting - which was off a bit as the greens had significantly dried and got much faster than I have been used to.  Got my putting figured out later in the round.  I also used my GPS to track a few shots, and I am only giving up 10-20 yards by using 3 wood instead of driver.  From my shot tracking with driver, I have only been averaging 218 yds, and that is only based on good shots that hit the fairway.  I don't bother tracking anything that misses the fairway.  3 wood is averaging about 205, and I had a second shot last night off the deck that went 251 (gps verified).

Last night was obviously a small sample size.  I will need to play more rounds without the driver to see if my stats hold up.  In the meantime, I intend to leave the driver in my car, and just work with it on the range until I have the confidence to bring it back into play.  I have inquired with a local shop about a driver fitting as well.

Edited April 25, 2018 by ChevDog
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[ChevDog]

Went to the range again today at lunch, and decided that there may not be that much difference between my performance on the range and on the course.  After warming up and making a small tweak to my setup to get contact near the center of the face, I mapped out my "imaginary fairway" that I was trying to hit with every shot.  I then hit 10 balls, taking note of whether it was on the imaginary fairway, missed left, or missed right.  Result was 4 fairways, 2 left, and 4 right.  I used the same pre-shot routine every time, and was focused on my aim point.  My target fairway was probably narrower than I would normally see on the course, but I still had some big misses that would have cost me strokes.  I guess I have a lot of work to do.

I still have trouble understanding why it is so much harder to hit my driver than my 3 wood.  They are the same length, and only 2.5 degrees apart in loft.  The only thing I can think of is that the driver is currently at a lighter swing weight - which could be causing the inconsistency, or that I'm just more consistent with the level/down swing of the three wood and having trouble setting up to hit up on the driver.