If you’re at the driving range for the first time it’s easy to feel a little lost. Most will just hit a bucket of balls with no rhyme or reason.
Don’t do that.
Instead, take the time to maximize your practice. With a little focus and the right direction, you’ll be able to improve your golf game exponentially.
Driving range for the first time?
The driving range is a different atmosphere than an actual course. Think about it. You’re at the range to work on your game. When you’re at the course you’re competing and applying everything you’ve practiced.
Understanding that mentality is important to a purposeful range session.
Golf is a game that takes physical skill but also mental discipline. You can learn both of those on the driving range, but you need to spend the time doing things right.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind…
Warm up before hitting any balls
With any athletic activity, you need to warm up and get loose. That means get your blood flowing and your muscles warm. A great way to do that is stretching the muscles you’ll be working. Use your golf club and stretch your upper body and arms. Take a few light practice swings into the air. Touch your toes and stretch your hamstrings. These all will help prepare your body for the strain of swinging a club 100+ times.
Pick a target for every shot
As you would in a round on the course, aim for a spot on the range and try to hit the ball at it. You need to be thoughtful about all of your shots or else you’re just wasting your time smacking balls into an empty field.
For example, if you hit your 7 iron 150 to 160 yards, find a flag on the range about that distance. Attempt to land near the flag with all your 7 iron shots. Or aim at a target to the left or right of the flag and try to hit that. The point is you should take all your swings seriously and with a purpose.
Place your bucket of balls out of reach
This tip may come as a bit of a surprise for some. Why wouldn’t you want to have the bucket of balls within reach? That way you don’t need to come out of your stance before hitting your next shot.
Well, you actually do want to step out of your stance between shots. It will help you maintain focus and force you to reset after every shot. Remember, you want to be purposeful with all of your range balls. If you allow yourself to hit balls in rapid fire succession, then you won’t get as much out of the session as you should.
Use alignment sticks
I listed a couple basic alignment stick drills in my post about driving range practice plans. Beginner golfers should use these to their advantage. This will help with your aim and your positioning. If you can get those right then you can begin to move onto other drills focusing on your swing.
Focus on one thing at a time
The driving range is when you should work on your swing, however, the most effective way to improve is breaking it down into pieces. If one part of your swing is flawed then spend the session working on that.
For instance, if you feel that your head isn’t staying stationary during your swing, focus on keeping it still. Pretend there is a bird on your head and you don’t want it to fall off. Once you can validate that your head is staying still, build off that and focus on the next part of your swing that needs improvement.
If something isn’t working then change it
In the broadest of terms, don’t be afraid to change up your routine if it isn’t working. The range is meant to try out new things. Don’t box yourself in with practicing drills that don’t seem to be helping.
I should also add, a professional swing instructor will be the best person to provide insight on what is and isn’t working. They’re trained to hone in on specific aspects of your swing and will give you guidance on what to work on and how. Considering how much you spend to play a round, investing in a couple lessons is certainly worth it.
Driving range etiquette
Similar to an actual golf course, the driving range has unspoken rules that need to be followed. Here are a few tips to keep in mind..
Be cautious of your divots
I’ve been to some pretty crummy ranges. Bad enough where the ground looks more like dirt than grass. There are usually a few contributors to a poor hitting surface, the main one being divots from other golfers.
Everytime you swing a club it impacts the ground. Especially when you’re hacking up the grass trying to hit flop shots. Keep in mind where you’re making divots and try to keep them in a straight line. This way the next golfer who uses your same spot will have some grass to hit on.
When they say mats only, they mean it
Many driving ranges will rope off specific areas for you to hit from. Most times this is because they’re regrowing grass in an area that needs repair from heavy usage. By restricting golfers to use certain areas they can maintain the range better.
For some ranges, that means hitting from the mats. As many golfers will agree, this can be a bit of an annoyance. Many prefer to hit off real grass. Hitting off a tee can be a bit of an annoyance from mats too as they sometimes don’t hold your tee up well.
That said, you should honor the directive. Don’t tee up a shot in front of or behind the mats on the grass. This can be dangerous and it’s also a good way to get yourself kicked off the range for ignoring the rules.
Lining up in front or in back of your hitting bay
Driving ranges have dedicated hitting bays or clearly defined spaces for people to hit balls. Ignoring those boundaries will result in someone getting hurt.
Line up too far back, you risk spraying your shot at a nearby golfer. Line up too far forward and you expose yourself to other golfers’ misguided shots.
Aiming too far left or right
Stay in your lane as they say. Aiming too far one way can result in an injury. It’s fine to hit targets all over the range, but just be cautious where you aim because it’s not worth risking hitting someone.
Playing music
Since you’re sharing the range with others, it’s expected that you put in headphones if you want to listen to music. Playing music even softly would be disrespectful of everyone else’s time on the range.
Hitting the range picker
Ignore the urge to line a ball at the range picker. It’s just not something you do for obvious reasons. Instead, aim for non-moving targets, as you would on an actual golf course!
Walk in front of or too close to other golfers hitting
I’m hoping this is obvious but you should not walk near someone swinging a club. Getting hit by someone swinging an iron full speed will leave a mark to say the least.
Even worse, getting nailed by a ball traveling over 100 mph from close range. Use your head and avoid walking in front of others hitting balls.
If you absolutely need to walk out into the range, perhaps because you broke your club head and it shot out, then you should wait until there is no one hitting. I would even announce that you need to run out to retrieve the club and ask for people to hold their shots momentarily.
Ask questions or give pointers to others hitting
It’s perfectly okay to exchange pleasantries, or even make small chit chat if you feel it’s appropriate. What’s not okay is being overly friendly to the point of interfering with someone else’s range time.
This includes asking questions or looking for pointers from the person in the next corral. Unfortunately for you, they didn’t sign up to give a lesson. The same goes for trying to help someone else out.
Finally, avoid talking loudly at your ball after a shot. No one needs to hear you cussing after shanking one into the woods.
Read More: The Basics of Golf Etiquette
FAQ
A driving range is an area, usually a large grass field, where golfers can go to practice and work on their game. Typically, various distances are marked with flags that golfers can aim at. Many golf courses have driving ranges attached and they are also found as stand-alone facilities. Some driving rangers also have areas where you can practice chipping, putting, and bunker shots.
Every course is different but typically large buckets will have 75 to 125 balls. Small buckets will have 40 to 75 balls. Of course you know your body best, but hitting any more than a 125 balls in one range session is most likely too much. You don’t want to overwork yourself and give your body time to recover.
Yes, range balls are different from regular golf balls. Range balls won’t travel as far, have a lower speed, a lower launch angle, and a higher spin rate. Range balls will travel around 10% less further than a regular golf ball. This is because their inner core is made from a cheaper rubber insert and their shell is a thicker outer cover. They are designed to take much more abuse (and be hit more times) than a regular ball.
Range balls go roughly 10% less distance than a regular golf ball. Of course, the total distance any golf ball goes depends on which club you hit it with. Generally speaking though, range balls do not go as far as a normal ball.
Range balls go 10% shorter than regular golf balls. This is because they’re constructed differently. Range balls contain a thicker outer shell and cheaper rubber core, designed to make them weather a daily beating. They will get hit many more times than a regular ball.
Many driving ranges provide clubs to use while at their facility. Often these are older clubs that are worn in or various clubs that someone else accidentally left behind and never came back to get. Even though they may not be in the best condition, they will still get the job done and give you the opportunity to hit some balls on the range.
Are you curious how far flags are placed on the driving range? Every range is different but usually you’ll see markers at 75 yards, 100 yards, 150 yards, 175 yards, 200 yards, 225 yards, and 250 yards.
Some ranges have unmarked flags as targets too. They’re supposed to simulate holes and you can target them for practice. If you want to find the distance to those, I recommend using a rangefinder and lasering the exact yardage.
In general, using a rangefinder is a more accurate way to determine distances on the driving range. Having exact distances will better help you learn the actual distances you hit each club.
