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Driving Range Session Plans

redzerdrog

Has anyone any session plans that they like to follow for the Driving range?

I got a sample session from golf blueprint I will try to share when I figure out how.

I have enjoyed having a plan on the range but having done this same routine 5 or 6 times now its getting a bit boring.

So anyone any session plans they like to follow?

A.FP.001 (1).pdf

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phelimb

I don't follow any specific plan at the range but would usually 'warm up' with hitting a few balls with a wedge and then 5 balls with each odd club - 9I followed by 7I, 5I and 3I. Then 5 balls with 8I, 6I and 4I. Throw in a few drivers/5 woods after and a few wedges to finish and I'm close to my 50 balls (anything more than 50 and I get bored/tired). Or I would use up the remaining balls on whatever club I was worst at.

Sometimes I would play out the holes in my home club as such to make it interesting - e.g. Hole1 is 'usually' a 3W followed by a 9I, Hole2 is Driver and 5I (and probably a wedge), Hole3 is driver and 8I etc...

spacecoyote

Couple of games you could play.

Using a 7i say, do the 9 box game that Tiger supposedly plays. Picture a square in front of you divided into 3x3 segments. Top right = high draw, top centre = high straight, top left = high fade, same for other boxes for mid and low flight.

Play your course in your mind. If your 1st hole is a dogleg par 5 to the left and fairway is 50 yards wide, hit drive between two targets on course. If you hit a push that would be in the trees, you have to hit a low 30 yard punch at a target that would be getting you to the fairway. That leaves you 220 to front of the green say. Of you hit a 190yd shot straight, then you have to play a 40 yard pitch to what would be middle of the green. Helps with your visualisation. (Edit, I see phelim mentioned same above)

redzerdrog

Funny enough when I bring the kids to the range and we taking turns I usually try the 9 box drill. Must incorporate in when actually properly practicing at range now.

Playing the course in head is another if done in the past but not in some time so must try that again

PaoloGotti

I normally use a down the line video as my main practice routine. I figure what’s the point in hitting to targets on the range if every swing I make is over the top?! I will never be a decent player with that habit, so I keep my target practice for the golf course not the range.

spacecoyote

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118515047#Comment_118515047

But you're really talking about 2 distinct things there, working on technique vs playing some games at the range to mix things up.

9-box game plays in to that as you have to ensure your swing works to create the relevant shape.

Generally speaking they do say that your swing works better with a specific external target rather than focusing on internal movements, but I know what you mean if you're working solely on bedding in a technique

PaoloGotti

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118515432#Comment_118515432

Well I am a beginner, so it’s relative to that. I can do 9 box and feel great about myself. Then look at the draw shape shot on video and see I am cramping up every spinal disc trying to get the club path in to out thanks to a bad backswing/transition. Works ok on the range. Good luck on the course under the gun! (Granted this is the voice of an inexperienced player).

The Aul Switcharoo

You say you are a beginner and you seem very knowledgeable about the golf swing!

PaoloGotti

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118517197#Comment_118517197

I’m a relative beginner. One can learn a lot in 2 years!

redzerdrog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118515047#Comment_118515047

Why care what it looks like if you can hit it to the target?

PaoloGotti

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118518966#Comment_118518966

Good point, let me explain. I can ping any shot shape to target I want on the range. However under the gun on the course I am still a mid handicapper - that’s why I care. You will not see any tour player with an excessive over the top looking swing. You don’t need to even understand why that is the case, the fact that it doesn’t exist in tour pros is enough to question why one wouldn’t try to change such a pattern. Fundamentally I believe a club path that is in to square to in is less sensitive to “timing” on any given day. The fact that it takes me a good few balls (50) on the range to feel in sync supports this hypothesis. A tour pro’s first shot is as good as my best!

redzerdrog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118519089#Comment_118519089

Half of that doesn't make any sense. If you can hit any target on the range then the fact you cant do that on the course has nothing to do with your swing being OTT. Actually this more likely due to block practice rather than differential of picking different targets, different clubs, different type shots ect.

Off the top of my head Craig Stadler a tour pro with a OTT swing

PaoloGotti

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118519194#Comment_118519194

Well when I say I can hit a target on a range there is really no measurement system to back that up. My handicap is a measurement system that proves I can’t hit to target on a course.

I have never heard of that tour pro, that is telling. Edit: scrap that, I see he is before my time. Any current examples? And I think you need to be able to name at least 5% of the current field for it to be a normal functional pattern rather than an exception.

chasingbirdies

Like to play a version of Horse with my buddy if we go together, we each pick a shot to hit , e.g.. pick a target.. pick a club and shot shape.. so it might be ... target is one of the greens - club 7 iron - shot shape left to right - or you might say... target keep it inside two markers - 4 iron - low running right to left

I'll do another version of this if i'm on my own and feel i'm lacking concentration.. where i'll pick target/club/shot and then give myself points for each one i complete - 10 balls... add up score and try and beat it then with another 10 balls - need to track which shots you are hitting though so you can remember on the second round :)

The Guru 123

Am I correct in saying the 9 box drill is a high draw/straight/fade, medium draw/straight/fade, low draw/straight/fade?

I'm a scratch golfer and I don't think I could complete that, and if I could what benefit is it to me really? To be honest I'd say a lot of tour players would struggle to complete that drill as some of them hit virtually exclusively with one shape. The reason most of us recreational golfers are routinely dropping so many shots is nothing to do with not being able to hit a medium flighted draw with a 6 iron on command. I'm not sure it's doing any good to be trying to make 9 different swings/movements to hit your mid iron. Better to work on your stock shot and try make this more consistent.

If the need arises I can hit a lower shot if I need it and I'd practice this on the range and I can also hit a big deliberate slice/hook to get around trouble if the need arises. But if I'm in the middle of the fairway there's no way I'd be thinking about trying to hit a fade because the pin is on the right side of the green.

As regards what to practice at the range I'd try make it reflective of what the shots I need a lot of on the course. The strength of my game is my driving, I hit very long and generally very straight. This means most par 4s will be a driver and then a shot from inside 100 yards. So that's the majority of my range time. I'd probably spend up to 75% of my time between drivers and different types of shots <100 yards. For shorter hitters that might be lots of time on drivers and then they're 150 or 200 yard shots.

Another thing I don't get the logic of practicing is hitting 5 balls with a 9 iron and then 5 with an 8 etc. If you can hit your 8 iron you can hit your 9 iron. Same thing. Unless obviously you're trying to nail down your distances with each club.

So for irons I might just hit 5 with a long iron, 5 with a mid iron and 5 with a short iron. Extra reps maybe on whatever one is going worst. I think experts have shown you get better learning and practice from switching around your shots so probably best to do these with a short iron, followed by a long iron by a mid iron etc.

2 very good games that I like, not sure where I got them now but one is for driving and one for those finesse wedge shots.

For driving take your driver, 3 wood and rescue. Take 14 balls.

8 Drivers, 4 3 woods and 2 rescues.

Mark out a very tight fairway on the range (keep it very tight so as to try make practice as difficult as possible)

With the driver you get +1 if you strike it solid AND hit the fairway and -0.5 if you miss/strike it poorly.

3 wood you get +0.5 for hitting fairway and -1 for missing.

Rescue is 0 for hitting and -1.5 for missing.

Aim is to have 4 points after the 14 shots. Difficulty is obviously dependent on how wide your fairway is.

My wedge one isn't as structured but I would start with one of my wedges and pick a target that's approximately a 3/4 wedge shot. Hit that, then hit one to land 20 yards short of that and then one to land in between the 2. Repeat this 2 or 3 times for each of your wedges so about 20 balls.

Now I have mini launch monitor which makes tracking those distances very easy but it can easily be done with the distance markers on teh range and then using your eye to judge the 20 yards shorter and the one in between.

If you are solely working on a swing change from your coach then I'd probably recommend pure block practice at first. So take a mid iron and 5 balls, take a very deliberate practice swing focusing on the change and then hit the ball focusing completely on the swing change and trying not to pay too much heed to where the ball is going at first. After 5 reps I'd step away and take a minute of a break or hit a few wedge shots or something. It's very hard to keep up the intense concentration you need for a swing change for very long so that's why I'd recommend the break every 5 balls.

Didn't intend to write such a long post but they're just a few of my thoughts on driving range practice!

redzerdrog

Lots of similar thought processes going on there and its very much the debate of block v random practice. I think both have there place depending on what you are working on.

What launch monitor do you use?

I have been toying with the idea of getting the Garmin Approach R10 but the feedback on the accuracy still isnt great. So thinking of getting the PRGR instead

Ivefoundgod

@The Guru 123 got there before me but just to echo that I have no idea why anyone outside of a low to +handicap golfer/pro would be practicing fades/draws/high/low shots while at the range. With my irons I usually have a slight draw or straight shot, I spend my time trying to get that as consistent and as repeatable as possible. The only time I'd ever try anything else would be if I'm stuck behind an obstacle and need to hook/slice around it, I can do that if really needed but I'll try to avoid it as its not a shot I feel I have a huge amount of control over and its not a shot I'd practice at all really. I know how to do it but its certainly not something I want to be doing for fear of messing up my normal swing.

Like others I like to play my own course, visualise each hole and select the club based on outcome of previous shot. I used to spend a lot of time practicing my long irons but realised toward the latter half of the last year that I don't really use them very often and that was confirmed by Arccos which showed I was losing shots mostly from <100 yards and in. Now I spend most of my time practicing shots from <120 yards and down. I'd rarely spend much time on a specific club except my driver as it is generally the main difference in me playing to my handicap or not and is also what gives me an advantage over many others I think. Not that I'm especially long or anything, just that I keep it in play and have decent length.

redzerdrog

Regarding hitting the ball both ways there is definitely a time and place for practicing it. As someone who struggled with a slice, learning how to draw the ball has helped massively to find some middle ground. When hitting duck hooks now it can be helpful to practice fades to again find the middle ground.

A lot of the block practice one stock shot theory is coming from Scott Fawcett and Decade and he certainly makes sense but a counter to that would be someone like Adam Young who is a big advocate of randomised or differential practice. Adam Young is however a teaching pro and his methods based more on learning theory.

Ivefoundgod

Yeah I've read Adams book and there's some great stuff in there but what I gained most from it was the ability to diagnose what was going wrong with my shots. So if I was having a consistent shot like a block right I knew what the issue was relatively quickly and could adjust. I'm lucky that I rarely have a massive slice that occurs repeatedly so I don't really know if what his stuff says would help in that regard but I think it would. I just don't think its useful for an amateur to be trying 9 different types of shot. If I can hit one shot repeatably and consistently I would be happy, let alone 9. I assume this is just a range drill and people don't try draws or fades when on the course but I struggle to see the value of that drill, that said if it works for you then it works so go for it.

I don't care for Fawcett much but I would subscribe to a lot of his thinking on the modern game.

The Guru 123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118538178#Comment_118538178

Yeah I think it's good to know how to hit a big hook or a big slice and that's a good skill to practice. Reason being if as you say you keep slicing it you can practice hitting the biggest hook possible and see what this gives you. Then once you're hitting the hook you can work on reducing that feeling to try get yourself back to the centre again. That's definitely a skill well worth practicing. To me though that's a very different exercise to trying to hit a low fade, followed by a high draw etc.

The Guru 123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118537911#Comment_118537911

It's a Garmin G80. Very basic data on it really. Just gives ball speed, clubhead speed, carry distance and total distance. But find it great for practicing my shots inside 100 yards especially. Seen a review Rick Shiels did comparing it's data with a Trackman or GC Quad or whatever he uses and the numbers on it compared very favorably.

redzerdrog

Yeh they a handy device, iv had a few goes at one. Only for I have a gps watch already I'd go something like that.

TheDoc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118519089#Comment_118519089

I'd say agree with your point that you won't see OTT swings on tour because, well they are tour players. An inside to out path more often than not leads to better square strikes at impact and more compression on the ball. So it's never a bad time to fix or change from a swing that is excessively over the top.

At the same time, sometimes I hear people talk and they are changing everything and anything and it's all a bit much imo. I've a lot of friends recently just taking up golf and a few them hit what I'd call a fade but are ruining themselves, year one into the game, with youtube videos and changing this and that. Instead of just aiming a bit left.

It doesn't sound right that your saying a) you can shape a ball the way you want on the range but not on the course to then b) it takes you 50 balls to even feel like your swing is going. Should be taking you a few minutes to get warmed up, sounds like your taking 30.

I'm just back myself from a long hiatus and there is a huge change in thoughts around the game from when I was playing. But seems like everything is being taken from youtube, which to be honest, are not going to be overly helpful since they are targetted at a generic audience, instead of what you are doing. There is definitely good stuff out there, but I think its important identifying what's applicable to you, or lifting out what is actually useful. So much of the videos my friends are linking me are videos trying to repliace tour players. Extreme body rotation, huge lag and massive compression onto the ball. Why beginners or mid handicappers would even attempt this I've no idea.

I've been hitting the range about five days a week and at the moment its about my grip. Recent fitting gave me info that my clubface is way open at impact (didn't use to, but thats what ten years not playing does) so while I could go and change a ton of things, easiest thing is just a slightly different grip to bring it square at impact.

In terms of good general drills, its CRAZY to me as I've been at the range non stop the past 2 months I'm the only one there with sticks on the ground. Beforehand it was a club, but now I use sticks. Like what is anyone working on without some form of guidance :D

At the moment I've a stick on the ground pointing to target, and one coming out of a basket at a low angle to promote a better strike at impact and not get out to in. For the poster I quoted, defo try a stick out of a basket. You'll pretty quickly stop swinging OTT, because you'll keep cracking the stick. Start slow at first and build up swing speed.

https://youtu.be/jI5TRIbVuAY?t=469

There might be other stuff useful in here, but the main takeaway is that basket and stick. It's a criminally underused drill. I don't even swing OTT but I still do it, to make sure.

The next evolution to that drill is putting your club path to the right if you want to develop a natural draw (which I'm relearning at the moment)

spacecoyote

I must be living my life wrong, don't know how I'd get myself in a position to get to the range 5 times a week for a couple of months.

Any advice on life planning, never mind range planning 😁

PokeHerKing

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118710588#Comment_118710588

Not having an hour a day to yourself to go the range, swim, gym etc doesn't sound like living to me!

blue note

I'm with spacecoyote. I've no idea where some people get time for all the golf they seem to play. If I'm not golfing at the weekend, I'll try to get a range session in one of the evenings during the week.

In fairness, we've a 1 year old, so she has to be collected every evening, fed, put down, meals prepped and all that stuff. I sometimes feel I'm pushing it to go out there once a week. I'd be laughed at if I suggested 5 sessions a week!

benny79

Just on the Range talk has anyone used Top Tracer in the Spawell? I've used it a couple of times now mainly just to nail down my distances with clubs etc Its cool the way you can download app, connect when you are there and it saves all your data. Unfortunately I haven't been playing great the last few times I was there so distances were way off! Down to me though.

Anyway was there yesterday plus I had my PRGR launch monitor too. As I have been working on my swing speed (Top Tracer doesn't show this) of late to much improvement in my game. Hit a PB and am lowest I have ever been.

My PRGR is very accurate distance wise but the Top tracer was way off like each club was 20 yards further on it! Carry & total distance. I asked how accurate it was when leaving & lad told me its very accurate but theres no way I hit the ball as far as it was saying with each club too! On the plus side I had a nice gap between each club (about 10 yds) but my distances were more in line with the PRGR plus I was striking it well!

Like Top Tracer is an expensive piece of kit especially compared to my PRGR. I would love the distances Top Tracer was saying I was hitting it though! lol...

Just wondering did anyone feel the same?

spacecoyote

Your PRGR is giving you the distance presumably direct from your strike and not making any adjustment for range balls. The TopTracer, if I remember correctly, in the spawell, automatically adjusts up the distances by 10% to adjust for the range balls.

If the PRGR is picking up ball speed, it might account for the difference?

benny79

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118725127#Comment_118725127

Yes but the distances on my PRGR are more in line with my on course distances. Where yesterday the distances were a good bit out but further 😂 Like my 9i - 137 yds, 8i - 159yds, 7i 167yds - These were averages with 5 shots with each club were my real distances and on PRGR would be 9i - 120yds, 8i - 135yds, 7i -148 yds Roughly.

spacecoyote

Could be impacted by wind and fact you're hitting from an elevated position for the toptracer bays.

Also using different tech to measure I think. Prgr using impact data, Toptracer using cameras of ball flight just after impact to predict

TheDoc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118710588#Comment_118710588

I work from home, driving range about 20 min drive away. So I just organise an an hour or two to myself a day to go out :)