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Range 2 Course: Beyond Discouraged


MCL116

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Having a real tough time bringing my range game to the course.

 

This is my second full season and I am absolutely addicted and have been working EXTREMELY hard on my game.

 

I’ve been taking lessons from a top 100 instructor who has really helped me build a pretty solid swing for how long I’ve been playing. He has repeatedly told me that I will be a single digit if not better after putting in some miles.

 

Last season, I spent the whole year working on my swing and finally at the end of the season figured out how to hit my driver. On the range, my friends would joke I’m a scratch player. My lowest score in probably about 12-15 rounds was 100 on the dot, but most of my rounds were littered with OBs, duffed chips, 3 and 4 putts, etc.

 

Over the winter, I bought a birdie ball putting green and a chipping net and frequently practiced my chipping and putting in my NYC apartment.

 

I was super excited to start this season, knowing I had built a pretty good swing, figured out driver, and felt a little more competent with a putter or wedge in my hand.

 

Besides the one round I broke 100 (99), it’s been an extremely, extremely discouraging and frustrating season.

 

I lost the feel for driver. Although I am able to hit a few good shots with it here and there, there’s 0 consistency. This totally ruins my rounds as I’m often OB or in the woods, which also messes with my confidence. Irons have improved and are good enough to be scoring in the low 90s if not lower, inside 125 has been bad (typically make a good bruising swing, and end of digging a divot to Indonesia), chipping is ok (not putting it to 5 ft everytime but I’m not skulling them or duffing them) putting has seen a decent improvement.

 

The thing is, I can stripe them on the range. And when I practice, I video my swings and look at the video to see if my feels are giving me the positions/motions I’m working on, I’m aiming at targets. After working on my swing changes, I’ll go driver, iron, wedge, chip. Recently I’ve changed it up to, hitting half a bucket working on irons, then the 2nd half, hitting 3 drivers, then 3 58*, 54* wedges at 3 different distances with each.

 

I get to the course and I find myself really losing the feel of my swing. There have been multiple times that I’ve gotten to the top of my backswing, felt something funny (but a familiar feeling), knowing I’ll hit a bad shot and have had to stop at the top and reset. I cannot bring my abilities on the range to the course. Just this past weekend, in my warmup on the range, I was hitting everything just how I wanted, nice draws. Even driver!! With no real swing though, just aiming and swinging. I get to the first tee and slice 2 off OB, and my ball striking from there was pretty ugly.

 

I just don’t understand 1, why I can’ figure out driver and 2 why I can’t bring even half of my range game to the course. It’s becoming very discouraging to the point that I’ve truly not enjoyed playing at times and wanted to quit. Then I obviously shot a 99 and got sucked back in lol

 

I know there are other threads on bringing your game to the range, but I do practice aiming at targets, and hitting clubs in the order as if I were playing a whole, and it doesn’t seem to help. I’m desperate here! I know I can be a pretty decent golfer and feel I should be much better than where I am right now, especially with the work I put in!

 

Any advice, suggestions, tips, anything would be so appreciated!

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Welcome to golf. Your experience reminds me much of me when I was younger. I bet you are very good at your job and have a somewhat driven personality. A few comments: golf is a humbling game. It is not a game of perfect. My suggestion is play more even if you mess up, which you will. Over time you will continue to improve. Take solace in the successes and shrug off the failures. Just like that Johnny Walker commercial "keep on walking". You will get there.

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The reality is that golf is played on the golf course and not on the range, and for the most part people who want to get better need to play more, because there's a big difference between playing golf and playing golf swing.

 

Also, the one thing that ruins more golf shots than anything else is the fear of a bad result, which never comes into play on the range.

 

If you're not in a situation where you can play nine holes instead of practicing for a couple of hours, spend your time on the range hitting different shots (low hooks, high draws, punch shots, fades, knockdowns, huge cuts, etc.) and not just hitting balls and worrying about the mechanics of your swing.

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Assuming you're on the right track swing mechanics-wise like you say you are, you simply just need to play more rounds. The only way to do that is to put in the hours on the course. There's really no substitute for on course experience.

 

Also, remember that it is just a game. You're out there to have fun. Let go of some of your expectations when you arrive for a round, focus on staying relaxed and comfortable and just commit to each and every shot without fear of the results. Tension is no bueno, and I'm sensing you probably have a lot of it on the course. I'm guessing you get to the first tee, you're way tense and you hit a couple of bad tee shots and now your mental state is shot and you're even more tense moving forward. If you're going to hit driver off the first tee, try choking down on the grip and taking a shorter, more connected, swing for more control. Basically, the old bunt driver. It's what I do a lot of the time on the first hole and I almost always hit a playable to very good drive. And you don't lose much distance at all since you're finding the center of the face.

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This should be your range session adjustments:

 

#1. Stop admiring your range shots and putting on a show for your friends. They don't count for s***. Everybody on this forum could get into a groove rapid firing at the range when we were 25+ handicaps like you.

#2. Take 30-45 seconds between each shot at the range. Immediately after impact, you should be thinking about the swing you just took. You should be absorbing it into your mind, and then after you have it locked in what you just did, then you can compare that to the result. After each shot you should be thinking about your grip, your setup, your takeaway, your transition, and your rotation through the ball. Soak it all up before hitting another ball. It should take you at least an hour to go through a small bucket..

 

You will find that your Friday night range swing is much more likely to come over to a Saturday morning round if you do this.

 

If you're anything like me, you're probably getting jacked up when it's time to play a round. 99% of the time, I see people get tense and hurry their swings during a round, usually the takeaway or transition.. I catch myself doing the same thing. You have to SLOW EVERYTHING down. Slow your assessment of each situation. Slow your setup and address. Take a couple of solid practice swings, and absorb the takeaway, transition, and rotation of this practice swing. Think about the tempo of that practice swing. When you are locked into all of that, step up to the ball, repeat. Never be in a hurry.

 

Golf is hard. When you are this stage of your development, it requires intense focus to be good. After a few year it'll become easier and you'll be shredding your handicap along the way, but right now you need to concentrate on everything.

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Go to a course when there aren't many people out there and hit 2 or 3 drives on every hole. Play all them of them all the way into the hole sometimes too. That will get you more comfortable with playing golf on the course. Right now it's a foreign environment to you and it's disorienting. That's why there aren't a lot of guys one tour from nyc. Access to golf courses is too limited unless you're super rich and also live near one.

 

Then once you get somewhat comfortable you play with a friend and set scoring goals for each of you and bet a little something on it. Both of you will probably screw up and it will be funny. Or maybe not and that's fun too.

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Is your range only 30-50 yards wide with tall grass and trees lining both sides? You can stripe it down the middle of a "wide" driving range all day long, but when you get to the normal width of a hole with all the extra crap that comes with it - each tiny, little bit of doubt or hesitation will increase the tension in your body - greatly reducing your potential for a decent swing and ball contact. It is pure mental and will never truly go 100% as any bad shot has the potential to bring back doubt.

 

To get myself over this I would play rounds by myself when the course was near empty (rain helps a lot) and when I make a bad shot I would try one or two more, trying to leave my last experience of that shot being good. Over time my confidence grew on shots I used to get nervous on. Of course, don't hold up anyone behind you - let them play through.

 

Also, the more confidence you have in the yardages in your bag of shots, the more committed you will be to each shot. You want to play conservative shots ... aggressively - works pretty good I find.

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Try not hitting the same club more than a few times, say three or four balls. Golf doesn't allow a second serve like tennis, so get used to making a swing count. Play a course in your mind, using the clubs you'd use there, never hitting the same club twice in a row.

 

If you went to a well-run basketball practice, you'd rarely see players shooting more than a couple of free throws at a time; you can groove even a bad motion with enough reps, and the mental pressure of getting only one shot has to be practiced just as much as the techniques. Same with golf.

 

If you need to work on a particular club, that's one thing. But for most practice sessions, work thru the bag hitting 3 or 4 balls with each club; start with your second most lofted club, then go up to the most lofted, then down to the 4th, up to the 3rd, and so forth until you've hit them all. Then work on particular shots or play a mental round instead of just beating balls.

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Go to a course when there aren't many people out there and hit 2 or 3 drives on every hole. Play all them of them all the way into the hole sometimes too. That will get you more comfortable with playing golf on the course. Right now it's a foreign environment to you and it's disorienting. That's why there aren't a lot of guys one tour from nyc. Access to golf courses is too limited unless you're super rich and also live near one.

 

Then once you get somewhat comfortable you play with a friend and set scoring goals for each of you and bet a little something on it. Both of you will probably screw up and it will be funny. Or maybe not and that's fun too.

 

 

I've gone out several times on the last tee time of the day so nobody is behind me and play as many balls per hole as I want. Dropping balls from different yardages, different lies. Sometimes I feel like it's helped, other times it's only frustrated me more. I've also had times I lose a bunch of balls which sucks haha But I do try to do this!

 

 

Is your range only 30-50 yards wide with tall grass and trees lining both sides? You can stripe it down the middle of a "wide" driving range all day long, but when you get to the normal width of a hole with all the extra crap that comes with it - each tiny, little bit of doubt or hesitation will increase the tension in your body - greatly reducing your potential for a decent swing and ball contact. It is pure mental and will never truly go 100% as any bad shot has the potential to bring back doubt.

 

To get myself over this I would play rounds by myself when the course was near empty (rain helps a lot) and when I make a bad shot I would try one or two more, trying to leave my last experience of that shot being good. Over time my confidence grew on shots I used to get nervous on. Of course, don't hold up anyone behind you - let them play through.

 

Also, the more confidence you have in the yardages in your bag of shots, the more committed you will be to each shot. You want to play conservative shots ... aggressively - works pretty good I find.

 

When I do practice at the range, with any shot over 175 yards, I use the flags on the range that run parallel on both sides as guides for my landing zone. I would say they're about 50 yards apart, so any shots that land within that "path" I consider a good shot.

 

The first year I did not get frustrated like this, but having regressed with driver, which I think is playing a huge part in this (keeps scores high and messes with me mentally), as well as having this feeling like I've lost the feel for my swing at times on the course, this has been a frustrating season so far.

 

Going to play a round Saturday morning with some friend and leave the driver in the bag. Then I'll be taking an hour lesson after that. Maybe 9 or some range work Sunday morning.

 

Hoping to find a feel that will work with driver again and one that will work with my wedge shots.

 

Also I have decided that when on the range, after I've work on my mechanics, I'm going to take out a yardage book (I have a few) of a course I have played, and play a few of the holes on there on the range. Hopefully this will help with making target practice more interesting, tougher, make me more comfortable out on a course

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You need to start understanding why you miss. What took me from the 100-105 level to the ~90 level was I started to understand my swing more. When I was have a bad push/slice, I replayed the swing in my mind and I realized, I wasn't getting my full turn. This allows you to quickly correct what went bad.

 

Keep hitting balls, you'll get there.

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50 yards is EXTREMELY wide. Most greens are perhaps 25-30 yards wide. Most fairways I play are around 30 yard wide as well.

 

You hit your driver a MAX of 14 times during a round. They count much more than whacking away on the driving range one after another. Two, rarely do you EVER hit the same club twice in a row on the course, while you'll sit there and hit the same shot over and over again on the range (not just you, but most people!).

 

Three, on the range, all you have is flat lies. On the course, that's generally not true.

 

So you need to try to emulate the course more on the range. Take your favorite course and play a "round" on the driving range. First hole if you would hit a driver, then hit ONE driver on the range. Estimate the distance and direction and result (be realistic!). So if you hit it 220 and have 180 left, then hit a 180 yard shot. Put your driver in your bag, pull out your 180 club, and hit to a specific target on the range. Repeat.

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50 yards is EXTREMELY wide. Most greens are perhaps 25-30 yards wide. Most fairways I play are around 30 yard wide as well.

 

You hit your driver a MAX of 14 times during a round. They count much more than whacking away on the driving range one after another. Two, rarely do you EVER hit the same club twice in a row on the course, while you'll sit there and hit the same shot over and over again on the range (not just you, but most people!).

 

Three, on the range, all you have is flat lies. On the course, that's generally not true.

 

So you need to try to emulate the course more on the range. Take your favorite course and play a "round" on the driving range. First hole if you would hit a driver, then hit ONE driver on the range. Estimate the distance and direction and result (be realistic!). So if you hit it 220 and have 180 left, then hit a 180 yard shot. Put your driver in your bag, pull out your 180 club, and hit to a specific target on the range. Repeat.

 

Yep going to start actually looking at yardage books I have and playing some holes.

 

I use that 50 yard wide range basically only for driver and 3 wood. If I have I'm working on shots 200 yards and in I'm imagining 10-15 yds on either side of the flag I'm aiming for. Obviously I want to hit it as close as possible to my exact target, but I think if I make the landing areas too narrow, I'll frustrate myself further. As I continue to improve, I will begin to shrink those landing zones.

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50 yards is EXTREMELY wide. Most greens are perhaps 25-30 yards wide. Most fairways I play are around 30 yard wide as well.

 

You hit your driver a MAX of 14 times during a round. They count much more than whacking away on the driving range one after another. Two, rarely do you EVER hit the same club twice in a row on the course, while you'll sit there and hit the same shot over and over again on the range (not just you, but most people!).

 

Three, on the range, all you have is flat lies. On the course, that's generally not true.

 

So you need to try to emulate the course more on the range. Take your favorite course and play a "round" on the driving range. First hole if you would hit a driver, then hit ONE driver on the range. Estimate the distance and direction and result (be realistic!). So if you hit it 220 and have 180 left, then hit a 180 yard shot. Put your driver in your bag, pull out your 180 club, and hit to a specific target on the range. Repeat.

 

Yep going to start actually looking at yardage books I have and playing some holes.

 

I use that 50 yard wide range basically only for driver and 3 wood. If I have I'm working on shots 200 yards and in I'm imagining 10-15 yds on either side of the flag I'm aiming for. Obviously I want to hit it as close as possible to my exact target, but I think if I make the landing areas too narrow, I'll frustrate myself further. As I continue to improve, I will begin to shrink those landing zones.

 

Don't forget that there is a big difference between creating a landing zone of a certain width on a driving range and having ONLY a certain width on the course. You need a way to penalize yourself on the range or the experience will not truly come close to the course.

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Play more golf, play less range. Find a time and a course where you can practice on the course. If you hit it well, drop another and try to do it again. If you hit it poorly, drop another and try again. Experiment. You can hit lots of shots from realistic situations like this, and it's way more fun than hitting balls on the range. Obviously don't do this when it would hold up play for others.

 

If you keep rigorous score with one ball, there are still "consequences" when you play that ball, but not on the other shots. Try to feel the same way standing over every shot, regardless.

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Also, I wouldn't recommend dropping the driver. You need to learn to hit it, and you probably don't hit your 3 wood any better, just shorter (which puts more pressure on your nex shot). Use some of your range time learning to hit that "bunt driver" mentioned previously. Once you get that working so you are in the fairway, you can build speed.

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Golf is not a game of perfect by rotella might help. In it he discusses the idea of "aim small, miss small."

 

He goes much more in depth, but if you look at a 50 us fairway and swing are you really missing it? There was no target, just a swing at a space. But if you miss it, you miss everything. If you miss a small target, there's a good chance your still on the fairway.

 

Did wonders for my driving. I did not do it justice in 4 sentences. Helps in other aspects as well.

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MCL116 you say you practice in your NYC apartment so I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume you live in the city. That being said, is your practice range a multi-tiered job with mats?

 

If so, it might be worth your while to find a place where you can hit off real grass especially your short shots. Even more worth your while would be to find real grass with uneven lies.

 

Silly question... is there an out of the way area at a local park like Central Park where you can dump a few balls and hit some under 25 yard shots?

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I have pretty much the same problem on the range im awesome on the course im very meh! not as bad as you it seems i normally shoot in the 80s sometimes a high 70, just yesterday i played a course, on the range before the round i was hitting everything straight and good. went on the course and for the front 9 i sliced everything and bladed a few pitches, by the back 9 i got it together and shot allot better +11 front 9 +4 back 9 i think its a nerve thing tbh i can feel my swing on the course is terrible on the back swing i can actually feel this isnt right god knows why.

 

IM trying something new on the range now i got it from a video on youtube by Van phillips its called practice to win

 

he says that hitting ball after ball on the range isnt anything like golf you dont get a second change on the course. most people on the range hit a ball and drag the next ball and hit it again.

 

hes method involves you put the bucket of balls 3 to 5 yards away from your hitting area so you have to go get a ball after each shot. never play the same shot twice pick a different target each time and you the PAR method which is somthing like

 

Plan the shot think what you want to do and how to do it

Action the shot you just planned for

Review review the shot you just hit and take a positive from it

 

 

i hope this helps

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Practicing chipping on a matt is terrible. I learned that the hard way. Also, clearly your game is not as good as you think it is. Look, Steph Curry can hit like 90+ percent of his 3's in practice. In games he's hitting 47% or something like that. That's still mighty good but just says how good you need to be at practice to be decent in real life. Each and every swing counts unlike at the range. Sounds like you have a lot of tension, and it's messing up your game. Been through that. But the real truth to being good is mental. Concentration. The brain can take a mediocre swing and shoot in the 80's vs 100's exact same swing. Also, cutting down on OB's helps of course. But there's a major swing flaw that you need to iron out. Either that or don't hit driver at first. At the range, how many drivers can go within a 40 yard lane? It's not easy. The best players can consistently stripe it down the fairway. Scratch players I think hit it like 55 pct of the time but they won't hit it OB very often maybe once every two rounds. You don't even want to know what the LPGA does. They are ridiculously good.

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50 yards is EXTREMELY wide. Most greens are perhaps 25-30 yards wide. Most fairways I play are around 30 yard wide as well.

 

You hit your driver a MAX of 14 times during a round. They count much more than whacking away on the driving range one after another. Two, rarely do you EVER hit the same club twice in a row on the course, while you'll sit there and hit the same shot over and over again on the range (not just you, but most people!).

 

Three, on the range, all you have is flat lies. On the course, that's generally not true.

 

So you need to try to emulate the course more on the range. Take your favorite course and play a "round" on the driving range. First hole if you would hit a driver, then hit ONE driver on the range. Estimate the distance and direction and result (be realistic!). So if you hit it 220 and have 180 left, then hit a 180 yard shot. Put your driver in your bag, pull out your 180 club, and hit to a specific target on the range. Repeat.

 

Yep going to start actually looking at yardage books I have and playing some holes.

 

I use that 50 yard wide range basically only for driver and 3 wood. If I have I'm working on shots 200 yards and in I'm imagining 10-15 yds on either side of the flag I'm aiming for. Obviously I want to hit it as close as possible to my exact target, but I think if I make the landing areas too narrow, I'll frustrate myself further. As I continue to improve, I will begin to shrink those landing zones.

 

IMO, you should be concentrating on making solid contact with the club, direction can come later. Hitting thin/fat/toe/heel shots all affect the distance of the shot greatly.

 

If you have 150 yard 6 or 7 iron, it's a lot easier to hit it 15 yards right or left of the hole than with 15 yards of the correct distance.

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Let's see. You played 12-15 rounds last year. A handful? this year. At this point in your golfing life you are in the just "born stage"... And I feel your expectations and frustration level are way to high. Relax. Golf is like no other sport. Regardless of how well you may have done in other sports or on the job, or whatever...golf is different and hard. Very, very few players, if any, just take up the game and get "good" scores right away.

You hit it well on the range. Your top 100 teacher says you have potential. I am in agreement with most other posters...play more. It will come if you stay as dedicated as it sounds you are.

Chin up.

 

ps...I have always felt that keeping the ball IN PLAY OFF THE TEE is the most important shot in golf. Especially for a beginner. 2 OB on the first hole is not helpful. To heck what other players are doing or what they might say, or what club they use....at this stage of your golf life, for a while anyway-off the tee hit whatever club will keep YOU in play.

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MCL116 you say you practice in your NYC apartment so I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume you live in the city. That being said, is your practice range a multi-tiered job with mats?

 

If so, it might be worth your while to find a place where you can hit off real grass especially your short shots. Even more worth your while would be to find real grass with uneven lies.

 

Silly question... is there an out of the way area at a local park like Central Park where you can dump a few balls and hit some under 25 yard shots?

 

My parents actually live on LI, so in the summers, I head back there pretty much every single weekend and go to the range/course that is 15 mins away. Unfortunately that's not a grass range. But where I take lessons is grass, so after a lesson, I stick around and work more there. Not sure I can do that in CP, but certainly something to look into for 50yd and in shots

 

IM trying something new on the range now i got it from a video on youtube by Van phillips its called practice to win

 

he says that hitting ball after ball on the range isnt anything like golf you dont get a second change on the course. most people on the range hit a ball and drag the next ball and hit it again.

 

hes method involves you put the bucket of balls 3 to 5 yards away from your hitting area so you have to go get a ball after each shot. never play the same shot twice pick a different target each time and you the PAR method which is somthing like

 

Plan the shot think what you want to do and how to do it

Action the shot you just planned for

Review review the shot you just hit and take a positive from it

 

i hope this helps

 

I like this idea. Keeps the seemingly unlimited balls out of sight and forces me to walk off the mat and back onto the mat, spaces out my shots a bit. Definitely something I will look to incorporate. Do you use this when you're doing block practice also or have you only been using it when focusing on your targets?

 

Practicing chipping on a matt is terrible. I learned that the hard way. Also, clearly your game is not as good as you think it is. Look, Steph Curry can hit like 90+ percent of his 3's in practice. In games he's hitting 47% or something like that. That's still mighty good but just says how good you need to be at practice to be decent in real life. Each and every swing counts unlike at the range. Sounds like you have a lot of tension, and it's messing up your game. Been through that. But the real truth to being good is mental. Concentration. The brain can take a mediocre swing and shoot in the 80's vs 100's exact same swing. Also, cutting down on OB's helps of course. But there's a major swing flaw that you need to iron out. Either that or don't hit driver at first. At the range, how many drivers can go within a 40 yard lane? It's not easy. The best players can consistently stripe it down the fairway. Scratch players I think hit it like 55 pct of the time but they won't hit it OB very often maybe once every two rounds. You don't even want to know what the LPGA does. They are ridiculously good.

 

Chipping/pitching off mats definitely is not ideal, but with no other option, I've got to use what I have at my disposal. Driver definitely needs a ton more work, which is why at least half the bucket (maybe I need to up this a bit) will be focused on that and wedges from now on.

 

 

I get that I am very new to a very hard game and maybe my expectations are a bit high.

 

But what is most frustrating is to know I can hit my irons just as well as my friends that shoot in the 80s (if not better) on the range, but I can't seem to do it on the course. It's frustrating to have figured out driver at the end of last year to where it was a weapon for me, to now, having no idea what will happen on the box. So yes if I was still thinning, chunking, slicing, every other shot, and on the range, barely making good contact and all of that, I would understand my expectations should be much lower. But because I can see I have the ability to do it, and I'm not able to do it on the course, that's what is most frustrating.

 

Just have to work harder on making my swing more consistent and work on ways to make my practice more "course-like".

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so you are taking lessons. have you tried to take on-course lesson with your pro?

 

your frustration sounds so much like what we all go/went through.

 

Last year I was able to get my break through from 100 to 85 by playing/practicing on grass area and eliminating any 3 putts as much as possible.

 

also, only hitting driver where my miss (right) is not going to cost me a penalty (i.e. right side of fairway shared with neighboring fairway with minimum woods and no hazard)

 

ball striking at practice range is relevant bare minimum what I hit on course because of many different lies/stance/obstacles/environment/views/mental pressure (only get to hit once for every situation)

 

try to play more on course and practice like you are at course when you practice at the range

 

when you practice at the range, have your Golf GPS app out and play as if you were playing on course.

 

and play your clubs by lies, not by yardage, course management is the key to break 100 not ball striking.

 

 

you will get there. so enjoy your journey. :D

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I find that most of the time a person struggles to bring their game from the range to the course is that they don't randomize their range sessions enough. They essentially hit one ball after another with the same club for the same shot to the same target. They may switch to a driver or a shorter iron, but they are trying to still hit the same shot to the same target.

 

It's okay to start off hitting the same shot to the same target on the range. You're basically trying to get the blood flowing, loosen up the joints and get into the mindset for golf. But after 25 balls or so, I would start randomizing the practice. Aim at different targets after each shot. Try to hit a shot high and then try to hit one low. Try to hit a draw and then try to hit a fade. Move the ball well up in your stance and move it well back in your stance. Change clubs on every shot.

 

Go out and try to aim at a target on the right side of the range with your 9-iron, play it back in your stance and try to hit a low fade. Then aim at a target on the left side of the range with your 5-iron, play it up in your stance and try to hit a high draw.

 

Since you're working on your swing, I would also suggest to NOT always work on your swing on the range. Play 3 or 6 holes casually and just have a focus on doing whatever you are working on with your swing. Score isn't really important. Essentially a big reason why you cannot translate it over to the course is that there are new elements in your environment when you are actually playing golf versus hitting balls on the range. More pressure, the wind now plays a noticeable role in the shot, the lies can be uneven and the angles of the design of the hole can reek havoc on you.

 

When new elements are added to the environment,t he brain sorta goes into 'survival mode' and starts to revert back to your old habits. So you do need to get out there and get used to using what you are working on with your swing along with those new elements that only actually playing golf on the course can bring. Just focus on whatever mechanics you are working on and don't worry about the outcome of the shot when you're playing those casual 3 or 6 or 9 holes of golf.

 

When you separate the practice from just range time to the course, once you get on the course those new elements are like a punch in the face and you're not going to be prepared for them unless you slowly integrate them in your practice. The randomization of practice helps with that because it sorta adds a similar type of new elements to your environment. But, randomization also helps stimulate the brain's creativity and researchers have found that stimulation of the brain's creativity is an important part of ingraining new movement patterns.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RH

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In lessons on the range, you're going to get all the physics in the golf swing. But golf on the course is an art form and a game of feel.

 

As most people have said, you have a feel for perfect lies in a wide open range where any relatively straight ball flight works and your stance never needs to change. So here are two suggestions:

 

1. Subtract one of your practice days from the range and find a muni or some kind of local course where you can use the putting and chipping practice greens. something tells me if you're shooting over 100 it's not only on bad tee shots.

 

2. Since the goal is develop a feel for playing on the course, let yourself be happy with some of your misses. It sounds weird, but when you hit it to a spot under some tree limbs or into a fairway bunker, that gives you a chance to get a rep or two at those golf shots on the course with real lies and real consequences. I've gotten pretty good at punch shots and bunker play because of the same kind of misses you mentioned. And when you manage to hit those rescue shots and still make par, it actually feels better than a GIR and a two-putt. Take it one shot at a time and don't you dare let yourself think "I blew this hole" when your tee shot is still curving through the air.

 

Welcome to golf! ;)

 

PS. Thinking "I'm gonna birdie this hole" after a good tee shot is just as detrimental. One shot at a time, and avoid letting the emotions get too high or too low.

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PS. Thinking "I'm gonna birdie this hole" after a good tee shot is just as detrimental. One shot at a time, and avoid letting the emotions get too high or too low.

 

 

This! I saw 8 out of 10 people who killed driver in the middle of fairway, followed up with fat chunk 5 yard iron shots (including myself) or who sliced/topped driver to thick rough and pull long iron/hybrid automatically to make up the lost distance to green but end up worse place.

 

Do anything possible to put yourself in the fairway for the following scoring irons to green. if your ball striking is truly superb at the practice range, help yourself to take advantage of the flatness of fairway.

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In lessons on the range, you're going to get all the physics in the golf swing. But golf on the course is an art form and a game of feel.

 

As most people have said, you have a feel for perfect lies in a wide open range where any relatively straight ball flight works and your stance never needs to change. So here are two suggestions:

 

1. Subtract one of your practice days from the range and find a muni or some kind of local course where you can use the putting and chipping practice greens. something tells me if you're shooting over 100 it's not only on bad tee shots.

 

2. Since the goal is develop a feel for playing on the course, let yourself be happy with some of your misses. It sounds weird, but when you hit it to a spot under some tree limbs or into a fairway bunker, that gives you a chance to get a rep or two at those golf shots on the course with real lies and real consequences. I've gotten pretty good at punch shots and bunker play because of the same kind of misses you mentioned. And when you manage to hit those rescue shots and still make par, it actually feels better than a GIR and a two-putt. Take it one shot at a time and don't you dare let yourself think "I blew this hole" when your tee shot is still curving through the air.

 

Welcome to golf! ;)

 

PS. Thinking "I'm gonna birdie this hole" after a good tee shot is just as detrimental. One shot at a time, and avoid letting the emotions get too high or too low.

 

I do try to get the last tee time on my local course whenever I'm home in the summer (once a week or so) so I can practice out on the course. Maybe need to do this a bit more. Maybe going to the short par 3 course I have by me would be good as well just hitting 3-4 balls with wedges on every hole

 

PS. Thinking "I'm gonna birdie this hole" after a good tee shot is just as detrimental. One shot at a time, and avoid letting the emotions get too high or too low.

 

 

This! I saw 8 out of 10 people who killed driver in the middle of fairway, followed up with fat chunk 5 yard iron shots (including myself) or who sliced/topped driver to thick rough and pull long iron/hybrid automatically to make up the lost distance to green but end up worse place.

 

Do anything possible to put yourself in the fairway for the following scoring irons to green. if your ball striking is truly superb at the practice range, help yourself to take advantage of the flatness of fairway.

 

8 out of 10 times that I put a great swing on it with the driver and split the fairway, I'm chunking my wedge shot into the green! lol

 

ugh golf

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