Are You Wasting Time at the Driving Range?

Your time at the practice range is valuable and if you rarely practice, there is nothing worse than letting it go to waste.

One of the most popular things beginner golfers do at the driving range is use the same club again and again.  While there is nothing wrong with placing focus on a specific club, as you will improve over time during the session at the driving range, it will not be as evident next time you are on the course.

By mixing it up a little, you will retain more of the information from each shot and by adopting a more random approach to the clubs used on the range, this will improve your play in the future.

If you continually aim at the same target throughout your practice session at the range, you are wasting your time.  When playing a round of golf, you never play the same shot twice, unless you happen to hit out of bounds on the first shot.  Therefore, why do it at the range?

Select different targets during practice, you do not have to change clubs for every shot, you could choose a different flight path for example but try and mix it up.  Doing this will feel more like being on a golf course and that’s where you want to see the improvement from your practice time.

If you fail to go through your pre-shot routine before every shot on the driving range, you are wasting your time.  Every time you play a shot on the golf course, you go through your pre-shot routine and if you do not do the same during practice, how will you take that practice and implement what you have learned on the course?

You want to feel the good things you do on the driving range and add them to your game on the golf course.  Going through your pre-shot routine will make the transition between the two seem more natural.

If you step onto the driving range and take it easy when you practice, you are wasting your time.  Each time you play a round of golf, you are challenging yourself to hit lower scores yet if you relax and play without the same intensity on the range, how are you going to use that time to improve?

Try setting up some challenging scenarios when on the driving range, perhaps think about a hole you have struggled with and play it on the range using your imagination.  Even if you set yourself some challenges on the range and do not meet them every time, this does not mean you have failed.  If you are pushing yourself, you are always learning but if you are taking it easy, you are wasting your valuable time.