Driving range short game practice

Hi all,

Long time follower but haven't posted for a while.

16 Handicap currently so looking to try to improve as much as possible over winter to hit the ground running next season.

Quick question as I'm planning to visit the driving range this evening. Want to work on 150yds and in, so what areas do you practice on this/any games you play or tips which keep you concentrating on each shot throughout?

I had a bit of a shanking nightmare last weekend. Three consecutive short irons nearly had me crying. range used the next day to sort it out, and even though it was simple to sort, I couldn't do it when it actually happened. I could not accept that anything had changed. So for me, its all about getting the set-up right, with feet in the right place instead of where you assume they are.

Sports_Fanatic wrote:Hi all,

Long time follower but haven't posted for a while.

16 Handicap currently so looking to try to improve as much as possible over winter to hit the ground running next season.

Quick question as I'm planning to visit the driving range this evening. Want to work on 150yds and in, so what areas do you practice on this/any games you play or tips which keep you concentrating on each shot throughout?

I attempt to get right down to basics at the range during the winter months with my irons, I will specifically stop hitting full swings, instead focusing on a better strike by only making a more crisp/fluid/powerful half swing. From the 8 iron down to PW especially the results after a few sessions are much better, feel like I get better control and a more penetrating flight.

With my Driver/Fairway woods I will also concentrate on getting a better strike by slowing my swing down. The main nuisance I've had with any of my longer clubs over the past year or two is that I'm not rotating my fore-arms enough pre-impact, resulting in a horrible left-right path, particularly annoying as my natural path WAS always a right to left. Have recently purchased a Momentus Swing-Trainer in an effort to combat, but worried that this may further practice my flaws so will also get a lesson or two with a local pro.

Alright Garry, hows it going?



Hi sport_fanatic

I would say 100/120 up to 150 may not count as short game for the purposes of the drills you could use to practice your short game. Maybe at 16 handicap level you should concentrate on 100 and down as short game.

Control and consistenct may be the keys to lowering your score through the short game. So you need to look at getting the correct distance and a predictable trajectory, and therefore roll when the ball lands.

The set up will be important for these shorts and the easiest things to start with are ball position and weight distribution. Try placing the ball and inch or two behind the middle of your stance and place about 60-70% of your weight on your left side.

This will promote the slightly descending blow needed for better trajectory and also minimising the chance of hitting a duff.

The simplest of drills after this is to pick targets at known distance and go from one to the next after each shot and keep repeating until you get a feel for judging distances.

Good game is picking about 3 or 4 targets at various lengths. If you want to work from 150 in you could pick a targets at 150, 100 and 50. or 150, 130, 100, 80... whatever you feel is best. Then take 3 balls which are your lifelines and start at the nearest target. Miss outside the target and you loose a life/ball. You would then only have 2 lives left to hit that same target plus the rest. Hit the first target and you can take your remaining lifes onto the next target and so on. Once you run out of lives then its back to the start! Try and get from nearest target to furthest and back without losing 3 lives. Once you can do that hit to the 3 or 4 targets in a random order. Once you've done that hit all the targets just using a draw. Then a fade, then high, then low etc. You get the idea! If you get really good give yourself just the 2 lives. Or 1.

Be strict. If you get to the last target and you loose all your lives then start again. Dont just pull another ball out.

Since my course has a reasonable practice area I work my my way through this "short game handicap system".
http://www.ianhayes.co.za/Pro/features.aspx?fdesc=ShortGame

K@S. I've always been interested in doing something like this. There seems to be a lot of drills / tests; do you do all of them in one go? How long does it take to go through them? How many balls do you use in each area? For the wedge shots is the 3/4 or 1/2 based off of the full shot with shortest club?

Sorry for all the questions just really interested as I know I need to work on my game. Thanks Grumpy

Can't really offer advice on this but at the range I play imaginary holes if I'm not working on something.

So I might hit a driver or wood and assume I hit it a certain distance, that might leave me with a 7 iron and a chip for the next two shots.

Next hole will be something different.

Breaks up the monotony and puts value on each shot.

Grumpy
I restrict myself to no more than 120 balls and I can sometimes use 40 balls in one area. I experiment with all 3 wedges 46, 52 & 58 and occasionally on some of the chips use my 7&8 irons to get a bit more versatility. It can take me several days to go through all of them and I must admit to neglecting some of the putting ones in favour of the wedges. The 3/4 and 1/2 shots are based on the 52&58 degree wedges, as I get older my distance is decreasing rapidly..

K@S wrote:Grumpy
I restrict myself to no more than 120 balls and I can sometimes use 40 balls in one area. I experiment with all 3 wedges 46, 52 & 58 and occasionally on some of the chips use my 7&8 irons to get a bit more versatility. It can take me several days to go through all of them and I must admit to neglecting some of the putting ones in favour of the wedges. The 3/4 and 1/2 shots are based on the 52&58 degree wedges, as I get older my distance is decreasing rapidly..

Wow no more than 120! Fair play, for me 120 is a lot. I generally retrict myself to 60 balls but take my time hitting each one, making sure to stand behind visualise the shot and hit as I would on th course

jeffkenna wrote:

Wow no more than 120! Fair play, for me 120 is a lot. I generally retrict myself to 60 balls but take my time hitting each one, making sure to stand behind visualise the shot and hit as I would on th course

I have been retired for a good few years so have the time to do it and as I am using the practice ground I don't pay for range balls, so very economical.

good stuff k@s - you must keep yourself fit too, I'm 26 and I'd be wrecked if i hit 120!!

Retirement...now there is a nice thought, the way the economy is going it's only about another 30 years away!

Or sooner than you think BCM. As my client put in one time: everytime the market drops the further away retirement gets however, everytime our production volume drops the closer to retirement he gets

Thanks K@S. I think I might have 10 balls at each station to calculate score, hopefully that would highlight weak areas. I would then probably break this up; wedge shot, pitch shot, bunker shot and 2 of the putting tests so as to not totally neglect one area of the short game.

Sadly these days there is a big difference between voluntary retirement and compulsory (ie redundancy)

My normal retirement age gets further and further away - the day when I'm forced to retire could be getting ever closer these days

How true is that about enforced retirement. My sister 3weeks ago was made redudndant from her post as a senior manager within the local NHS trust due to them merging with another trust therefore not requiring the 2 people in the same roles. No such thing as loyalty these days either after 22years service it was thanks but we'll be seeing you.

Back to the OP:

Are we talking Driving range or practice area at the club as depending which I gotoa I'll work on different things.

Driving Range: Will simply work on ball flight and shot shape to the various flags and markers e.g 150yards will work on cutting and drawing the ball into the target. Then work on hitting high soft shots to it and low penetrating ones to it. Then change my distances.

Practice Area: Far more varied will use my range finder to set out distances at 10 yard intervals from 120yards down to 40yards. Place a target at each one usually a towel and focus on getting the ball to land on them. Recently found the use of kiddies hula hoops for this being a good target. Then for every ball that lands and finishes in the towel/hoop I'll give myself points everything outside take points away.

Then for longer yardages I'll again mark out distances for my clubs and set out 2 items at the same distance with a 5-10yard gap between them dependent on which club I'm using (much like a gate if you like) then the aim of the drill is to land the ball in the gated area with the club I'm using, using straight, draw and faded shots. Will use this drill for every club upto a driver. You'll be surprised how much this makes you focus on accuracy and improves your game. Its a drill I picked up as a junior when I played at a course that had a narrow practice area and one I still like working on