Tips for driving range sessions were something I didn’t stumble upon until way too late in my municipal golf life.
I remember the first time I came home from the driving range and told my dad “I figured something out.”
What I didn’t realize at the time was I figured out how not to hit a golf ball.
I was in high school and had never ventured down the rabbit hole of golf ‘how to’ glory and all of the simultaneous elation and misery it can bring.
This was also around the time that I laughed at a friend for having the goal of wanting to get a handicap.
Yes, he just wanted to GET a handicap. And I laughed as if he had just told me he wanted to play Augusta National.
Joke’s on me, I guess, as I not only have my own handicap but I also know exactly what it is down to the decimal.
I even know how it’s calculated.
As of writing this, I’m currently sitting at a 7.2 index.
For the newcomers to golf (Welcome!), this roughly means my ‘potential’ is 7 shots higher than the course rating.
Not par, but the course rating.
It’s a bit more complicated than that but we can save that for a different post.
Back to why you’re really here.
Golf driving range tips.
As you can tell, I didn’t roll out of bed one day and become a single-digit handicap.
Those people are a rare breed and I’m left to live my life knowing I’m not one of them.
Fortunately for you, all my hours of aimlessly pounding golf balls at the driving range were not for nothing!
Eventually, I found some phenomenal drills and mindsets that elevated my game to the point where it is now.
I also found some awful ones if you wanna hear those stories too.
But for now, I’ll leave you with all the good.
Here are my best driving range tips to lower your handicap.
1. Hit More Wedges and Short Irons
Unfortunately, the driving range is doing us a disservice by being called a driving range.
The driver might be the most fun club to hit, but it’s not the club that’s going to help you score.
Yes, I know what the data says.
You need to be able to hit your driver as far as possible to give yourself the best chance of scoring.
However!
A drive, generally speaking, can be pretty far offline and still be ‘ok’.
But a pitching wedge that’s just a little bit offline can be in a bunker, short-sided off the green, or god forbid in the water.
Also, the better you are with a wedge, I promise the more confident you’ll be with a driver in your hand.
Knowing you don’t have to hit the perfect drive to still get an approach shot close makes a world of difference when you’re standing on the tee.
So when I say you should “hit more” wedges and short irons, I mean you should be hitting almost all wedges and short irons.
At the peak of my modest amateur life, it wasn’t uncommon to go through an entire driving range session hitting nothing more than an 8-iron.
I know what you’re thinking.
And yes, I thought it seemed crazy too.
Until I heard this stat…
The worst make percentage on the PGA from 3 feet away is better than the best make percentage from 4 feet.
I’ll let that sink in for a second.
What does that mean in layman’s terms?
The best way to help your putting?
Hit your approach shot closer to the hole.
Simple as that.
Ok, it’s obviously not that simple, but you get the idea.
This was the first time that it dawned on me, it doesn’t matter how much I practice putting I’m never going to be better than the best putter on the planet.
BUT!
If I practice my approach game I could hit it 25% closer to the hole than I do know and that would make me a pseudo better putter.
Why do I focus on 8-iron and below?
Simple math.
From the tees I play, I know most of my approaches into greens will be inside 150 yards.
Which is an 8-iron for me.
Any approach longer than that and it’s probably because I’m going for a par-5 in two shots.
In which case missing the green and having a greenside chip can still leave me with a birdie chance.
2. Alignment Sticks!
Have you ever been to a professional golf tournament?
Have you ever walked up and down the practice range at that event and noticed anything all the pros have in common?
We’re talking about the best players in the world here!
And what do they all have?
Alignment sticks.
Maybe not on every swing with every club, but they’re all there.
I don’t know what pride is involved with not using alignment sticks for a lot of amateurs, but trust me they makes a difference.
A big one.
Maybe some people think they’re not good enough for it to make a difference.
Or maybe they think it makes you look silly.
Consider this a friendly reminder that the best players in the world don’t care how silly they look while they’re practicing.
And you shouldn’t either.
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve wondered why shots consistently trailed left or right only to put an alignment stick down on the driving range the next day and realize it had nothing to do with making poor swings and everything to do with where I was aimed.
They’re not going to win any contests for being the best and brightest, but they serve the purpose I need them for.
And I simply like them because I can fold them up for nice tidy storage.
Being that there are three sticks in the set, it gives me some options for setting them up in different ways depending on what I’m working on.
I know there are better ones out there, but I don’t care.
These ones are perfect for me and I love how easy it is to slide them neatly into my bag.
This also means they don’t take up space where my clubs are like a lot of other alignment sticks do, which is a huge plus for me and my golf bag organization.
If you prefer the longer, sturdier ones, don’t let me stop you. (Here’s an option for a sturdier set that doesn’t collapse down.)
And if you balk at some of the prices for a simple stick on the ground, I would highly suggest a thin metal rod from any local hardware store.
This is what I used to do. It cost me $3 for a three-foot rod and sat in my bag with my putter.
And if you really don’t want to spend any money on one, you always have 13 other perfect free alignment stick substitutes in your bag.
Their alternate identity is a golf club.
3. Random Number Generator
This is by far my favorite “drill” to do at the driving range.
The concept is simple.
How many times do you hit the same shot twice in a row on the golf course?
Hopefully, the answer is zero, but we’ve all been there re-teeing a golf ball after blasting one OB.
Condolences for those moments.
But for most of our shots, it’s one-and-done.
And if you’re going play like that, why should we practice by hitting the same shot over and over and over?
Well… we shouldn’t.
At least not ALL the time.
Insert random number generator.
How I Do This
My version of this is very simple.
I use Google.
Simply type “random number generator” into the search bar and this screen pops up.
The best part is you can set the maximum and minimum numbers to fit what shots you want to work on.
Simply set your range of numbers, hit “Generate”, grab your club, and go launch ’em.
For the sake of full transparency, I know the point of this is to never hit the same shot twice, but I’m no Tiger Woods over here.
I will usually hit two or three balls to each target yardage before moving generating a new random number.
Unfortunately, without a launch monitor, it can be hard to do this with full fidelity on each shot.
Especially with range balls.
But if you’ve played enough rounds you are probably decent enough at knowing what club you should be hitting to each yardage and you can do just fine with this.
What I love most about this game is the possibilities are truly endless.
Want to hit random shots throughout your whole bag?
Set up your random numbers to start at your shortest stock wedge and go all the way up to your longest max driver distance.
Just want to practice short approach shots? (This is what I do most often)
Set your max yardage at 150 and go launch ‘em.
Want to practice distance control with one club?
Set a minimum of around 50 with the max at your stock yardage and get dialed in on being able to use that club at any time in any situation. (This one is a personal favorite way to learn good distance control.)
It doesn’t take long to see how creative you can get with this one.
Don’t be afraid to make practice more fun!
4. Practice a Round of Golf
Who says you have to have a tee time to play a round of golf?
If golf courses in your area are anything like mine lately, securing a tee time can feel more like an early-morning internet heist than the peaceful jubilance of anticipated golf.
Fear not.
No golf course is required for this one.
In fact, this one can almost go hand-in-hand with the random number generator.
The only difference is there’s nothing random about how you decide what clubs to hit.
Pro tip: I would HIGHLY recommend this if you are preparing to play a tournament.
Step One: Pick your course.
Even if you’ve never played this course before, you can still use it for this exercise.
It might even make it more fun.
Step Two: Track all the holes.
I used to do this with a physical paper yardage book for a course where I grew up, but following along on an app like 18 Birdies will work just as well.
Apps are generally the way I prefer if I’m prepping for a course I’ve never played before.
Step Three: Head to the ‘first tee.’
I’ll walk through my process for the first hole of a course I frequently do this exercise on.
This is the first hole of Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club and I generally use 18 Birdies as I mentioned.
The thing I love about using a tool like this is you can set which tees you want and then drag your finger to see carry distances of bunkers and lakes to find your safe zones.
For example, on this hole, I know I want to carry the bunkers on the left, but I don’t want to hit it so far that it would be difficult to pitch over the front greenside bunker.
From these distances, that usually means fairway woods for me.
So on my driving range session, I’ll grab a 3 wood and hammer away with the image of this hole in my brain.
If the shot goes well (be honest with yourself) I will follow it up with a flip sand wedge and consider the hole finished.
We can save putting practice for another day.
If I felt like my drive was way off I try to be as honest with myself as possible and try to hit whatever recovery shot I think I might encounter and go from there. (I would probably hit another tee shot as well just to get that swing thought ironed out, but I would make sure to hit the true recovery shot.)
Rinse and repeat for 17 more holes and voila!
Practice round played.
5. Same Shot Routine as the Golf Course
This one falls under the category of being okay with looking silly on the range.
Although you will certainly not do this for every ball you ever hit on the range, it’s still an important skill to practice nonetheless.
If you watch a PGA Tour event closely enough, you’ll start noticing that every player has a ‘moment’.
It happens after he’s talked to his caddie.
After he’s picked a club.
And just before he’s about to step up to the ball.
He’s standing behind his ball and staring down his intended starting line when it happens.
It’s usually a subtle look on their face.
Everything appears to zone out and he appears to lock in.
In his brain, the shot has started and now it’s pure focus.
For the next 5 seconds, the only thing his brainwaves are processing is how to execute this one shot.
THAT needs to be your goal too.
Finding Your Routine
Every routine is different but they all have the same goal.
Execute one shot, one time.
You can worry about the rest later.
Finding the right routine takes practice, but having a bad routine is far better than not having one at all.
Morale of the story though, the golf course is not the first time you should be trying to find your routine.
Finding the routine is for the practice range.
Using the routine is for the golf course.
And if you really want to go down the rabbit hole of routines, Pia Nilsson and Lynn Mariott have broken down the golf shot into specific boxes that help you create structure in your routine.
Their methodology contains a Think Box, Play Box, and Memory Box.
They are all separate from one another and one must not overlap the one before or the one after.
Their book, “Be a Player” goes into great detail about this (and so much more).
I would highly suggest it to anyone in the market for lower scores.
6. Ladder Drill
I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who’s good at and who hasn’t done this drill.
The idea is easy, but the execution is extremely challenging.
The goal is to increase your distances as if you were going up the rungs of a ladder.
You always start small.
The starting number doesn’t really matter, but I tend to start somewhere around 50 yards.
Once you have your starting distance, off you go.
Hit one shot to 50 yards.
Then to 60 yards.
Then 70.
And on to 80.
Slowly but surely adding distances until you go all the way up your bag.
Step-by-Step Tips for the Driving Range With My Process
If my goal for this is to actually get all the way through my bag, I will usually try to hit two shots with every club.
The first is a slightly cut-off swing with a good tempo.
Probably a swing-feel of about a 90% knockdown shot.
Then followed by a full-stock golf swing to whatever the normal yardage would be for that shot.
The best part about this drill?
You can modify it any way you want.
One of my favorite things to do is go ‘up the ladder’ with just one club.
For example, a stock 8-iron as I’ve mentioned goes about 150 yards for me.
So I will go ‘up the ladder’ hitting yardages of 50, then 75, and 100, and 125, until I get to a full 150.
You might be asking yourself, “What if I don’t have a launch monitor?”
A perfectly valid question.
A launch monitor certainly helps.
But honestly, I don’t do this with a launch monitor.
When I list those yardages, they are 100% approximations.
I’m simply picking targets on the range that I think might be close to certain yardages and trying to hit them.
Hell, sometimes I don’t even care about the actual yardages and I will just try to hit every shot further than the one before it while keeping on the same line.
7. Swing as Fast as You Can
This is not the mindset that any of our grandparents taught us growing up.
However, the game has changed.
And if you’re not fast, you’re slow.
Speed is part of the game right now and there’s nothing any of us can do about it except get on board.
I want to stress that this mentality should NOT be applied to every shot you hit.
In fact, it only applies to one club in your bag.
The driver.
Yes, the same club I told you earlier that you shouldn’t hit on the range.
You can think of this as your Dos Equis club.
You shouldn’t always hit it on the range, but when you do, swing it as fast as you can.
The stress here is on faster, not harder.
Your Body is Lying to You
The truth is, your body can swing faster than your brain thinks it can.
Trust me I’ve tried it.
And the more you do it, your body starts trusting it more and more.
The goal of this is not so you will swing the club this fast during an actual round.
BUT if you start swinging faster in practice, all your other swings will inevitably increase in speed as well.
For example, let’s say your average driver swing speed is 100 mph (fairly typical for us out-of-shape amateurs).
If you can get swings on the driving range that creep towards 110 mph, you’ll have a much better chance of making a controlled swing around 105 mph the next time you tee it up on the course.
What’s the effect of that extra 5 mph of clubhead speed?
About 10-15 yards.
This means all your approach shots are now being hit with one less club. That’s HUGE.
Now… it’s not that easy to gain that much speed just from a couple of driving range sessions, but hopefully, the bigger point is coming across.
To swing faster and gain that elusive extra distance we all want, you have to push your body to the edge of its comfort zone.
Here are some steps I like to take while I’m doing this.
- Aim at a target WELL beyond your target. (I’m talking the house that’s 500 yards away that Bryson DeChambeau couldn’t even hit.)
- Think faster not harder.
- Get your body in active motion before you start your swing.
- Don’t worry where the ball goes.
8. Learn How to Golf With a Preferred Shot Shape
I’m gonna be brutally honest.
You’re probably not good enough to have more than one shot shape.
As Colin Morikawa expresses in this video, even he (arguably one of the best ball strikers on tour) gets uncomfortable hitting shot shapes he doesn’t like.
Keep that in mind next time you try to play that high whipping hook around the corner of a dogleg that you’ve never practiced before.
If you are at the beginning stages of your golf journey, you need to become the master of one before you can become the master of many.
That means pounding balls with one shot shape over and over and over.
And over.
I’m not here to tell you what shot shape you should be playing. That decision is all you.
But pick one.
Stick with it.
And trust it.
9. Don’t Aim at Flags
Consider these next two advanced tips for the driving range.
In particular, this one might seem a little strange.
It did to me the first time I heard about it.
But you shouldn’t be aiming at flags.
Yes I know they’re out there and give you natural aim points, but you can consider them like false idols.
Ask a tour player how often they aim at flags and the answer will be surprisingly low.
At least it will be for the guys that keep their tour cards year after year.
The name of the game here is aggressive swings to conservative targets.
The more you can practice this on the driving range, the less tempted you’ll be to attack difficult pins while you’re playing a round.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t acknowledge their existence out there on the range, just don’t use them to aim right at them.
A great example of this is when you are using some of your longer clubs.
I’m talking drivers, woods, and long irons.
While you’re playing a round, you would rarely be using these clubs to attack a green.
So why would you aim at a flag on the driving range while hitting a driver?
That’s silly.
Instead, you can still use the flags, but use two flags and act like the space between them is a fairway.
Little tricks like that can not only give you great practice but can create an increased confidence knowing that you don’t have to be perfect.
10. Don’t Look at Driving Range Yardages
Have you ever hit a range ball that flew with perfect precision as it pierced through the air like a plane taking off?
Granted, this might be one thing that doesn’t happen often.
Then you hit the next ball, with the same exact golf swing, and it ballooned into the air before falling to the ground 30 yards shorter than the last?
Yeah, me too.
That’s because range balls stink.
This is why you should never look at yardages on a driving range.
At least if you are using beat-up old ranges like the rest of us municipal mules.
If you frequent driving ranges with fresh pyramids of designated practice balls, you are a little more inclined to use those yardages.
The best advice I can give, especially if you’re at a range you don’t go to all the time, is simply to hit a stock shot with any club and then use that as your aiming point for the rest of your swings with that club.
It doesn’t need to be perfect, you are just trying to get an idea of your distances for that club.
A second component of this is where you are on the range.
Most of the ranges I go to only list one yardage for every flag.
Well, that doesn’t do me a lot of good if that yardage was measured from the far right of the range and I’m hitting balls on the far left.
I assume this is the same at most of the other ranges out there no matter where you live.
Even worse, some of the ranges I go to will use mats some days but the grass in front on others… But the signs with yardage don’t change.
This gets negated a little bit if you have a rangefinder that you can ping to any flag, but then you’re still hitting the same crappy range balls.
So I’ll say it again, stop looking at yardages on the driving range.
11. How to Golf Better by “Pounding Balls”
Sometimes golf is easier than we make it seem.
If you subscribe to the 10,000-hour rule, there’s only one way to get there with golf.
Just pound balls.
It’s really as simple as that.
Show up to the range.
Bring some hydration.
The water kind, not the adult beverage kind.
And hit ball after ball.
I understand the challenge of this as all of life’s responsibilities come calling, but the truth is it works.
This doesn’t mean aimlessly hitting as many balls as you can just to hit as many balls as you can.
There should be intent.
(Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriot talk about this in their book too.)
You don’t need to get to 10,000 hours, but the more you can do, the better you’ll be.
Especially if you’re using all the other tips on this list.
12. Know the Difference Between a Warm-Up Session and a Range Practice Session
Are you warming up or practicing?
Because there’s a difference. A big one.
The last thing you want to do minutes before teeing off for a round is tinkering with your swing and ending up in a driving range practice session.
Now you’re exhausted and haven’t even started playing!
At the height of my golf days, practice sessions might mean anywhere between one to two hours of hitting 100 to 200 balls, followed by some greenside practice.
A warm-up session?
20-ish minutes, hitting 20-30 balls. Followed by two quick putting drills.
That’s it!
The biggest difference here is definitely psychological.
Going into a practice session, you should be telling yourself what you want to get out of it, what you want to work on, and what drills are you going to use to help.
Making those decisions before you step on the practice area means you’ve already taken the first step to success.
Compare that to a warm-up session and you should have no mechanical thoughts at all.
Simply get your body moving and try to find the bottom of your swing.
Do that and get the heck off the range!
Save your mental strain for all the shots that are going to count for your round.
How to Golf: Final thoughts
There you have it, 12 tips for driving range practice that can actually lower your scores.
A couple of things before I bid you ado.
Remember, the goal is growth, not perfection.
One of the glories of golf is that it’s easy to play but difficult to master.
Therefore, improvement takes time and dedication, so be patient with yourself and know there is no magic bullet.
Better yet, take pride that there is no magic bullet because the summit of good golf will be that much sweeter.
Within these 12 driving range tips, there are skills to help your mental game, increase your distance, optimize your shots, and ultimately be the golfer you want to be.
Whether you’re just starting out or have been playing for decades, more practice is the ultimate way to reach golf success.
If you don’t believe me, just listen to Tiger Woods.
The more you can learn to love this part of the game, the more you’ll see your scores drop.
I guarantee it!
So get out there, practice these skills, and go take your game to new heights!
A Few Other Ways to Lower Your Scores
- Play the same ball on every shot – Let us guide you through your own golf ball fitting.
- How to Break 80 – the ultimate guide to amateur golf glory!
- How to Break 100 – the first milestone of any amateur golfer’s addiction.
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