My exact driving range practice plan
Reflecting on the last 2 years, I realized…
On a girls golf trip to Nashville, practicing at the driving range at McCabe Golf Course in April 2022
Recently, I celebrated Queen City Links Ladies 2 year anniversary at our driving range meetup at The Acres Driving Range, Kitchen & Bar.
Reflecting on the past few years of learning to play golf, and reflecting on my last 2 years of running QCLL, I was thinking a lot about our first driving range event and the many women who have come to our events since then. It got me thinking about all the questions, comments and fun conversation at those events…
Some things I hear more often than you might think…
“I want to go to the driving range but I don’t know what to do when I get there.”
“How should I practice? What routine should I follow? How many balls should I hit?”
“Going to the range sounds like a good idea, but I would feel awkward & intimidated being there by myself with all those men.”
“I’m so glad you have a women’s driving range meetup! I would never go by myself. I feel more comfortable being here with company.”
Reflecting on these comments and questions got me thinking about putting together a Driving Range Guide. I wanted to put together information that I have learned in a simple, easy to follow guide and include my practice plan.
I put this guide together with the beginner golfer in mind. Getting settled in at the driving range is pretty simple in theory: get a bucket of balls, find an open bay and start hitting your golf clubs. But there are different features at driving ranges that as a beginner I didn’t know to look for. As it turns out, driving ranges are all very different.
Grass tee or hitting off of mats? Some ranges will offer both options. Some have covered bays so you can practice even in a bit of rain.
Ball machine or do you have to buy balls at the counter? Can you get a range card, a discount for being a frequent customer?
Smart screens in each bay with shot tracking technology and an app that goes with it? Or simply looking for the distance key so you know what flag is equal to what yardage?
Do you want a driving range that also serves food and beverages, has music playing? Or a no frills place that is just buckets of balls and hitting bays?
When you do a quick google search of your area, you can view the pictures of the driving ranges, look at reviews, and recognize these features before you choose which range to go to. If you live in an area where you have a lot of choices, you can try out multiple places to see which one has the best vibe for you.
Practice makes progress
When you google “driving range practice plans” you may find a lot of drills intended to increase distance and improve accuracy. In the beginning when I was learning to play golf, I had no idea how far, on average, I hit any of my clubs. So these target practice drills were kind of worthless to me and left me frustrated. What I needed to practice was my grip, stance and posture and simply trying to make solid contact with the ball - getting the golf ball moving forward and airborne! I needed to get that feeling of “WOW I just hit a great shot,” and develop the muscle memory that I used to make that happen.
Knowing your distances is important for making the right club selection when you are on the golf course. When you start out playing golf, you might find that you hit all of your irons the same exact distance. This was true for me for at least the first 2 seasons. I wondered why carry so many irons when I hit them all pretty much the same distance? And it’s true I didn’t need every club I had in my bag when I was starting out. I still used the distance tracking at the driving range to keep track of how far I hit my driver, woods, irons (all the same, LOL), and wedge. As time went on, I started seeing differences in my distance.
My practice plan gets you in and out in ONE HOUR. Personally, for practice & for warmups before a round, I prefer to start with the shortest club in my bag and work my way up to driver. You don’t want to wear yourself out hitting 100+ golf balls. I promise you will be sore. Think about it: in an 18 hole round if you score 120, you are only hitting 80 or 90 at full swing because about 30-40 of your overall strokes are putts. And that’s 80 full swing hits an 18 hole round spread over 4 hour time period.
So, my advice: practice but don’t overdo it. Take your time. Progress, not perfection. Celebrate the good things about your practice session, however small. You’ve got nothing but time to keep improving. There’s no rush. You can still see improvement with just one hour a week of practice. I know because that’s what I have done for the last couple years. The small gains will add up over time when you keep after it.
I hope you enjoy the guide & practice plan. Do you have a practice routine? Is there a driving range tip or practice advice that you’d like to share? Drop a comment, email or DM me and let me know.
