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How disciplined are you.....

Mizuno Blue

Mizuno Blue

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Coventry, England
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Bandit
..on the practice ground or range?

Do you just turn up and hit through a bucket of balls with no real vision or purpose, or, do you grind out a systematic routine going through your bag, or, do you only take the clubs you need to work on and concentrate on those which are costing you shots?

Do you try new things knowing your going to duff and chunk shots or are you too concious of others in the next bay who are nailing bombs up the range and end up getting drawn in to doing the same!

I personally either take certain clubs that I need to work on or I emulate a round and won't hit ball after ball with the same club, instead, I will hit my 3w, then a 4i, then a wedge, I will then imagine another hole and take my driver, 6i & wedge and so-on. This is how we use our clubs on the course, why not attempt to practice like that as well?
 
Given the time I will hit about 8-10 shots with each club starting with my wedges and work my way up to my driver, never move to next club on a bad shot though
 
My warm ups consist of about 15 balls each with my 6 and 8 irons. Then I move into what I feel like doing. Stick with the irons and work on contact, hop on the big sticks and work on accuracy and distance, or drop to the wedges and work on the different wedge shots. Then there are days where I just want to work on my swing with all clubs.
 
I usually have a vision/direction for my practice, but it's different from session to session. No matter what I'm working on though, I usually will stretch first, hit some 3/4 6 iron, stretch some more, repeat until I feel warm enough to move to PW for 3/4 then full shots. generally that takes 15-20 balls before I really start swinging away on whatever I'm working on for that session.
 
I tend to try and have a purpose when I'm able to practice. I'll start off with partial swing wedges, just trying to get loosened up. Then I'll hit soft short and mid irons. I'll go back and forth, from big clubs to shorter ones, trying to simulate what happens on the course. One thing I always do is pick a target for each shot. I've worked to get out of the habit of just banging balls. Normally, I'll have one or two things I've been struggling with that I try to really put some work in on. Lately, I've been trying to get my swing path back to where it needs to be consistently, then making sure I make a full finish with each shot and stay balanced.
 
I check my ego at the door. Most of the time I do drills or shape shots so I look like a duffer. If I'm just warming up for a round I look fine. Just work from wedge to woods.
 
What's discipline??
 
When hitting balls at the range, I'll hit a few wedges, then a few 8i, then a few 5i, then a few 5w, then a few drivers. Then I'll use the rest of the bucket to practice with whichever club(s) are giving me the most trouble, or maybe practice a fade/draw/punch depending on what I feel like.

My course doesn't have a range, but I'll take about 20 practice swings, then putt back and forth long distance putts for a few minutes. Then I'll chip/pitch a half dozen balls onto the green going Long-high, Short-low, Short-High, Long-Low. Then if I still have time I'll putt some from 4-8 feet doing either a circle drill or what I call the 'scoring' drill (2 tees about 2 ft apart, then a club on the ground 1-2 feet parallel behind them-I think of it as a hockey net-the goal is to hit 6 putts that go through the 'posts' but don't hit the back of the net-the club. Once I get 5 of 6 twice in a row at 4 ft, I'll move back to 6ft, etc.)
 
I go with both, sometimes I just need to get out of the house and I'll go hit a couple buckets and fool around a little, maybe tinker a little. The majority of the time I'm working on something, it could be as simple as grip and tension or I could be working on changing my plane and wrist position at the top or my impact position and follow through. My swing is my swing and it's far from where I want it to be and far from great, but I love the range, hell, if I could afford it I'd be there everyday. When it comes to practice I'm very disciplined. #practicemorethanplay.
 
When I head to the range, I am there to work on a specific move. Hitting balls into dead so and is not fun so I am all business when I go
 
I certainly don't just gun through a bucket when I go to the range, I think you should always go through your pre-shot routine including visualizing your shot, then you try to execute the shot. It is a time to lay down alignment sticks and make sure alignment is correct and to try different tempos, maybe even get a little bit of video to see how it is looking. I Always hit at least half of the balls with the 8 iron down to LW, most times more. I Never hit a ball without a target. That is pretty much my range session each time I go.
 
If it's a range day I do one of three things:
1. Stretch, warmup, hit a couple wedge shots, hit a couple 5 irons, then I simulate a round never hitting the same club consecutively
2. Stretch, warmup, hit a couple wedge shots, hit a couple 5 irons, then I jump around the bag hitting three shots with each club changing the shape/trajectory with each shot
3. Bring a couple clubs to really focus on but I rarely do this
 
I work my way through my bag. I take my time and work on routine and practice all phases of the game.
Showing up and beating balls is a waste of time. You will pick up more bad habits and in grain and make it worse if you tire out and lose your form and posture.

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk
 
I'll warm up with about 10 balls with my 7 iron, since it's the "middle" of my set. Then I'll work into my wedges, then toward my woods. At my range it's only $2 more to get 150 balls instead of just 100, and I usually take the last 30 balls or so and practice chipping and pitching. It keeps me loose and greatly improves my short game on the course.

For fun, I like to see if I can hit the picker while it's moving. I rarely do, but I find that it takes away all the mechanics of the swing, since I have to quickly figure out how to hit a moving target. I shouldn't be suprised that my shots are always close. It reminds me to stop thinking about the mechanics of the swing so much, and go with more feel.
 
I always start with the two tee drill to make sure my ball striking is starting off well. Place two tees about two clubheads apart, put the ball in the middle and then make sure the divot is ahead of the tees. Once I get into rhythm with my ball striking I work through the bag working on draws and fades. I love playing a huge hook with my sand wedge. Not all that practical, but a fun shot to pull off if you ever need it.
 
Until late last year, I would just beat balls. Now, I am practicing specifics. I may be working on movement into the ball, getting the ball to a certain point with 3 different clubs, or just playing a hole or two through my minds eye. Now, I try to make every shot count when I am at the range. I have also found that the range sessions take a little longer to work through the bucket AND I come away with something or at least I usually see results the next time I am on the course.

JM
 
Im more disciplined now than I have been in the past. Still want to put a better routine together and thats something Im going to focus on when the weather breaks
 
I typically play a round of golf in my head when at the range. I picture my favorite course and I hit shots as if I were actually playing. I know the distance, layout, hazards, conditions of each hole and just go from there.
 
Sir Swingsalot said:
If it's a range day I do one of three things:
1. Stretch, warmup, hit a couple wedge shots, hit a couple 5 irons, then I simulate a round never hitting the same club consecutively
2. Stretch, warmup, hit a couple wedge shots, hit a couple 5 irons, then I jump around the bag hitting three shots with each club changing the shape/trajectory with each shot
3. Bring a couple clubs to really focus on but I rarely do this
Click to expand...

I think this about sums up my range time. I will mix up what I do based on what I'm trying to work on. One thing I do differently than most others I see is I never get a huge bucket of balls, instead I get a medium bucket and spend almost two hours with it. I take lots of breaks and really try to simulate a golf round.
 
For the most part, after warm up, im working on something. Ive already set a goal for myself to achieve at that range session. It may vary from week to week or even change after I see how im swinging. Ive always been taught and follow that I work on the range play on the course.
 
mikedean441 said:
Im more disciplined now than I have been in the past. Still want to put a better routine together and thats something Im going to focus on when the weather breaks
Click to expand...

If you're looking for something to add to a routine you can try stretching a small bucket out to an hour.

I do this every once in a while when I'm not working on mechanics and just working on targets and pre shot routines. I'll hit my shot then walk away, get a drink, let my body go cool down a bit. Come back, pick the target, go through routine and hit the shot. This routine has helped me on the course so far this year. It like I've learned to turn on and off shot mode.
 
golf3rguy said:
I typically play a round of golf in my head when at the range. I picture my favorite course and I hit shots as if I were actually playing. I know the distance, layout, hazards, conditions of each hole and just go from there.
Click to expand...


I do this as well and it helps a ton on the course, glad I'm not alone.
 
There are times I go to the practice range where I don't bring anything but my putter, or my wedges and four or five balls. I have specific things I need to practice. If I need to work on something, I work on it. Sometimes it's fun to smack a bucket of balls across the range, but that's all it is ... for fun. $4 a bucket to goof off might be cool on occasion, but it adds up over time. Got to make each shot count.
 
Last yr I beat a lot of balls and accomplished very little.

This yr I have a plan going into every session, where I'm working on a certain drill or drills through out the session for certain moves I'm trying to accomplish.

My typical practice session goes something like this.

-Warm up with gold flex 20swings increasing speed with each swing.

-stretch legs and back

-swing 7i 5-10 swings loose and light

-drill 5-10 times

- normal swing 5-10 balls

-drill 5-10

-normal swing 5-10 balls

I rinse and repeat the drill and normal swing till I've accomplished what I intended and then I focus on repeating the same swing points for what left of the bucket. If I feel myself slipping into bad points in my swing I will go back to drills.
 
If I am popping to the range for a quick session after work, I usually only have a few clubs with me - most likely 3W, 5i, 8i, PW

Regardless of whether I have a few clubs or my whole bag with me, the routine is usually pretty similar unless there is something specific I want to work on (as an example, lately I have hit more balls with the new driver to get used to it)

Stretching to loosen up, static stretches to begin with followed by gently swinging a club
Half a dozen balls with a wedge and then 5i

If it is a quick range session I will then usually hit no more than 3-4 shots with a particular club, maybe going 3W - PW - 5i - 8i then going back to the 3W
For a longer range session I have started to change the routine to either hitting 2 shots with a club and then changing to another, or playing out a couple of holes in my head so that I am changing club for every shot like you would do on the course

This year I will also be spending time at the short game area, where we have a green with a couple of holes for practicing chipping and a second green with a bunker for building sand castles or practicing that area of your short game

We also have 2 separate putting greens and I intend to spend time there as well to work on my putting as it is probably the weakest part of my game right now
 
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