How to Practice at the Driving Range

Are you planning to go to the range soon? Do you have a plan? You should. The biggest mistake you can make is showing up without knowing what to practice at the driving range.

I did this for the first couple of years I played golf. Sure, I did drills my coach gave me, but I didn’t any structure or a program to follow. I bought the biggest bucket and hit balls until they were gone.

Sometimes I practiced once per week. Other weeks more. I also put in work at home. Yet my game isn’t much different than it was compared to when I first started. Some areas are even worse.

You could make a strong case that the reason for this is how I plan my driving range sessions.

How I Used to Practice at the Driving Range

My driving range sessions for the first couple of years didn’t have any structure at all. Most times I’d have something I’d want to work on. Maybe a drill my coach gave me or something I saw on social media.

The entire practice would be full swing at full speed. I’d almost always hit the biggest bucket, which is usually 100+ balls. Sometimes when I was done I’d buy another small or medium bucket.

I’d get through a range session in a couple of hours. I’d be sweating, my hands would be calloused and hurt, and my back and shoulders would be sore.

Looking back on this makes me smile. While I did try to improve, it’s obvious in hindsight that these practice sessions were flawed—for several reasons.

• There is no way I was engaged and deeply focused for 100+ shots.
• I didn’t aim at targets. I just hit balls with the goal of hitting them straight or with a slight draw.
• You’re not going to engrain new techniques or changes swinging at full speed—not at first.
• You can say the same for rapid firing through that many balls in 1.5-2 hours.
• I didn’t record my golf swing or practice in front of a mirror.

There is a lot of research into what effective practice looks like, block vs random practice, how to practice for the best results, etc. I will dive more into that in future articles.

What I can tell you is that nothing I did set me up for success. This is a good example of what not to do when you go to the driving range to practice.

How My Driving Range Sessions Have Changed

Over the last year or so, I’ve tweaked my sessions based on the results I was seeing and research I’ve done.

• My practice sessions were often decided before I got to the range. I would know what I was working on, the drills I wanted to do, and games I wanted to play. This would also determine which driving range I was going to.
• I started to record more range sessions. I learned that feel is not real. I thought I was making the right moves in my swing only to record it and find out I wasn’t.
• I tried to be more deliberate, focused, and engaged. I would do practice swings and slow motion swings, trying to feel the changes I wanted to make.
• This led to a reduction of balls hit per session. There were some sessions where all I needed was a medium bucket—and sometimes even then I’d leave some balls behind.
• I attempted to program my range sessions, similar to a strength training workout. The idea was to have a specific plan to follow for the driving range.

Where I have done a good job is becoming more deliberate about my practice. I show up with a plan and do a pretty good job following it. I try to be intentional about what I’m working on, rehearsing several times before hitting a ball—often at a much slower speed than my full swing.

My Driving Range Plan for the Future

However, there are many things I can do better on the driving range to speed up my learning and make changes that will allow me to shoot lower scores.

• Record more. I don’t record nearly enough so I don’t always have a good idea if I’m making the changes I need to make my swing more efficient. I usually feel inconvenienced by recording my golf swing, between setting everything up, ensuring it’s all aligned, then taking a couple swings, and then shutting off the camera. It’s something I need to do though. Alternatively, you can use a mirror. I’ve only done this once or twice now and I do think I prefer it to recording my swing.
• Not mixing up my practice enough. There is a lot of good info from Golf Science Lab and Game Like Training that I’m going through. This training shows you a more optimal way to approach your drills so that you better retain the changes yo’re trying to make.
• Not playing enough games or creating situations on the range to add pressure. You need some kind of practice that forces you to win or lose, succeed or fail. Cordie from Golf Science Lab says the sweet spot is somewhere around 6-70 percent. Any higher than that and it’s too easy. Any lower and it’s too hard. Either ay, you won’t retain as much of your practice.
• Fixing some bad habits. There are a couple of habits I’ve picked up that I need to change. For example, taking the club back in slow motion and watching me take the club back. These are things I picked during practice that has now translated to the course. It’s to the point now to where my backswing often feels slow, unnatural, and not atheltic.
• Not mixing up my clubs enough. I did a lot of block drills with an 8i to learn the drill and get started, but at some point you need to add a variety. Again for retention and added difficulty.
• Going even slower for some of my drills to really feel what I want to change (as well as contrast that with what I DON’T want to do). And then increase speeds to see how well the change is sticking.

Moving forward this is what I’m striving for in a typical driving range session plan.

• Technical — This will consist of swing change or technique work. I will work on a couple things i.e. my takeaway or wrist cock, or a specific type of shot like a bump and run with my 56 degree. This will include a few balls of blocked practice followed by random practice using the drills and circuits from Golf Science Lab and Game Like Training. Timewise, I’d expect this to be 20-30 minutes and maybe around 20-25 balls.
• Skill — In this block I will work on a specific type of shot or outcome I want to achieve that will carry over to my swing or to how I play on the course. For example, I might hit shots using the Lag Shot 7i, which will help me with tempo, squaring the face, and compressing the ball. Or maybe I learn how to hit hooks and slices on purpose for better club face control and to use when I’m in the trees. This block will take 20-30 minutes and maybe 20-25 balls.
• Performance — The point of this block is to test me, to apply pressure. Practicing on the driving range presents no risk. If you hit one bad shot, just set up another. The goal here is to apply pressure by creating a game using points or to give yourself constraints i.e. you can’t leave the driving range until you score 20 points or hit 10 shots with a draw to this flag. The time on this will vary but I expect it to last 20-30 minutes and 20-25 balls.

Here’s an example of what this might look like.

Technical — I would have four stations.

• On the first station I would do what I was working on in slow motion i.e. the takeaway without a ball. Then I would do a super slow motion version with the ball in the way.
• On the second station I might do a pause drill. I’d go real slow, feeling what I was trying to work on. Then I’d pause at the top. Then I’d swing and hit the ball.
• For the third station, I’d hit four shots with varying speeds — 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%. If a shot felt off or wasn’t as well struck, I’d do that one over again.
• On the fourth and final station, I’d hit one ball at full speed.

This would be one circuit and would require 8 balls. I’d do this three times (24 calls). The idea for this circuit comes from Game Like Training.

Skill — I’d hit 20 balls with the Lag Shot 7i. My primary focus here would be tempo so that I could hit the ball straight or with a slight draw. I’d likely note the number of draw shots, straight shots, and bad shots I hit so that I could track progress and make this harder over time.

Performance — One thing I’m working on is swing changes so that I stop hitting high cuts, slices, or grounders. So I might have a drill in which I get points for hitting a fairway, no points for hitting the rough, and then minus -2 points for every OB or poor (i.e. topped) shot I hit. Then keep track of my score and try to beat it over time. When that gets too easy, then maybe every shot worth points needs to have a draw on it (to combat my weak cuts).

This is all based on what I’m learning from several different coaches and experts on practice and learning. It’ll change over time as I get better and learn more about what it takes to build a quality practice session at the driving range.

Conclusion

The point of practice — most of the time — is to get better. Like me, maybe you have struggled to take your range game to the golf course. While there are many factors that could be preventing that from happening, for me it comes down to how I practice at the driving range.

If I follow the steps above, I’m sure my driving range sessions will go much better and I’ll start to see more improvement carryover — and should see those changes sooner.

Give this a shot, there’s a good chance it help you too.