How to not be a hacker, part 3; The Driving Range

You suck, you know it an we know it. The only way to get better is to practice, and yes, some of that practice occurs at the driving range.

That said, I'm teaching you how to not be a hacker here, so this is not about "swing tips" you can use on the driving range.

This lesson is about how to be a player, not a hacker, when you walk onto the range.

Divot Pattern

The quintessential and automatic way to spot a player over a hacker on the range...

A hacker's divot pattern takes up 5-7 square feet of the range and consists of individual divots, spread out like a checker board. Something like the image on the left.

For a player, the pattern of divots looks like the second image, on the right. All of the divots combine to form the tightest possible pattern, they all connect. The result is a single "large" divot that takes up less than 2 square feet of the practice tee.

Some superintendents will tell you that the first pattern is actually optimal for grass regrowth. These superintendents are hackers. The grass may grow back faster, but 9 players hitting the range correctly (picture 2), can hit balls in the turf space that 1 hacker beats up on the range (picture 1).

Practice v. Warm Up

There are 2 distinctly different times you will be going to the driving range.

Type 1, Practice

The first type of range session is when you are actually practicing. You may or may not be playing afterward, and your primary objective is to get better at golf. If you're doing taking part in this type of range session, good for you. You're beginning to show some dedication to fixing your swing. Just follow the rule above and you'll start to shed your hacker card.

Type 2, Warm-Up

The second type of range session is when you hit the practice tee before a planned-out and competitive round. This is completely different. In this case you're probably there with your foursome and you only have about 15-20 minutes before you're expected on the 1st tee.

Please Listen up class...

This is not the time to practice. Don't ask me on the range if "I can see what you're doing wrong." What you're doing wrong is asking. You cannot fix anything in your game on the range now.

Type 2 warm-up tee is to get your body warm. Get your muscles loose and ready to play.

You want to get your confidence up on the warm-up tee. Tee up all your shots. Yes, get a tee in the ground under every ball and just nuke every shot.

Start with 1/2 pitching wedge shots and just hit them dead solid. Don't worry about where they go but just beat about 5 knock-down, PW's that feel real crisp. Then work your way up. Full 9's. Full 7's. Full 5's...etc. See if they are going in the general area you're aiming. If they are, good enough, just keep getting warmed up.

Finally

At the end of your warm-up, take out the club you'll be hitting off the 1st tee. Yes, you should know what this club will be. It's probably a driver, so tee a ball up on the range and go through your setup routine. Visualize the first hole projected onto the range and hit your shot into that fairway. Repeat this until, on the range, you hit the exact shot you want to hit on the first tee. Once you hit one perfect, walk away, it's time to tee it up.

About Merlin

If we wish to make a new world we have the material ready. The first one, too, was made out of chaos.