By Fred Altvater
Are you one of those golfers that never goes to the range? And when you do simply reach in the bag for the ‘Big Dog’ and starts slicing, hooking and topping mishit drivers?
Here are a few tips for getting more benefit from your time spent on the practice range.
- Start by stretching and warming up before you even take the first swing. You aren’t as young as you once were and those muscles in your back and shoulders are tight from hours sitting at a desk staring at a computer.
- Pull your pitching wedge and hit a few full swings with it. The wedge is the easiest club in the bag to hit and sets a better rhythm as you move up to longer clubs.
- Don’t stand there and bang out more than a few balls with each club. When you are on the course, you never hit the same club consecutively, unless you have missed it so badly the first time you need a mulligan.
- Pick a target. When you are playing on the course, you always have an exact target that you are trying to hit. Work a driver into a fairway, fly a 7-iron onto a green, or chip to a certain spot on a green. Visualize a particular hole on your course and play that hole on the range. You won’t believe how much that single tip will help you on that hole the next time you play it.
- Work on the club that you struggle with on the course. Don’t simply ignore it and give it a time out. You have to develop a loving relationship and spend time nurturing it.
- Don’t forget to practice short game, chipping and putting. Everyone likes to show off hitting bombs on the range, but those chunked, or bladed chip shots are just as important as a 300-yard drive, maybe more so.
- Have a plan. School teachers have a lesson plan for every day of school. Good golfers have a practice plan and stick to it. Keep a log of good shots versus poor efforts. Work on those weak areas and watch your scores come down.
I hope these few tips help and you are able to fleece your golfing buddies for a couple bucks next time out.
Short Game Drill 
Chip ten balls to a specific hole on the practice green. Putt all ten balls and keep score of how many you were able to successfully get up and down. If you can’t get at least 50% up and down, keep doing the drill until you reach that level.
Once you have mastered that shot, move to a different chipping spot and repeat.
These can be done with your PW, SW, or 60 degree, whatever you are comfortable using.
Finally carve out a minimum of 45 minutes every week to practice chipping and putting.
You will be surprised how fast your handicap decreases and your bank account increases.
