I Spent The Morning On The Range At The International Series Morocco. This Is What I Learned…

It’s pro-am Wednesday at the International Series Morocco. There’s a relaxed vibe at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam as the players complete final preparations for the tournament starting tomorrow.

Scott Vincent of Zimbabwe is the defending champion and Bubba Watson and Sergio Garcia are among the star names on the start sheet for the week.

I decided to spend some time on the range to watch the top players practice and to see how what they do compares with the amateurs who are playing in the pre-tournament event today. (And how it compares with me).

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I have experience of being an amateur in a pro-am situation – it’s nerve-wracking. I was lucky enough to be invited to play in the pro-am for the Scottish Open of 2016 at Castle Stuart in the Scottish Highlands.

Feeling brave at the outset, I decided to do the correct thing and head to the range. Quite a crowd had gathered there watching Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson (among others) blasting balls sublimely into the Scottish sun.

Walking past them and finding a spot in the middle somewhere, I suddenly realised the reality of my situation. I had Branden Grace on one side and Stenson on the other. My arms turned to jelly.

I hit a couple of semi-shanked 5-irons and decided the place was not for the likes of me. As I sheepishly walked off the range, a group of autograph seeking kids saw me coming. One held out a pad and pen. Another pulled his arm back and said, “Don’t worry. He’s nobody.” How true.

It was Branden Grace I followed to the range here at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam. We had just done a quick interview with him by the putting green and I wanted to see him hit. When I got there, I was engrossed and stayed for two hours!

Here’s a summary of what I learned from my time on the range here at the International Series Morocco:

Prepare To Hit

If I go to the driving range, I tip the bucket over and swipe at the nearest ball to roll out across the mat. I use a 7-iron as I think that’s starting softly.

But inevitably, I make a groan and snatch at the first couple of balls with a very stiff back and shoulders.

That is not what the professionals do. Watching Branden Grace, he spent almost 10 minutes stretching and warming up before he even hit a shot.

He also used warm-up tools – He had a resistance band that he pulled against with his trainer and a weighted ball that he was throwing in such a way as to recreate the movement through the swing.

He was not going to hit even a wedge shot until his body was absolutely ready. In that way he is lessening the chance of injury as well as making sure that each shot he hits is worthwhile and not a wasted swing.

The lesson is – Warm up properly before hitting balls. It was noticeable that the amateur players on the range today were not doing that.

Work Through the bag

I’m sure I’m not alone in starting my practice sessions with a few tame 7-irons. I then go on a haphazard tour through my clubs with little rhyme or reason to the route.

Just recalling my last visit, which I recorded using my Stack software, I went 7-iron, 4-iron, driver, 6-iron, driver, 8-iron, driver, 2-iron, 5-iron, 54 degree, driver, 7-iron, 3-wood, driver, wedge… Looking at that now, I actually can’t believe it. What was I doing? There’s no method in that whatsoever.

I watched Maverick Antcliff, the talented Australian who hits the ball beautifully, go through his whole practice session.

He started with his wedges. He hit slow, relaxed shots and worked on ball flight.

He moved onto irons and up through the bag – maybe hitting every other iron as he went. Perhaps five shots with each. But not as we hit shots as amateurs – We stand still and blast ball after ball, not moving our feet, just pulling another ball into position with the club.

That means we hit the same shot repeatedly and make the same mistakes repeatedly.

Antcliff hit a shot, watched it fly and then stood back from it, spoke to his caddy, thought about it and then re-settled to hit another one.

There was no rush, no stress, just a relaxed process of hitting right through the bag, on up to the long irons and then the fairway metals.

It actually looked fun! Certainly, when compared to the amateur who was practising beside him. He was lashing at mid irons, hitting at least two, maybe three for each one that Maverick struck. He was hitting two out of three very badly!

The lesson is – take your time, go through the bag systematically.

Think about each shot

Carrying on from that systematic and considered approach. These top players are thinking about what they want to achieve from every shot they hit on the range.

There’s no blind, aimless smacking at the ball. They have a plan for each and every shot – to shape it, to flight it, to hit it easy or hard. No shot is wasted.

Don’t hit so many drivers

I watched another good Aussie – Elvis Smylie, a winner on LIV in February. He also took his time and only hit sparingly. Each shot means something – remember that!

What I really noticed with him is that he only hit a handful of drivers. When he worked through the bag and reached the big dog, he hit only four shots with it and it took him just over five minutes to do it.

His objective was fine tuning rather than tiring himself out. How many of us amateurs reach too quickly for the driver when warming up or practising?

If you do that, you’ll exhaust yourself fast, and make the rest of your practice session a waste of time. Leave the driver for last and don’t hit more of them than absolutely necessary.

That’s what I’ve learned this morning. It all seems so obvious but I know that I don’t follow the professional example and I reckon (certainly by watching those amateurs on the range today) that most golfers who do it for love not money, practice incorrectly.

The overall lesson is – Follow the example set by the pros. There’s a reason why these guys are playing for a $2 million purse this week in Morocco.

A bit of background on the International Series. Introduced in 2022, it’s a set of elevated events co-sanctioned by both LIV Golf and the Asian Tour. It offers players significant tournament prize funds, the chance to earn world ranking points and qualify for Majors, and the opportunity to compete against top-level fields at amazing venues across the globe.

The standard is clearly very high and there’s a great atmosphere around the tournament. It looks set to be an exciting week. There will be regular updates from me on the site so watch this space!